Suburb overview
Hillcrest is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Adelaide, Australia, with a population of approximately 3,659, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 8 km from the Adelaide CBD, Hillcrest is a middle ring area in South Australia. The median household income is $83,148 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
5086
Postcode for Hillcrest, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
3,659
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$660/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
8 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Sale prices & yield
Median house price
$973,750
Median house sale price — as at Q1 2026, Valuer-General (SA) (CC BY 4.0). Figure covers suburb (metro Adelaide).
Indicative gross yield
3.5%
Estimated as current median rent × 52 ÷ current median house price. A guide only — not a guaranteed return; excludes costs, vacancy and buying expenses.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,602/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
77% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Hillcrest
- Short commute into Adelaide: ~8 km from the CBD.
- Predominantly separate houses (77%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Established streets, local shops, and schools within the neighbourhood.
Who Hillcrest suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Mortgage costs are lower than the South Australia median, improving cash-flow margins.
- Short distance to the CBD makes commuting straightforward.
Cons
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
- Prices may rise further as demand continues.
Investment insight
3,659 residents places Hillcrest squarely in the middle of the South Australia suburb size distribution (state median 3,699), with market depth comparable to most SA localities. At $83,148/year, household income in Hillcrest is within 3% of the South Australia median ($80,964), placing the suburb firmly in the state's mainstream demographic band. Median rent of $660/week (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)) equates to roughly $2,860/month — about 179% of the $1,602/month median mortgage repayment recorded at the 2021 Census. On those figures rental income covers most or all of the recorded repayment, but repayments on new loans have risen with interest rates since 2021, so re-run the coverage at today's rates before treating this as a cash-flow suburb. At 8 km from the Adelaide CBD, Hillcrest sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks.
Investment tip
Middle-ring locations like this one historically reward patient holders — focus on homes near catchment-zone schools and major transport. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 20% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Hillcrest vs South Australia median
How Hillcrest stacks up against the median of all South Australia suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Hillcrest sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Hillcrest | SA median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,659 | 3,699 | -1% |
| Median household income | $83,148/yr | $80,964/yr | +3% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $319 | $320 | 0% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,602 | $1,616 | -1% |
| Distance to CBD | 8 km | 13 km | -38% |
| Separate houses | 77% | 73% | +4pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Hillcrest — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 3,659 residents — 99% of the SA suburb median (3,699).
- Purchasing power: median household income $83,148/year (+3% vs South Australia suburb median of $80,964).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $319/week rent (≈ $1,382/month) covered ~86% of the $1,602/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 8 km straight-line from Adelaide (state suburb median 13 km).
- Dwelling mix: 77% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 73% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$160/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,602/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 20% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Moderate buy-and-hold potential: Hillcrest's 3,659-person market and $83,148 median household income work for investors who are selective on street location and property quality rather than counting on a suburb-wide rerating.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $319/week (~$1,382/month) covered 86% of the $1,602/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $220/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
With 77% houses in a 3,659-person market, renovation margins depend on individual street and aspect rather than any suburb-wide story — do comparable-sales analysis before committing capital.
Risk factors
- Interest-rate sensitivity: the $1,602/month median mortgage in Hillcrest means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $160/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Liquidity risk: with 3,659 residents, Hillcrest has a thinner pool of buyers and tenants than larger suburbs. Expect longer days-on-market on resale and budget for potential vacancy gaps between tenancies.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Hillcrest regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Hillcrest with a 10–15% price pullback scenario before committing capital — returns to date are not a guarantee of future performance.
Run the numbers on a Hillcrest property
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Start your journey near Hillcrest →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Hillcrest are modest for 2026 — incomes close to the SA median of $80,964 and a population of 3,659 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~86% of the typical mortgage ($1,382/month rent vs $1,602/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Hillcrest is balanced heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the South Australia median.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hillcrest a good suburb for investment?
Whether Hillcrest suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 3,659, a median household income of $83,148/year and median weekly rent of $319. Weigh those against your goal — cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — each of which we break down with suburb-specific ABS numbers elsewhere on this page.
What drives property demand in Hillcrest?
The main demand drivers in Hillcrest are proximity to Adelaide (8 km), an above-state-median household income of $83,148/year, a dwelling mix that is 77% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Hillcrest?
Hillcrest has a usual resident population of approximately 3,659, compared with a South Australia suburb median of 3,699 — placing it in the lower half of the state's suburbs by size. Population is the clearest proxy for market depth: more residents mean more transactions and typically a shorter average days-on-market on resale.
How far is Hillcrest from the Adelaide CBD?
Hillcrest sits 8 km straight-line from the Adelaide CBD. This is inner-ring territory — pricing competes directly with established Adelaide employment nodes.
What is the median rent in Hillcrest?
The median weekly rent in Hillcrest is $660 (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)), equating to approximately $34,320/year in gross rental income. Confirm against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
What is the typical mortgage repayment in Hillcrest?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Hillcrest is $1,602, or approximately $19,224/year (vs $1,616/month state median). Stress-test your own borrowing at rates 1–2 percentage points above today's to make sure you can still service the loan through an RBA tightening cycle.
Is Hillcrest cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $319 works out to $1,382/month, covering 86% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,602/month. That leaves a $220/month shortfall (around $2,640/year before tax benefits), so a typical owner-occupier-priced property here is negatively geared. Actual cash flow depends on your deposit, loan terms, ownership costs and marginal tax rate — run the full numbers in our rental yield calculator.
What are the main risks of investing in Hillcrest?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (3,659 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,602 median mortgage, the broader South Australia market cycle. Each of these is covered in the Risk Factors section above with suburb-specific numbers rather than generic warnings.
How we built this Hillcrest profile
The population figure on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census. The postcode comes from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. The dwelling mix is from the ABS 2021 Census. The median household income is the ABS 2021 Census median weekly household income, annualised. Distance to the CBD is calculated from the suburb's ABS centroid. The Census median rent and mortgage figures are 2021 figures and are labelled as such wherever they appear — they are five years old and have moved substantially since. The current median weekly rent in Key indicators is a genuine recent figure from Consumer & Business Services (SA) (Jan–Mar 2026), published under a Creative Commons licence and dated on the page. The median sale price shown comes from Valuer-General (SA) (Q1 2026), published under a Creative Commons licence and dated on the page. We do not publish an investment score or school/park counts for this suburb. See our methodology and data sources for exactly what's measured and what's estimated.