LadyLauren

Hi all,

Me and the old man are looking at SA in detail at the mo, Adelaide specifically. I have been trying to research 'desirable' areas of the 'burbs, so that we can establish decent areas (for which school research will follow), rental prices and commutes to the city etc. I have stumbled across an article which puts forward their opinion, apparently from The Sunday Mail, in Adelaide.

Undesirable Areas

The North and North-West of the city, including Angle Park, Athol Park, Ferryden Park, Mansfield Park, Woodville Gardens and Woodville North

They have also outlined that unemployment is worst in the northern, outer-northern and outer-southern suburbs – in areas such as Angle Park, Elizabeth, Smithfield, and Christie Downs


They then go on to say this:

'Managerial and professional classes are concentrated in the eastern and hills suburbs. The outer-northern and southern areas have high proportions of skilled workers and trades-people.'

So which suburbs would they be?

Do people that have knowledge / residence in Adelaide agree with these? Any help would be much appreciated so that we can close in our search areas!

TIA,

Lauren

Merseygirl

Hi Lauren and Welcome to British Expats!

I would say that what you have read in the Sunday Mail is fairly accurate.

The poorer areas do tend to be in the north and northwest of the city, with another pocket in the outer south.
I live south of the city in the foothills of the Adelaide hills. I would say most of these suburbs are nice such as Blackwood, Coromandel Valley, Hawthorndene, Belair, Flagstaff Hill.
If you want to live nearer the coast then Brighton, Hove and Somerton Park are nice areas too. Depends what sort of lifestyle you are after.

I don't know the North of Adelaide that well but the areas around Tea Tree Gully are supposed to be nice.
The Eastern suburbs - areas such as Norwood, Burnside, Wattle Park etc are nice but come at a price! The advantage of these areas is their closeness to the city - less than 30 mins.

The areas I mentioned earlier would have a commute to the city between 25 - 50 minutes depending on time of day.
Hope this helps.

Vash the Stampede

Very true. Golden Grove, TTG, Wynne Vale, Greenwith, Vista & St Agnes are all good (Yatala Vale is ideal if you can afford it). Salisbury Heights is also worth a mention; despite the name, it's located at a safe and hygienic distance from Salisbury. I have friends in all of these suburbs.

My personal dream is to live in Houghton.

LadyLauren

Many thanks for your responses. Out of the nice areas, are there any that spring to mind that really suit families, or are known for being lovely for families?

Vash the Stampede

How do you define "lovely for families"? What features are you particularly looking for?

LadyLauren

I mean areas where other families tend to settle. There may be some nice areas that are known for being retirement areas, IYSWIM. That and good schools, but these 2 points tend to come together. It's all about the kids.

KJCherokee

The choices basically split between North and South, and then between plains and hills.

Plains areas.

Inner northern areas (Medindie, Prospect, North Adelaide, etc) are only for the very wealthy or DINKs, and not particularly family orientated. Outer northern areas (Gepps Cross, Salisbury, Paralowie, Parafield, Elizabeth, etc) are low socioeconomic areas. Inner southern areas such as Goodwood, Unley, Fullerton, (anywhere between Greenhill Road and Cross Road) are the older areas - houses here mostly will be on small blocks as the old quarter-acre blocks have mostly been subdivided by now. Anywhere between Cross Road and Sturt Road is likely to have houses on reasonable sized blocks interspersed with new townhouse development.
Areas near the coast (Grange, Semaphore, Glenelg, Brighton, Hove) are likely to be more expensive than similar properties inland.
Outer southern suburbs (Reynella, Hackham, etc) are relatively modern developments.

Hills areas.

The hills close to the city were originally developed as summer residences, as the hills are usually a few degrees cooler than the plains. Belair, Glenalta and Blackwood in the south are the oldest, as the train line was built up there early on, and still retain a certain village identity. Further south Flagstaff Hill and Aberfoyle Park are newer developments (70's onwards) . Eastern foothills (Stonyfell , Hazelwood Park) are again relatively expensive, and the northern foothills (Tea Tree Gully, Golden Grove) are the newer developments.
The real hills areas (Crafers, Stirling, Aldgate, Upper Sturt) are outer villages/towns - lovely to live in but a difficult commute as there is only one way into the city via the freeway.

Hope this helps.

Vash the Stampede

In that case I can recommend Wynn Vale, Greenwith, Vista, and Golden Grove.

KJCherokee

By the way, Adelaidians are firmly divided into Northsiders and Southsiders and never the twain shall meet. No Southsider would ever consider living north of the city, and vice versa.

I was always a Southsider when I lived there (1983-1994 and 1999-2003) so my advice will be biassed in that direction. Similarly I doubt if Vash the Stampede would even consider the south side worth bothering with.

So cull what you can from the advice here, but realise that all posters will be biassed.

Mipik

Pretty much all the suburbs within Burnside Council or Norwood Payneham and St. Peters Council if you are looking for nice suburbs with good schools.

Gjn200

Actually Commute times are far better that the north/south peeps will admit. Mt barker to the cbd at rush hour takes 45 mins. That is the same, if not less,as from seaford/greenwith as an example. Mt barker to wingfield (industrial 'north') can be done in the hour.

Mt barker to Flinders hospital/uni can be done in 30 mins.

Nick11

That is so true.
I live in the south and think north of the city is a different planet.
But each to his own..wouldn't do if we were all the same!!!!

Vash the Stampede

Hahah, wrong mate, I'm a West Australian. Quite happy to live anywhere in SA that I like the look of; no north/south prejudice here. I've got plenty of mates in nice suburbs at both ends of the compass. I only mentioned the ones that I did because I'm familiar with them, and people were talking about northern suburbs in the TTG area.

MUST LEAVE UK

But I thought all Brits had to move to Hallet Cove ?

An area which I just don't get, as it's not what I call coastal lifestyle and has the character of a David Camerson !. Or is it because the ammount of Brtis there make it easier to make friends.

Wendy

I agree

Yep, I'm with Vash here. Lovely places and crap places both North, South, East & West. I could quite easily move south of the city if it wasn't for the kids school being 'up north'

Takes me 1:15 mins to get all the way from Para Hills, right down to Seaford Meadows. Not too bad considering I'm always going against the freeway. (which by the way, is currently up for tender as they are duplicating it to make it go both ways )