This section provides analysis on the performance of the Northern Territory's (NT) residential housing market, including property prices and rents by region, housing affordability and finance commitments, and building activity and approvals.
Key facts | Greater Darwin | Alice Springs | Katherine | Tennant Creek | Capital city comparison | Housing finance commitments | Affordability | Dwelling supply | Explanatory notes
Key facts
Greater Darwin
In the March quarter 2022 the:
- median house price decreased by 1.5% to $583,750 and increased by 6.7% annually
- median unit price increased by 3.8% to $415,000 and increased by 25.8% annually
- median weekly house rent decreased by 3.5% to $547 per week and increased by 1.6% annually
- median weekly unit rent increased by 0.7% to $424 per week and increased by 16.5% annually
- number of houses sold decreased by 9.1% to 358 and increased by 28.8% annually
- number of units sold decreased by 30.5% to 273 and increased by 42.2% annually
- Darwin vacancy rate for all dwellings decreased by 1.3 ppt to 1.5%, reflecting a decrease of 0.3 ppt to 1.7% for houses and a decrease of 1.5 ppt to 1.5% for units
- Palmerston vacancy rate for all dwellings decreased by 0.7 ppt to 1.9%, reflecting a decrease of 0.7 ppt to 1.9% for houses and a decrease of 0.4 ppt to 2.0% for units.
Alice Springs
In the March quarter 2022 the:
- median house price increased by 3.4% to $527,500 and increased by 12.5% annually
- median weekly house rents increased by 19.1% to $530 and was flat annually
- median unit price increased by 17.0% to $365,000 and increased by 1.4% annually
- median weekly unit rent decreased by 1.8% to $410 and increased by 3.1% annually
- number of house sales decreased by 20.4% to 82 and increased by 6.5% annually
- sales volume for units decreased by 31.6% to 39 sales and increased by 21.9% annually
- rental yield for houses decreased by 0.5 ppt to 5.3% and increased by 0.6 ppt annually
- vacancy rate for all dwellings increased by 0.2 ppt to 3.2%, reflecting an increase of 0.6 ppt to 2.4% for houses and an increase of 0.8 ppt to 3.5% for units.
Katherine
In the March quarter 2022 the:
- median house price increased by 4.3% to $360,000, and increased by 22.0% in annual terms. There were 19 houses sold in the quarter
- median house rent increased by 5.3% to $500, and by 25.0% in annual terms
- median unit rent increased by 21.4% to $425, and by 11.1% in annual terms
- rental yield for houses decreased by 0.3 ppt to 7.5% in annual terms
- vacancy rate for all dwellings decreased by 0.3 ppt in annual terms to 1.5%, reflecting a 0.9 ppt decrease for unit vacancies, partly offset by a 0.1 ppt increase for house vacancies.
Caution should to be used when interpreting quarterly movements for Katherine, as the small size of these markets and low number of sales can lead to volatile results.
Tennant Creek
In the March quarter 2022:
- the median house price decreased by 19.8% to $232,500, but increased by 1.1% annually. There were 10 houses sold in the quarter.
Caution should to be used when interpreting quarterly movements for Tennant, as the small size of these markets and low number of sales can lead to volatile results. Consequently, the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory does not report sales, rental prices or vacancy rates for units in Tennant Creek.
Capital city comparisons
In the March quarter 2022:
- Darwin had the second lowest median house price of the capital cities at $583,750
- the eight capital city weighted average median house price was $1,033,600, an increase of 1.1% in the quarter and an increase of 18.3% annually
- Darwin median unit price ($415,000) was ranked the equal lowest of the capital cities alongside Perth
- the eight capital city weighted average median unit price was $656,700, a decrease of 0.3% in the quarter and an increase of 5.7% annually
- Darwin had the third highest median weekly house rent ($547) and the fourth highest median unit rent ($424) of all capital cities
- Darwin recorded the third highest vacancy rate of all capital cities at 1.6%, behind Melbourne (5.2%) and Sydney (2.3%)
- Darwin’s vacancy rate is susceptible to fluctuations due to the transient nature of the NT’s population.
Housing finance commitments
In the year to March 2022:
- the number of housing commitments (excluding refinancing) increased by 22.2% to 3,480, reflecting a 54.1% increase in non-first home buyers partly offset by a 17.2% decrease in the number of first home buyer commitments
- the value of total housing commitments for owner occupation (excluding refinancing) increased by 28.0% to $1.3 billion.
For the latest data and analysis about housing finance commitments in the NT, see the Department of Treasury and Finance’s Housing finance for owner occupation economic brief.
Affordability
In the March quarter 2022:
- housing affordability in the NT increased
- the proportion of family income required to meet loan repayments decreased by 0.5 ppt to 24.8%, as the median weekly family income increased by 0.7% to $2,205, and the average monthly loan repayment decreased by 0.5% to $2,370
- the NT recorded the lowest proportion of income required to meet loan repayments of all jurisdictions
- the proportion of median weekly family income required to meet median rent decreased by 1.1 ppt to 24.8%
- the NT recorded the third least affordable rent of all jurisdictions.
Dwelling supply
For the latest data and analysis about building approvals and building completions in the NT, see the Department of Treasury and Finance’s economic brief Building approvals and Building activity and the Construction industry page.
Explanatory notes
NT median house and unit prices and rents are sourced from the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory (REINT). REINT groups the regions of Darwin and Palmerston together as Greater Darwin. Darwin is further broken down into zones that cover the following suburbs:
- Inner Darwin: Bayview, Cullen Bay, Darwin City, East Point, Eaton, Fannie Bay, Larrakeyah, Ludmilla, Parap, RAAF Base Darwin, Stuart Park, The Gardens, The Narrows, Tipperary Waters and Woolner
- Darwin North Coastal: Alawa, Brinkin, Casuarina, Coconut Grove, Jingili, Lyons, Milner, Moil, Muirhead, Nakara, Nightcliff, Rapid Creek, Tiwi, Wagaman and Wanguri
- Darwin North East: Berrimah, Marrara and Winnellie
- Darwin East: Coonwarra and Darwin Airport
- Darwin North: Anula, Bagot, Buffalo Creek, Charles Darwin University, Holmes, Karama, Leanyer, Lee Point, Malak, Northlakes, Sanderson, Woodleigh Gardens and Wulagi
- Caution needs to be used when interpreting quarterly movements for regional markets such as Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek. The small size of these markets and low number of sales can lead to volatile results.
The median house and unit prices, and rents for the capital cities are sourced from Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA), which receives data from state and territory Real Estate Institutes. REIA adopts the ABS definitions of ‘houses’ and ‘other dwellings.’ A ‘house is a single self-contained place of residence detached from other buildings. An ‘other dwelling’ is a single self-contained place of residence other than a house such as flats, home units, town houses and terrace houses. However for Sydney the definition of ‘houses’ includes houses, cottages, terraces, semi-detached dwellings, townhouses and villas, and ‘units’ include units, studios and duplexes.
REIA’s weighted average median prices are derived from the quarterly median prices for all capital cities weighted according to the number of houses and other dwellings for each corresponding city. These numbers are sourced from the ABS 2011 and 2016 Census.
REIA’s housing affordability data is based on data from lending institutes and the ABS. They define median weekly family income as income from married couples with or without dependent children.
The ABS publication of housing finance commitments are derived from returns submitted to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and covers housing finance commitments statistics from banks and permanent building societies.