Suburb overview
Para Hills West is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Adelaide, Australia, with a population of approximately 3,295, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 14 km from the Adelaide CBD, Para Hills West is a middle ring area in South Australia. The median household income is $58,604 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
5096
Postcode for Para Hills West, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
3,295
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$580/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
14 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
$880,000
Median house sale price — as at Q1 2026, Valuer-General (SA) (CC BY 4.0). Figure covers suburb (metro Adelaide).
Indicative gross yield
3.4%
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
66% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Para Hills West
- Middle-ring location about 14 km from Adelaide — balance of commute and affordability.
- Established streets, local shops, and schools within the neighbourhood.
Who Para Hills West 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.
- Established middle-ring position between the CBD and the urban fringe.
Cons
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
- Prices may rise further as demand continues.
Investment insight
3,295 residents places Para Hills West squarely in the middle of the South Australia suburb size distribution (state median 3,699), with market depth comparable to most SA localities. Para Hills West's median household income of $58,604/year is 28% 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 $580/week (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)) equates to roughly $2,513/month — about 193% 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. 14 km from Adelaide places Para Hills West 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 suits long-term investors looking for a balance of rental yield and capital growth. Schools and transport underpin family demand. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 24% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Para Hills West vs South Australia median
How Para Hills West stacks up against the median of all South Australia suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Para Hills West sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Para Hills West | SA median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,295 | 3,699 | -11% |
| Median household income | $58,604/yr | $80,964/yr | -28% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $275 | $320 | -14% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,300 | $1,616 | -20% |
| Distance to CBD | 14 km | 13 km | +8% |
| Separate houses | 66% | 73% | -7pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Para Hills West — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 3,295 residents — 89% of the SA suburb median (3,699).
- Purchasing power: median household income $58,604/year (-28% vs South Australia suburb median of $80,964).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $275/week rent (≈ $1,192/month) covered ~92% of the $1,300/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 14 km straight-line from Adelaide (state suburb median 13 km).
- Dwelling mix: 66% separate houses — mixed 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: 24% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: household incomes 28% below the SA median ($58,604 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: $275/week (~$1,192/month) covered 92% of the $1,300/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $108/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
With 66% houses in a 3,295-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 Para Hills West 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 Para Hills West are 28% below the South Australia median ($58,604 vs $80,964), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Liquidity risk: with 3,295 residents, Para Hills West 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 Para Hills West regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Para Hills West 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 Para Hills West property
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Start your journey near Para Hills West →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Para Hills West are modest for 2026 — incomes 28% below the SA median of $80,964 and a population of 3,295 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~92% of the typical mortgage ($1,192/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 Para Hills West 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 Para Hills West a good suburb for investment?
Whether Para Hills West suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 3,295, a median household income of $58,604/year and median weekly rent of $275. 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 Para Hills West?
The main demand drivers in Para Hills West are proximity to Adelaide (14 km), a median household income of $58,604/year, a dwelling mix that is 66% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Para Hills West?
Para Hills West has a usual resident population of approximately 3,295, 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 Para Hills West from the Adelaide CBD?
Para Hills West sits 14 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 Para Hills West?
The median weekly rent in Para Hills West is $580 (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)), equating to approximately $30,160/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 Para Hills West?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Para Hills West 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 Para Hills West cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $275 works out to $1,192/month, covering 92% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,300/month. That leaves a $108/month shortfall (around $1,296/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 Para Hills West?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (3,295 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,300 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($58,604 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 Para Hills West 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.