Skip to content
Suburb profile ·Northern Areas LGA · SA ·5490

Caltowie SA 5490

Caltowie is in Northern Areas LGA, SA, postcode 5490, with population 122.

Limited data

Thin-context

The page is still useful for local context, but the evidence stack is too thin for a clean one-page call. Use nearby stronger suburbs or compare mode before treating it as a serious shortlist decision.

Why it fits

Higher SEIFA context supports a stronger local-quality read.

What to check

Evidence depth is verify-heavy, so the profile should be treated as provisional. The page is thin enough that nearby alternatives should be checked before shortlisting. Small local population makes the signal set more fragile.

Median house
No local house series
Median rent
$190/wk
Market rent signal
D3 vs AU
Gross yield
Need rent + price
Population
4,688
5K via Northern Areas LGA · SAL undercount
Schools
No matched school data
Drive to city
Not in commute dataset
Solar
51
0 added 12mo · 0MW

Price history

No price history available

Price series isn't recorded for this suburb. Census housing data is shown instead.

Median mortgage · mth$879
Median rent · wk$190
Investor profile

Who invests in Caltowie

Owner-occupied 92%Rented 8%
Investor activityATO
Negatively geared1.2%
1 of 7 landlords
Avg rental loss$9,549/yr
Landlords (rental income)7
Reported capital gains14
The read

Owner-occupier stronghold

92% of homes here are owner-occupied and 8% rented, with 1% of landlords negatively geared.

Why it fits

92% owner-occupied — owner-occupiers hold longer and absorb rate shocks, supporting price stability.

ABS Census 2021 tenure (G37), ATO postcode rental statistics, and QuickProperty's investor-exposure index. Owner-occupied = owned outright + with a mortgage.

Affordability

13%
median weekly rent as a share of gross household income (the 30% rule)
Manageable

Owners with a mortgage repay a median of $879/mo, while renters pay about $823/mo — owning runs $56/mo higher on these medians.

Household income · yr
$76K
Median rent · wk
$190
Owner mortgage · mo
$879

Household income

$76K household · yr+0.7% vs SA suburb median
Personal
$38K
Family
$81K
Household
$76K

Housing stock and tenure

Tenure (38 households)
Owned outright
66%
Owned with mortgage
26%
Rented
8%
Dwelling structure24.1% of dwellings unoccupied on census night
Separate house
100%
Townhouse / semi
0%
Flat / apartment
0%

Getting to work: 59% drive, 0% public transport, 16% walk or cycle, 36% worked from home (2021 Census, taken during COVID-era work-from-home arrangements).

Population outlook

4,701 people · 20224,560 by 2032 (-3.0%)

ABS population projection (2022 base) for the Jamestown SA2 statistical area — the finest official projection grain available; suburb-level projections do not exist.

Full data detail Census · ATO · ABS · state datasets
Caltowie SA — Property Data and Demographics

Located in South Australia within the Northern Areas local government area, Caltowie is a small, quiet locality (postcode 5490). With a population of 122, the suburb has an established demographic with a median age of 40. Households earn a median income of $76K per year, with an average household size of 2.7 people. Recent annual estimates show population movement staying broadly stable across the broader catchment, with population growth running at +0.2% year-on-year at the LGA level. SA employment has moved +2.1% year-on-year in the official ABS Labour Force trend series, which provides the broader jobs backdrop for this suburb. SA also had 21 Commonwealth-backed major projects under construction, 7 underway, and 7 in planning as at 2025-09-01, which is useful as a broader delivery backdrop rather than a suburb-specific project count. The most common occupations are managers, professionals, technicians & trades. Employment in the area leans toward agriculture and healthcare. The top ancestries reported are English, Australian, German.

The median weekly rent is $190 (Census 2021). The median monthly mortgage repayment is $879.

On the investment side, Population growth of +0.2% year-on-year points to stable demand fundamentals. Building approvals have changed +0% year-on-year, indicating steady development activity.

Market & money
Investment signalsHeuristics
Pop. Growth+0.2%· Stable
Development+0%· Steady
InvestmentSA
Mortgage · mth$879
Rent · wk(Census)$190
Population growth · Northern Areas LGAABS ERP
Population (2025)4,688
5-year growth+0.3% CAGR
YoY change+0.2%
20012025
Development · Northern Areas LGAABS Approvals
Approvals (2026)13
Houses13
YoY change+0%
Employment · Northern Areas LGASALM
Unemployment (Dec-25)4.9%
YoY change+1.4pp
Dec-10Dec-25
Property investors · Postcode 5490ATO
Negatively geared1.2%
1 of filers
Avg rental loss$9,549/yr
Landlords (rental income)7
Reported capital gains14
People & prosperity
DemographicsCensus 21
Population122
Median age40
Household size2.7
HH income · wk$1,458
Personal income · wk$730
Persons / bedroom0.9
SEIFA indexABS
Advantage (IRSAD)9/10
Education (IEO)8/10
Economic (IER)8/10
Disadvantage (IRSD)8/10
Income momentumCensus 16→21
HH income · wk$924 → $1,458
Change+57.8%
vs SA median+39 pp
Median rent+90%
gentrifyingvs SA 2016–21
Area & amenity
Hospitals · Northern Areas LGAAIHW
Public2
Private0
Jamestown Hospital and Health Servicepublic
Laura and District Hospitalpublic
Aged care · Northern Areas LGAGEN
Facilities3
Residential places66
Belalie Lodge41 places
Jamestown Hospital and Health Service13 places
Laura Multi-Purpose Service12 places
Childcare · Northern Areas LGAACECQA
Services5
Approved places181
Exceeding NQS4
Jamestown Community Children's Centre56 places
Jamestown Community Children's Centre (Child Care) Inc56 places
Laura Preschool Centre29 places
Gladstone Kindergarten25 places
Happy Haven OSHC Jamestown15 places
Shortlist workspace

Save suburbs here while you browse. Once the shortlist has two or more names, hand it straight into compare.

