The Best Suburbs in Adelaide

TEA Tree Gully and Hawthorndene are big winners in the Valuer General's quarterly property figures. Data released by the Valuer General shows Tea Tree Gully's median house price jumped 34.7 per cent to $444,450 for the year to the end of September, compared with $330,000 for the same period in 2010.

Hawthorndene's median house price is now $485,000, up 20.5 per cent from $402,500.

News is not as good for homeowners in Fulham Gardens, where the median price dropped 23.6 per cent from $720,000 to $550,000 in just one year.

Also experiencing falls were Salisbury Heights, dropping 18.5 per cent to $317,750 and Somerton Park, down 18.3 per cent to $635,000.

The figures show South Australia has not been protected from a nationwide fall in house prices caused by the economic slowdown, with a 2.7 per cent fall in median house prices across the state and a 10.4 per cent fall within inner-metropolitan Adelaide.

Real Estate Institute of South Australia president Greg Nybo said the fall was slight and reflected "absolute resilience" in the SA market. "Even though our volumes ... are probably down 20 per cent, to nearly come back (to a) 2.6 per cent (fall) just shows the real strength of the market," Mr Nybo said. "While days on the market might have extended out significantly, the median sales price is really holding the line." He said the 10.4 per cent drop in the inner-metropolitan areas - which takes in Medindie, Walkerville and North Adelaide - could reflect caution after 10 years of "spectacular growth".

Ray White Blackwood principal Brenton Craggs - himself a former Hawthorndene resident - was not surprised by growth in his old suburb. "You get the far-reaching views, the tree tops and the birdlife," he said. Kylie Howard and her family moved to Hawthorndene from Woodville North at Easter because of the family-friendly appeal.

"We wanted to find a nicer place to bring up our children," she said.