Suburb overview
West Beach is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Adelaide, Australia, with a population of approximately 5,175, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 9 km from the Adelaide CBD, West Beach is a middle ring area in South Australia. The median household income is $90,792 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
5024
Postcode for West Beach, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
5,175
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$540/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
9 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
$1,530,000
Median house sale price — as at Q1 2026, Valuer-General (SA) (CC BY 4.0). Figure covers suburb (metro Adelaide).
Indicative gross yield
1.8%
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
$2,000/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
59% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in West Beach
- Well-connected to Adelaide at ~9 km from the CBD.
- Established streets, local shops, and schools within the neighbourhood.
Who West Beach suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Short distance to the CBD makes commuting straightforward.
- Established middle-ring position between the CBD and the urban fringe.
Cons
- Median mortgage sits above the South Australia state median — entry costs are stretched.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
West Beach's population of 5,175 sits 40% above the South Australia suburb median of 3,699, giving it a wider tenant and buyer catchment than the average SA locality. Households here earn $90,792/year on average — 12% above the SA suburb median of $80,964 — a modest premium that supports resilient owner-occupier demand. Median rent of $540/week (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)) equates to roughly $2,340/month — about 117% of the $2,000/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 9 km from the Adelaide CBD, West Beach 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 18% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
West Beach vs South Australia median
How West Beach stacks up against the median of all South Australia suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean West Beach sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | West Beach | SA median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 5,175 | 3,699 | +40% |
| Median household income | $90,792/yr | $80,964/yr | +12% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $320 | $320 | 0% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $2,000 | $1,616 | +24% |
| Distance to CBD | 9 km | 13 km | -31% |
| Separate houses | 59% | 73% | -14pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for West Beach — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 5,175 residents — 140% of the SA suburb median (3,699).
- Purchasing power: median household income $90,792/year (+12% vs South Australia suburb median of $80,964).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $320/week rent (≈ $1,387/month) covered ~69% of the $2,000/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 9 km straight-line from Adelaide (state suburb median 13 km).
- Dwelling mix: 59% separate houses — mixed market (vs 73% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$200/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $2,000/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 18% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Solid buy-and-hold profile: a population of 5,175 and household income close to the SA median ($90,792 vs $80,964) give the market enough depth for patient capital growth without the premium entry price of inner suburbs.
Moderate rental coverage at the 2021 Census: rent of $320/week covered 69% of a $2,000/month mortgage, a $613/month gap bridged with equity, depreciation and tax benefits. Re-check with current rents and rates before committing.
Only 59% 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.
Risk factors
- Interest-rate sensitivity: the $2,000/month median mortgage in West Beach means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $200/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in West Beach regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in West Beach 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 West Beach property
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Start your journey near West Beach →2026 outlook
Property values in West Beach should track the wider South Australia market through 2026, with the $90,792/year median household income (12% above the $80,964 state median) keeping the suburb firmly mid-pack. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~69% of the typical mortgage ($1,387/month rent vs $2,000/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for West Beach 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 West Beach a good suburb for investment?
Whether West Beach suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 5,175, a median household income of $90,792/year and median weekly rent of $320. 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 West Beach?
The main demand drivers in West Beach are proximity to Adelaide (9 km), an above-state-median household income of $90,792/year, a dwelling mix that is 59% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of West Beach?
West Beach has a usual resident population of approximately 5,175, 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 West Beach from the Adelaide CBD?
West Beach sits 9 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 West Beach?
The median weekly rent in West Beach is $540 (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)), equating to approximately $28,080/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 West Beach?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in West Beach 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.
Is West Beach cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $320 works out to $1,387/month, covering 69% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,000/month. That leaves a $613/month shortfall (around $7,356/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 West Beach?
The main risks are 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.
How we built this West Beach 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.