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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Payneham South is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Adelaide, Australia, with a population of approximately 1,731, making it a boutique locality. Located 5 km from the Adelaide CBD, Payneham South is a middle ring area in South Australia. The median household income is $81,120 per year.
Household incomes in Payneham South sit in a comfortable mid-range for the South Australia market. Its proximity to the CBD adds a strong location premium.
Official Australia Post postcode for Payneham South. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Weekly median rent for occupied homes. Live rental data integration coming soon.
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Estimated 1 school within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Payneham South on My School →Estimated 1 park and green spaces near this suburb.
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Payneham South is a smaller community of 1,731 — about 47% of the South Australia suburb median (3,699) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. At $81,120/year, household income in Payneham South is within 0% of the South Australia median ($80,964), placing the suburb firmly in the state's mainstream demographic band. Rent of $331/week (80% coverage of the $1,789/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $355/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. At 5 km from the Adelaide CBD, Payneham South sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks. Only 52% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 73% state median), so this is a unit-heavy market where body-corporate decisions and strata supply meaningfully shape investor returns.
How Payneham South stacks up against the median of all South Australia suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Payneham South sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Payneham South | SA median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 1,731 | 3,699 | -53% |
| Median household income | $81,120/yr | $80,964/yr | 0% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $331 | $320 | +3% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $1,789 | $1,616 | +11% |
| Distance to CBD | 5 km | 13 km | -62% |
| Separate houses | 52% | 73% | -21pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Payneham South — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 1,731 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider South Australia market over full cycles.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $331/week covers 80% of a $1,789/month mortgage, leaving a $355/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
Only 52% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 73% SA median) — this is a unit and townhouse market, where cosmetic flips struggle against body-corporate restrictions, thinner after-reno uplift and competing new supply.
Run the numbers on a Payneham South property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Payneham South are modest for 2026 — incomes close to the SA median of $80,964 and a population of 1,731 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~80% of the typical mortgage ($1,434/month rent vs $1,789/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. The EquitySight investment score of 61/100 places Payneham South in the upper-middle tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is balanced heading into the second half of 2026.
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Payneham South scores 61/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 1,731, median household income of $81,120/year and median weekly rent of $331. Whether it fits your portfolio depends on whether you are targeting cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — all three are scored with suburb-specific numbers elsewhere on this page.
The main demand drivers in Payneham South are proximity to Adelaide (5 km), an above-state-median household income of $81,120/year, a dwelling mix that is 52% separate houses, roughly 1 schools and 1 parks within the catchment. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand and are the factors we weight most heavily in the suburb's investment score.
Payneham South has a usual resident population of approximately 1,731, 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.
Payneham South sits 5 km straight-line from the Adelaide CBD. This is inner-ring territory — pricing competes directly with established Adelaide employment nodes.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $331 in Payneham South, equating to approximately $17,212/year in gross rental income (state median $320/week). Market rents have typically drifted above the recorded figure — verify against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Payneham South is $1,789, or approximately $21,468/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.
A median weekly rent of $331 works out to $1,434/month, covering 80% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,789/month. That leaves a $355/month shortfall (around $4,260/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.
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (1,731 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,789 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.
Every number on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census of Population and Housing, Australia Post postcode reference data, and OpenStreetMap amenity tiles. The investment score, strategy verdicts, and comparison table are computed deterministically from those inputs — no opinion, no estimation. See our full methodology and the data sources and licences for the formulas we use.