The Northern Territory’s existing building code restrictions will worsen the dismal state of student accommodation and will eventually hamper economic activity in the jurisdiction, the Property Council NT has warned.

Property Council NT chief executive Ruth Palmer agreed with the CLP Oppositions calls for empty office spaces to be converted into ‘special purpose accommodation’ to help alleviate the student population’s dilemma of finding safe and affordable accommodation in Darwin.

“A report that we did nationally through our student accommodation council shows that currently, Darwin has a ratio of only one bed per 33 students in Darwin,” Ms Palmer said.

She added that while property developers have expressed interest in building affordable housing for students, development applications have been denied because of existing building code restrictions concerning car park numbers.

“So the current code means that they have to provide all the required long-term amenities that are pretty much not essential, or ideological,” Ms Palmer said. “Car parking has played a massive issue in the development applications that have been going through. The approval hasn’t been given and some of them have been due to that car parking requirement.”

The Property Council also warned that the NT’s economic activity would slow down in the next two years if no policy is put in place addressing rental housing scarcity in the near term.

It said the government should look at vacant buildings and/or floors that could be repurposed to act as a short-term solution for accommodating students and workers.

The current shortage of student lodging prompted Charles Darwin University vice-chancellor Scott Bowman to appeal to property owners and households with vacant spaces to help in the lodging gap for students.

With the arrival of more students for the coming semester, CDU has estimated a shortfall of about 200 rooms for student accommodation. That shortfall in accommodation is expected to worsen when the new CDU campus in Darwin City opens next year.

Mr Bowman also appealed for households to open up spare bedrooms for students to rent.

“If you’ve got some spare room, maybe a spare bedroom or a granny flat that you’re not using, consider taking an international student to occupy that room. Renting out rooms would also provide an extra source of revenue to help households in tight economic times,” Mr Bowman told ABC.

“We’ve got another 600 or 700 students arriving for semester two. Our recruitment is just going through the roof. It’s going to be very, very tight in the city.”

At present, there is only one property near the CBD listed on the university’s ‘Study Stays’ portal: a two-bedroom apartment located in Stuart Park.