Suburb overview
Whyalla Norrie is a coastal suburb in South Australia, Australia, with a population of approximately 6,288, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 233 km from the Adelaide CBD, Whyalla Norrie is a coastal area in South Australia. The median household income is $55,692 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
5608
Postcode for Whyalla Norrie, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
6,288
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$330/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
233 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$953/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
37% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Whyalla Norrie
- Regional location about 233 km from Adelaide.
- Beach lifestyle with coastal walks and outdoor recreation on the doorstep.
Who Whyalla Norrie 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
- Long distance to the CBD (233 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
Whyalla Norrie's population of 6,288 sits 70% above the South Australia suburb median of 3,699, giving it a wider tenant and buyer catchment than the average SA locality. Whyalla Norrie's median household income of $55,692/year is 31% 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 $330/week (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)) equates to roughly $1,430/month — about 150% of the $953/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. Whyalla Norrie is 233 km from Adelaide, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand. Only 37% 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.
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 17% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Whyalla Norrie vs South Australia median
How Whyalla Norrie stacks up against the median of all South Australia suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Whyalla Norrie sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Whyalla Norrie | SA median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 6,288 | 3,699 | +70% |
| Median household income | $55,692/yr | $80,964/yr | -31% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $180 | $320 | -44% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $953 | $1,616 | -41% |
| Distance to CBD | 233 km | 13 km | +1692% |
| Separate houses | 37% | 73% | -36pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Whyalla Norrie — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 6,288 residents — 170% of the SA suburb median (3,699).
- Purchasing power: median household income $55,692/year (-31% vs South Australia suburb median of $80,964).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $180/week rent (≈ $780/month) covered ~82% of the $953/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 233 km straight-line from Adelaide (state suburb median 13 km).
- Dwelling mix: 37% separate houses — unit-heavy market (vs 73% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$95/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $953/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 17% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: household incomes 31% below the SA median ($55,692 vs $80,964) means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider South Australia market over full cycles.
Moderate rental coverage at the 2021 Census: rent of $180/week covered 82% of a $953/month mortgage, a $173/month gap bridged with equity, depreciation and tax benefits. Re-check with current rents and rates before committing.
Only 37% 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 $953/month median mortgage in Whyalla Norrie means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $95/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in Whyalla Norrie are 31% below the South Australia median ($55,692 vs $80,964), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Commute distance: at 233 km from the nearest CBD, Whyalla Norrie depends on local employment rather than city-driven commuter demand, which amplifies the market's sensitivity to regional industry slowdowns.
- Strata exposure: only 37% of dwellings in Whyalla Norrie are separate houses, so most investment stock is apartments or townhouses subject to body-corporate fees, sinking-fund levies and competing supply from new developments.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Whyalla Norrie regardless of local market conditions.
Run the numbers on a Whyalla Norrie property
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Start your journey near Whyalla Norrie →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Whyalla Norrie are modest for 2026 — incomes 31% below the SA median of $80,964 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~82% of the typical mortgage ($780/month rent vs $953/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Whyalla Norrie is cautious 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 Whyalla Norrie a good suburb for investment?
Whether Whyalla Norrie suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 6,288, a median household income of $55,692/year and median weekly rent of $180. 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 Whyalla Norrie?
The main demand drivers in Whyalla Norrie are a median household income of $55,692/year, a dwelling mix that is 37% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Whyalla Norrie?
Whyalla Norrie has a usual resident population of approximately 6,288, 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 Whyalla Norrie from the Adelaide CBD?
Whyalla Norrie sits 233 km straight-line from the Adelaide CBD. This is a regional market where CBD distance is only indicative — local industry diversity and commute alternatives matter more.
What is the median rent in Whyalla Norrie?
The median weekly rent in Whyalla Norrie is $330 (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)), equating to approximately $17,160/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 Whyalla Norrie?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Whyalla Norrie is $953, or approximately $11,436/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 Whyalla Norrie cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $180 works out to $780/month, covering 82% of the median mortgage repayment of $953/month. That leaves a $173/month shortfall (around $2,076/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 Whyalla Norrie?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $953 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($55,692 vs $80,964 state median), a unit-heavy dwelling mix (37% houses) where body-corporate costs and apartment supply affect resale, 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 Whyalla Norrie 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. 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.