Andrews Farm, SA 5114Home loan and property guide

Andrews Farm location and character

Andrews Farm lies north of Elizabeth and west of Smithfield Plains, within the City of Playford. It is bounded by the Northern Expressway, Curtis Road, Stebonheath Road and Petherton Road. The suburb was originally rectangular, with Andrews Road as its western boundary, and was extended west to the Northern Expressway in 2011 to prevent the suburb of Macdonald Park being divided by the new freeway.

It was founded in 1991 as a suburb in the then Munno Para Council, formed by renaming Smithfield West in recognition of the Andrews family, who were local farmers. That makes it a comparatively recent creation, and its housing and street layout reflect estate development from the 1990s onward rather than the Housing Trust planning that shaped the older Elizabeth suburbs nearby.

The suburb has grown quickly. The 2021 Census counted 8,699 residents, and the profile of the population, with a median age of 28, reflects how much of that growth has come from young families moving into new housing over the past three decades.

Transport and amenity in Andrews Farm

There is no railway station in Andrews Farm. The closest stations are on the Gawler line to the east, including Smithfield, reached by bus or car. The line has 27 stations, closed on 24 December 2020 for electrification and reopened on 12 June 2022, and most services are now operated by 4000 class electric trains, the last of which was delivered in December 2023.

The Northern Expressway forms the western boundary and provides the fast route to and from the Adelaide city centre, while Main North Road to the east carries district traffic. Curtis Road, Stebonheath Road and Petherton Road bound the suburb and carry local traffic. Adelaide Metro buses connect the suburb to Smithfield, Munno Para Shopping City and the Elizabeth city centre.

Munno Para Shopping City and the Elizabeth city centre supply the main retail, health and civic facilities for the district. Schools operate in the suburb and its neighbours, and this guide does not describe school zones, which the Department for Education or the school concerned can confirm.

Housing stock in Andrews Farm

Almost all housing dates from the 1990s onward, with successive estate releases continuing as the suburb was extended. The typical dwelling is a detached brick or brick veneer house built by a volume builder, most commonly with three or four bedrooms and a garage, on an estate allotment. Later releases include narrow-lot and two-storey designs.

Attached and higher-density housing is close to absent. At the 2021 Census, 2,761 of the 2,894 occupied private dwellings were separate houses and 135 were semi-detached or townhouse dwellings, with no flats or apartments recorded at all, so houses made up 95.4 per cent of occupied homes against 72.3 per cent nationally. Three-bedroom homes numbered 1,659 and four-bedroom homes 909.

Because much of the stock is recent, major structural defects are less common than in older suburbs, but inspections still examine cracking associated with site works and reactive soils, retaining walls, drainage, and the approval status of pergolas, carports, decks and pools added after handover.

Who lives and buys in Andrews Farm

The 2021 Census counted 8,699 residents in Andrews Farm, with a median age of 28, a decade below the national 38, and an average household size of 2.9 people compared with 2.5 nationally. Children aged 5 to 14 were the largest group at 1,671, followed by adults aged 25 to 34 at 1,619 and 35 to 44 at 1,219, which is the profile of a young family suburb.

Mortgaged ownership and renting both run high, while outright ownership is rare. The Census recorded 1,378 dwellings owned with a mortgage, 1,144 rented and only 316 owned outright, so 48.2 per cent of households with a stated tenure had a mortgage, 40.0 per cent rented and just 11.1 per cent owned outright, against 31.0 per cent owning outright nationally. Median weekly household income was $1,465 against $1,746, and median monthly mortgage repayments were $1,300 against $1,863.

For a buyer, this is a young estate market where first home buyers and young families dominate owner-occupier purchasing and investors take a substantial share. With almost nine households in ten either paying a mortgage or renting, budgets here are unusually sensitive to changes in repayments, and there is very little stock suited to downsizers.

Planning and local factors in Andrews Farm

Zoning and overlays come from the state-wide Planning and Design Code, which replaced council development plans in March 2021, and can be viewed for any address through the South Australian Property and Planning Atlas. In estate suburbs, land title encumbrances imposed by developers to control design and external appearance may also remain registered on titles, and a conveyancer can explain their present effect when reviewing the Form 1.

The Northern Expressway forms the western boundary, so properties near that edge may be affected by traffic noise. The suburb was extended west to the expressway in 2011 specifically so that the new freeway would not divide neighbouring Macdonald Park, which means the newest parts of the suburb are also the closest to it.

The Census recorded 144 unoccupied private dwellings out of 3,042 on Census night, a modest figure consistent with a suburb of permanent residents and ordinary turnover rather than holiday or investment vacancy.

Buying in Andrews Farm under South Australian contract law

A South Australian vendor must serve a Form 1 vendor's statement. The Law Handbook published by the Legal Services Commission describes it as disclosing mortgages and encumbrances, planning zone and overlay information and recent transfers, and as explaining cooling-off rights. In estate suburbs the encumbrance section deserves particular attention.

The purchaser generally has two clear business days from service of the Form 1 to cool off by written notice, and no cooling-off applies at auction. Contracts are often made subject to finance, and the clause should specify when approval is due. A conveyancer normally manages settlement. South Australian first home buyer duty relief is confined to new homes, which can be relevant here where newly built or off-the-plan stock is purchased.

Home loan considerations for Andrews Farm property

Modern detached houses on standard titles are the most widely accepted security, and the large number of similar homes gives valuers plentiful comparable sales. That uniformity cuts both ways: a valuer can readily test an agreed price against near-identical houses nearby, including any new homes still being released, so a valuation below the contract price is possible.

Because outright ownership is only around one household in nine, most purchasers borrow a large share of the price, so lenders mortgage insurance or a place in the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme is commonly part of the funding. Where a buyer purchases land with a separate building contract, a construction loan is drawn in stages against an as-if-complete valuation, and costs outside the building contract such as fencing, driveways and landscaping need to be funded from savings.

Lending considerations for Andrews Farm

• Outright ownership was only 11.1 per cent at the 2021 Census, so budgets are unusually sensitive to changes in repayments.
• High loan-to-value borrowing is common, so lenders mortgage insurance or the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme is often relevant.
• Streets of near-identical houses, with new homes still being released nearby, make it easy for a valuer to test a price.
• Construction loans for house and land purchases are drawn in stages and valued on an as-if-complete basis.
• Developer encumbrances controlling design and external appearance may remain registered on titles.

Lender policy differs between institutions and changes over time. The guide to Australian lenders explains how credit policy varies, and the home loan guide sets out the main loan structures.