Suburb overview
Willaston is an outer-metropolitan suburb of Adelaide, Australia, with a population of approximately 3,458, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 40 km from the Adelaide CBD, Willaston is a outer metro area in South Australia. The median household income is $65,208 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
5118
Postcode for Willaston, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
3,458
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$520/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
40 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
$760,000
Median house sale price — as at Q1 2026, Valuer-General (SA) (CC BY 4.0). Figure covers suburb (metro Adelaide).
Indicative gross yield
3.6%
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
$1,213/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
81% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Willaston
- Outer-metro setting about 40 km from Adelaide — more space, quieter streets.
- Predominantly separate houses (81%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Newer estates with modern homes and family-sized blocks.
Who Willaston 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.
- Affordable entry point compared with inner-city suburbs.
Cons
- Long distance to the CBD (40 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
- New-estate oversupply risk — many similar homes can compete for the same buyers.
Investment insight
3,458 residents places Willaston squarely in the middle of the South Australia suburb size distribution (state median 3,699), with market depth comparable to most SA localities. Household income of $65,208/year is 19% below the South Australia median of $80,964, typically translating into lower entry prices and a tenant base more sensitive to rent increases. Median rent of $520/week (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)) equates to roughly $2,253/month — about 186% of the $1,213/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 40 km from Adelaide, Willaston is an outer-metro location where buyers are typically trading commute time for floor space and a lower entry price.
Investment tip
This suburb suits long-term investors due to steady population growth and affordable entry prices. Look for established streets close to schools and shops rather than raw new-estate land. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 24% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Willaston vs South Australia median
How Willaston stacks up against the median of all South Australia suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Willaston sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Willaston | SA median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,458 | 3,699 | -7% |
| Median household income | $65,208/yr | $80,964/yr | -19% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $300 | $320 | -6% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,213 | $1,616 | -25% |
| Distance to CBD | 40 km | 13 km | +208% |
| Separate houses | 81% | 73% | +8pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Willaston — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 3,458 residents — 93% of the SA suburb median (3,699).
- Purchasing power: median household income $65,208/year (-19% vs South Australia suburb median of $80,964).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $300/week rent (≈ $1,300/month) covered ~107% of the $1,213/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 40 km straight-line from Adelaide (state suburb median 13 km).
- Dwelling mix: 81% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 73% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$121/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,213/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 24% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Moderate buy-and-hold potential: Willaston's 3,458-person market and $65,208 median household income work for investors who are selective on street location and property quality rather than counting on a suburb-wide rerating.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $300/week (~$1,300/month) covered 107% of the $1,213/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $0/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
With 81% houses in a 3,458-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 $1,213/month median mortgage in Willaston means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $121/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in Willaston are 19% below the South Australia median ($65,208 vs $80,964), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Liquidity risk: with 3,458 residents, Willaston 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.
- Willaston is 40 km from the CBD — not close enough to benefit from the inner-ring pricing halo, so growth depends more heavily on local infrastructure decisions and the wider South Australia market cycle.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Willaston regardless of local market conditions.
Run the numbers on a Willaston property
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Start your journey near Willaston →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Willaston are modest for 2026 — incomes 19% below the SA median of $80,964 and a population of 3,458 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~107% of the typical mortgage ($1,300/month rent vs $1,213/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Willaston 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 Willaston a good suburb for investment?
Whether Willaston suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 3,458, a median household income of $65,208/year and median weekly rent of $300. 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 Willaston?
The main demand drivers in Willaston are a median household income of $65,208/year, a dwelling mix that is 81% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Willaston?
Willaston has a usual resident population of approximately 3,458, 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 Willaston from the Adelaide CBD?
Willaston sits 40 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.
What is the median rent in Willaston?
The median weekly rent in Willaston is $520 (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)), equating to approximately $27,040/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 Willaston?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Willaston is $1,213, or approximately $14,556/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 Willaston cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $300 works out to $1,300/month, covering 107% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,213/month. That means rent exceeds the median repayment by roughly $87/month, so on these numbers Willaston leans cash-flow-positive before accounting for strata, council rates, insurance and maintenance. 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 Willaston?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (3,458 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,213 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($65,208 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 Willaston 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.