Sales remained strong for the last quarter of 2021 in the Northern Territory, according to the latest REINT report, with price rises on both the housing and unit sales market, but with vacancy rates easing, rental prices fell slightly.

The strongest performer again in the last quarter to December was unit/townhouse sales, which were up by 18.7 per cent – a whopping 113.6 per cent increase on the same time last year, the report stated.

Palmerston saw the most activity in the unit/townhouse market with sales up by 63.4 per cent for the quarter, which is a huge 294.1 per cent rise over the previous year.

The housing market continued its upward rise in the medium price up to $592,500, despite the amount of overall sales dropping. Palmerston was again most popular place to buy with 163 sales for the quarter although slightly down from the September quarter.

Alice Springs continued to show solid sales performance with the median price up by 5.2 per cent for the quarter up to $510,000. One location often overlooked is Tennant Creek, but in the December quarter, it saw the median price of houses rise by over 9 per cent to $290,000.

Vacancy rates continued to ease across Greater Darwin area in the last quarter, rising another 0.8 per cent to reach 2.7 per cent.

Rents have pulled yields back slightly this quarter for investors. The rental yield for Greater Darwin remained strong at 5.0 per cent on houses and 5.5 per cent on units. Alice Springs continues to offer investors the best yields with houses getting an average return of 5.7 per cent and units in Alice Springs an average of 7.0 per cent.

“The picture across the Territory is one of continued strong demand but the pressure is on the supply side, particularly as there is little new stock coming to market,” said REINT CEO Quentin Killian.

“Rental demand remains high but at nearly three percent vacancy rate, it does free up more stock
for renters.

“Investors continue to be interested in the Territory due to the strong yields on offer, and that should bring more stock back into the rental market.”