Facts Dished Fast and Fresh: The Key Statistics Why Adelaide is Hot Revealed at AEDA’s Data4Lunch
Business and research experts say business growth, a booming visitor economy and escalating demand for premium commercial property are evidence of the city's momentum.
Speaking at Data4Lunch, hosted by the Adelaide Economic Development Agency (AEDA), Committee for Adelaide CEO Sam Dighton and AEDA Economic Research Advisor Jordon Tomopoulos highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of Adelaide’s economy.
Strengths included growth in workforce numbers, business activity, events, tourism, construction and property demand.
Some of the challenges highlighted included the impact of flexible working arrangements on city foot traffic, productivity levels against similar cities around the world, and nominal growth in consumer spending.
Speaking ahead of the presentations at the event themed ‘What’s Hot and What’s Not – How Adelaide Stacks Up,’ AEDA Business and Investment Executive Manager Tiffany Katchmar described Adelaide as an exciting place to be, particularly with several major developments nearing completion.
“We have a really strong development pipeline, with nearly $9 billion worth of world-class, city-shaping projects that are being completed or underway currently,” Ms Katchmar said.
“These projects are delivering high-quality floor space, new stock, upgraded amenities across commercial, institutional, housing, tourism and hospitality sectors.
“Adelaide’s momentum really highlights our competitive cost base, progressive outlook, and the ease of doing business here.”
In Short...
HOT: Businesses on the Increase, But Not Without Challenges
HOT: Concrete Evidence about Commercial Property Demand
HOT: More People are Looking at Adelaide as a Go-to Destination
NOT: Decline in Foot Traffic as Flexible Working Continues
NOT: Nominal Growth in consumer expenditure and economic growth
NOT: A Decline in Productivity Against Competitor Cities
She also highlighted investment interest in purpose-built student accommodation and a strong visitor economy among Adelaide’s drawcards.
The Committee for Adelaide’s 2025 Benchmarking Adelaide Report compared Adelaide to 20 similar-sized international cities – such as Porto and San Diego – with similar strengths and challenges.
The report examined how Adelaide performed in areas such as business dynamics, skills, transport, vibrancy, sustainability, brand and reputation.
It showed Adelaide had made positive progress in innovation, business appeal and population growth, and remained an important hub for international education and high-impact research.
However, it experienced declines in productivity, spending on research and development, transport infrastructure, connectivity and housing.
He said Adelaide should not aim to become a “Sydney, Melbourne, New York or London” but “continue to grow and be an amazing place”.
“Like many other global cities, Adelaide is grappling with several urgent and complex challenges,” Mr Dighton said.
“If we want Adelaide to thrive, we need to act now.
“We need to act with ambition, we have to act with urgency and we have to bring long-term thinking to the way we solve some of these problems … we need to push the boundaries of what is possible.
“But we need to also protect what makes Adelaide and South Australia so unique – what makes it a special place to live, our lifestyle, our inclusivity.”
HOT: Businesses on the Increase, But Not Without Challenges
New data revealed the number of businesses in the city had grown by 157 over the past year, reaching a total of 12,717.
Meanwhile, the city's workforce grew by nearly two per cent over the same period to 172,652.
Data showed most city businesses were sole traders, businesses with one to four employees, and then those with 5-19 employees.
However, there had been growth in the number of businesses with 20-199 and 200 plus employee numbers.
“When we look at how the workforce has changed over time, and we can see it is growing, and we forecast that it will continue to grow,” Mr Tomopoulos said.
AEDA supports businesses setting up or relocating to the CBD and North Adelaide through its Welcome to Adelaide program.
The initiative provides support in areas such as site selection, access to data to strengthen business cases, promotional support, connections to key decision-makers, tote bags filled with goodies for workers, and more.
See how the Welcome to Adelaide program can benefit your business.
HOT: Concrete Evidence about Commercial Property Demand
Mr Tomopoulos said construction and the demand for quality commercial property continued to shape Adelaide's economy.
Purpose-built student accommodation and new office towers continued to be in high demand, and positively impacted main street occupancy, visitation, investment and city branding.
Mr Tomopoulos said reduced property vacancies “was a real positive” and a strong indication that more businesses planned to open in the city.
Read more about major projects across the city.
HOT: More People are Looking at Adelaide as a Go-to Destination
Adelaide's hotel pipeline, valued at nearly $2.2 billion since 2020, reflected investor confidence in the city's tourism and business sectors, Mr Tomopolous said.
Greater Adelaide's hotel occupancy last quarter matched the national average of 69.4 per cent, which topped at 78 per cent in April –10 points above the Australian average.
This year, notable peaks in hotel bookings were during Gather Round and the Easter Long Weekend, however, business events also contributed to high mid-week booking numbers.
Events such as the Australian Rheumatology Association Annual Scientific Meeting 2025 and the Cancer Nurses Society of Australia Annual Congress 2025 all recorded high bed nights.
There are around 140 business events on the city calendar this year, expected to attract approximately 68,500 delegates to Adelaide.
“We have had about 28 per cent more rooms come online in the past two years, so that is about 1,600 extra rooms in the city compared to pre-COVID,” Mr Tomopolous said.
“In terms of hotel occupancy moving forward, it is looking very positive.”
The number of rooms booked last quarter was up 12.4 per cent compared to the same time the previous year, while revenue was up 7.1 per cent over the same period.
Learn more about the city's visitor economy.
NOT: Decline in Foot Traffic as Flexible Working Continues
The number of daily city users dropped 5.1 per cent over the past year to 371,000 people, despite the growing number of workers in the city and 157 new businesses.
Mr Tomopoulos attributed this, in part, to flexible working arrangements, with more people choosing to work from home rather than commute to their desks in the city.
Currently, office attendance is highest in Perth at 92 per cent, followed by Brisbane (91 per cent), Adelaide (86 per cent), Canberra Civic (67 per cent), and Melbourne (71 per cent) on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
See AEDA's interactive foot traffic dashboard to discover more data.
NOT: No Boost in Consumer Expenditure and Economic Growth
According to banking data, spending remained subdued especially when adjusted for inflation.
However, data showed increased spending had come from older people compared to younger cohorts.
People aged between 25 and 34 years old had been the highest spenders in the city, but their spending had declined, while 55- to 64-year-olds increased their share of the city's total spending.
“For retired couples who have no mortgage or a low mortgage, life is great for them (as) they are making more on their savings,” Mr Tomopoulos said.
He said the "people doing it tougher” were single and coupled people without children, and young families trying to negotiate high mortgages.
AEDA data showed South Australia had a strong start to 2025, with the city's economy alone worth $25.5 billion over the past year.
See AEDA's interactive expenditure dashboard to discover more data.
NOT: A Decline in Productivity Against Competitor Cities
The Committee for Adelaide’s 2025 Benchmarking Adelaide Report showed that Adelaide's productivity had declined, down from 10th to 12th and 30 per cent behind the Australian average.
Productivity is the amount of output a business, person or team can create compared to the number of resources they put into the task.
“This obviously has a flow-on impact across the economy in terms of wages and GDP,” Mr Dighton said.
He said the next 12 months were crucial and Adelaide needed to think about where it wanted to be by 2050 in order to act with purpose and direction.
“We need to attract more people, welcome them in and create the right metrics to make them want to stay,” he said.
According to latest Productivity Commission data, labour productivity across Australia fell by 3.7 per cent in 2022-23.
Learn more about business and investment in the city.