Current status
Add Caltowie if it deserves a shortlist slot.

No saved AU suburbs yet.

EMPTY SET

No saved suburbs yet. Start with one ranking or suburb page, then compare once you have two candidates.

Open rankings to save the first candidates.

Sources & freshness
Verify-heavy evidence

Caltowie depends on evidence that should be verified before a decision.

QuickProperty mixes release files, Census baselines, and matched local services on this page. Read the status panel before treating every metric as equally fresh.

PRICE POSTURE
Prices come from release-based suburb series.

Official quarterly house sales workbooks; units remain on ABS fallback coverage

RENT POSTURE
Rent is falling back to Census, not a market feed.

This gives you directional coverage, but it is weaker than a current rent release.

SERVICE POSTURE
Service coverage is matched locally, not inferred nationally.

Schools, transport, and hospitals are useful as presence signals, but they still have different source cadences.

Data status
Property prices
SA metropolitan median house sales · Official quarterly house sales workbooks; units remain on ABS fallback coverage
stable source · automated · every update · quarterly
Missing
Market rent
ABS Census 2021 · Using Census rent fallback
stable source · manual file · snapshot · census-cycle
Verify
Crime
State crime dataset · No linked local crime series
Missing
Schools
ACARA 2025 · No local school matches exposed
stable source · automated · every update · annual
Missing
Hospitals
AIHW · No linked local hospital coverage
medium stability · manual file · snapshot · mixed
Missing
Transport
GTFS feeds · No matched local transport stops
medium stability · manual file · snapshot · mixed
Missing
Population growth
ABS ERP · 2025 · Annual estimate series
stable source · automated · every update · annual
Available
Building approvals
ABS Building Approvals · 2026 · Annual release series
stable source · automated · every update · monthly
Available
Available means a direct local dataset is linked. Verify means coverage exists but freshness or precision is weaker, such as ABS price fallback, Census rent fallback, or low-confidence hospital matching.
Sparse locality note

This page stays indexable because Caltowie is a real locality with enough context to be directionally useful. The tradeoff is that coverage is lighter than a stronger suburb profile, so the read should stay cautious.

WHY IT LOOKS LIGHTER
This is a real locality, but it has a very small Census footprint.

Small-population localities can still be worth checking, but rankings, comparisons, and broad suburb assumptions become noisier faster.

WHAT IS MISSING
Coverage is lighter across school matches, hospital coverage, transport stops, and crime coverage.

The lighter areas here are school matches, hospital coverage, transport stops, and crime coverage, so a single-page read should carry less weight than usual.

BEST NEXT STEP
Use this page to understand the locality shape, then compare outward.

Begin here, but pressure-test the read in compare, against the state hub, or a bigger nearby suburb before deciding.

Page status
INDEXED WITH LIGHTER COVERAGE

This page remains visible, but it should be read as a locality brief rather than a full-confidence suburb profile.

HOW TO READ THIS PAGE

This page is useful for direction-setting, not closure. Use it to frame the locality, then confirm the story with compare, stronger nearby suburbs, and the state hub.

Stronger nearby reads

If Caltowie feels too thin on its own, use these nearby suburbs as stronger local reads before making a shortlist decision.

Yacka most similar
similar rent profile similar suburb scale

pop same · rent -$40/wk

Similar local read: useful for context, but still compare the actual market signals.

Beetaloo Valley most similar
similar rent profile similar suburb scale

pop same · rent -$40/wk

Similar local read: useful for context, but still compare the actual market signals.

Belalie North most similar
similar suburb scale

pop same · rent -$90/wk

Similar local read: useful for context, but still compare the actual market signals.

Caltowie FAQ

Common questions
  1. What LGA is Caltowie in?

    Caltowie is in the Northern Areas Local Government Area, SA, postcode 5490. Council-level context for Northern Areas LGA (suburb mix, population, rent, and price coverage) is available on the QuickProperty LGA page.

  2. What is the typical weekly rent in Caltowie?

    The median weekly rent in Caltowie is $190/wk, based on ABS Census 2021 rent fallback.

  3. Is Caltowie a good investment?

    QuickProperty's investment signals for Caltowie show: Stable, Steady. These are computed from price, rent, income, and population data — not an opaque score.

  4. Where does QuickProperty get its data for Caltowie?

    Property prices come from state Valuers General offices and ABS Data by Region. Demographics are from ABS Census 2021. School ICSEA scores are from ACARA. Crime statistics are from state police agencies. Transport data is sourced from GTFS feeds.

  5. How often is the Caltowie data updated?

    Property prices update quarterly. RBA macro indicators update with each deploy. Demographics are from Census 2021. School ICSEA scores are from ACARA 2025.