ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Penfield Gardens is an outer-metropolitan suburb of Adelaide, Australia, with a population of approximately 304, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 30 km from the Adelaide CBD, Penfield Gardens is a outer metro area in South Australia. The median household income is $82,836 per year.
Penfield Gardens has a solid income profile that supports reliable occupancy rates.
Official Australia Post postcode for Penfield Gardens. 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 Penfield Gardens 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.
Penfield Gardens is a smaller community of 304 — about 8% of the South Australia suburb median (3,699) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. At $82,836/year, household income in Penfield Gardens is within 2% of the South Australia median ($80,964), placing the suburb firmly in the state's mainstream demographic band. Rent of $383/week (83% coverage of the $2,000/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $340/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. At 30 km from Adelaide, Penfield Gardens is an outer-metro location where buyers are typically trading commute time for floor space and a lower entry price. Separate houses make up 91% of dwellings — 18 percentage points above the South Australia median of 73% — pointing to a family-oriented, land-rich market where value is concentrated in the underlying block.
How Penfield Gardens stacks up against the median of all South Australia suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Penfield Gardens sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Penfield Gardens | SA median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 304 | 3,699 | -92% |
| Median household income | $82,836/yr | $80,964/yr | +2% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $383 | $320 | +20% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,000 | $1,616 | +24% |
| Distance to CBD | 30 km | 13 km | +131% |
| Separate houses | 91% | 73% | +18pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Penfield Gardens — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 304 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider South Australia market over full cycles.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $383/week covers 83% of a $2,000/month mortgage, leaving a $340/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
With 91% houses in a 304-person market, renovation margins depend on individual street and aspect rather than any suburb-wide story — do comparable-sales analysis before committing capital.
Run the numbers on a Penfield Gardens property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Penfield Gardens are modest for 2026 — incomes close to the SA median of $80,964 and a population of 304 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~83% of the typical mortgage ($1,660/month rent vs $2,000/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. The EquitySight investment score of 47/100 places Penfield Gardens in the mid tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is cautious heading into the second half of 2026.
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Penfield Gardens scores 47/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a moderate rating. That score is driven by a population of 304, median household income of $82,836/year and median weekly rent of $383. 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 Penfield Gardens are an above-state-median household income of $82,836/year, a dwelling mix that is 91% 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.
Penfield Gardens has a usual resident population of approximately 304, 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.
Penfield Gardens sits 30 km straight-line from the Adelaide CBD. This is an outer-metro location; local employment and infrastructure announcements tend to move prices more than CBD connectivity alone.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $383 in Penfield Gardens, equating to approximately $19,916/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 Penfield Gardens is $2,000, or approximately $24,000/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 $383 works out to $1,660/month, covering 83% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,000/month. That leaves a $340/month shortfall (around $4,080/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 (304 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,000 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.