Suburb overview
Morphett Vale is a coastal suburb in South Australia, Australia, with a population of approximately 24,002, making it a sizeable community. Located approximately 22 km from the Adelaide CBD, Morphett Vale is a coastal area in South Australia. The median household income is $62,348 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
5162
Postcode for Morphett Vale, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
24,002
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$590/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
22 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
$785,100
Median house sale price — as at Q1 2026, Valuer-General (SA) (CC BY 4.0). Figure covers suburb (metro Adelaide).
Indicative gross yield
3.9%
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
$1,300/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
80% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Morphett Vale
- Outer-metro setting about 22 km from Adelaide — more space, quieter streets.
- Predominantly separate houses (80%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Beach lifestyle with coastal walks and outdoor recreation on the doorstep.
Who Morphett Vale 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.
- Coastal lifestyle attracts renters and owner-occupiers alike.
Cons
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
- Prices may rise further as demand continues.
Investment insight
With 24,002 residents, Morphett Vale is one of South Australia's more populous suburbs — roughly 6.5× the state median of 3,699 — giving it a deep buyer and tenant pool that typically supports higher transaction volumes and shorter average days on market. Morphett Vale's median household income of $62,348/year is 23% below the South Australia suburb median ($80,964) — this is an affordability play where returns lean on yield and patient capital growth rather than demographic premium. Median rent of $590/week (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)) equates to roughly $2,557/month — about 197% of the $1,300/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. 22 km from Adelaide places Morphett Vale in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs.
Investment tip
This suburb can suit investors targeting renter demand driven by lifestyle. Insurance, climate risk, and seasonal rental patterns all warrant a close look. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 25% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Morphett Vale vs South Australia median
How Morphett Vale stacks up against the median of all South Australia suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Morphett Vale sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Morphett Vale | SA median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 24,002 | 3,699 | +549% |
| Median household income | $62,348/yr | $80,964/yr | -23% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $295 | $320 | -8% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,300 | $1,616 | -20% |
| Distance to CBD | 22 km | 13 km | +69% |
| Separate houses | 80% | 73% | +7pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Morphett Vale — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 24,002 residents — 649% of the SA suburb median (3,699).
- Purchasing power: median household income $62,348/year (-23% vs South Australia suburb median of $80,964).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $295/week rent (≈ $1,278/month) covered ~98% of the $1,300/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 22 km straight-line from Adelaide (state suburb median 13 km).
- Dwelling mix: 80% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 73% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$130/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,300/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 25% of the median household income is spent on rent — within normal range.
Investment strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: household incomes 23% below the SA median ($62,348 vs $80,964) means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider South Australia market over full cycles.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $295/week (~$1,278/month) covered 98% of the $1,300/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $22/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
With 80% houses in a 24,002-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 $1,300/month median mortgage in Morphett Vale means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $130/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in Morphett Vale are 23% below the South Australia median ($62,348 vs $80,964), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Morphett Vale is 22 km from the CBD — not close enough to benefit from the inner-ring pricing halo, so growth depends more heavily on local infrastructure decisions and the wider South Australia market cycle.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Morphett Vale regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Morphett Vale 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 Morphett Vale property
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Start your journey near Morphett Vale →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Morphett Vale are modest for 2026 — incomes 23% below the SA median of $80,964 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~98% of the typical mortgage ($1,278/month rent vs $1,300/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Morphett Vale 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 Morphett Vale a good suburb for investment?
Whether Morphett Vale suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 24,002, a median household income of $62,348/year and median weekly rent of $295. 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 Morphett Vale?
The main demand drivers in Morphett Vale are proximity to Adelaide (22 km), a median household income of $62,348/year, a dwelling mix that is 80% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Morphett Vale?
Morphett Vale has a usual resident population of approximately 24,002, compared with a South Australia suburb median of 3,699 — placing it in the upper 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 Morphett Vale from the Adelaide CBD?
Morphett Vale sits 22 km straight-line from the Adelaide CBD. This is comfortable commuter territory, with reasonable rail and road access to the city.
What is the median rent in Morphett Vale?
The median weekly rent in Morphett Vale is $590 (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)), equating to approximately $30,680/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 Morphett Vale?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Morphett Vale is $1,300, or approximately $15,600/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 Morphett Vale cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $295 works out to $1,278/month, covering 98% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,300/month. That leaves a $22/month shortfall (around $264/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 Morphett Vale?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,300 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($62,348 vs $80,964 state median), 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 Morphett Vale 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.