Darwin was the only Australian capital to see home values rise in August, while still offering the most affordable dwellings with a median value of $512,531, attracting investors but impacting renters, CoreLogic statistics show.

Properties in the capital cities fell 1.6 per cent last month – the biggest fall since 1983 – while Darwin registered a 0.9 per cent increase in values.

The upward trend in house values has seen renters paying somewhere around $100 a week or $150 a fortnight more. The increased rent compounded by increasing cost-of-living expenses has seen more people struggling to survive financially.

Lower rents in Darwin, against other jurisdictions, do not mean it’s affordable as renters are currently shelling out as high as 50 per cent of their incomes for dwellings, data shows.

CoreLogic indicates that Darwin rents are rising at 6 to 7 per cent annually and are showing no signs of slowing down in the short to medium term.

“Vacancy rates are around the one per cent mark, and chances are, as we see overseas migration picking up … we probably will start to see rents rising even further from here. So, for tenants, it’s not great news,” CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless said.

Mr Lawless said that with potential upcoming major infrastructure projects and a potentially growing populace, property values in the city will keep rising or hold steady in the remaining months of the year.

“It’s not uncommon for Darwin to be a counter-cyclical market. Previously, housing values were falling where most other regions around the country were recording rises in values,” he said. “Now it’s completely the opposite, and we are seeing Darwin housing values still rising, while most of the country is recording a fall in values.”

Experts say that Darwin’s property market is booming at the moment. Rising rents coupled with more affordable properties to buy is a boon for investors.

“It’s kind of an investor’s dream – to not only be getting capital growth in the value of the home, but rising rental income from that home as well,” CoreLogic head of residential research Eliza Owen said.