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Speaker 1: Quentin Killian, the CEO of the Real Estate Institute of

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory. Good morning, Quentin, Morning Katie.

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Speaker 2: Now Quentin.

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Speaker 1: The latest property sales report it's been released and well

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Speaker 1: the top end property market was as hot as the

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Speaker 1: weather was the headline in in that media release. How

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Speaker 1: are things going at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Look, it is a very very robust market at the moment.

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Speaker 2: It's quite exciting to see the movement that we're seeing

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Speaker 2: in there. Just to give you some perspectives, the sales

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Speaker 2: volume for housing for detached housing in March quarter jumped

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Speaker 2: up ten point eight percent in the quarter, which is

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Speaker 2: a great growth and annually that's a fifty one point

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Speaker 2: one percent growth on where it was selling out last year.

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Speaker 2: The median price for housing also jumped up nine point

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Speaker 2: four percent in the quarter, which is sixteen point four

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Speaker 2: percent better than last year and now sits at five

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Speaker 2: hundred and forty seven thousand for the median price for

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Speaker 2: house in the territory or in Darwin oceand say And

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Speaker 2: units were also a great performer. They sold four point

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Speaker 2: three percent more in the last quarter, which is at

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Speaker 2: forty three point three percent more than what it was

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Speaker 2: selling at last year and that's moved up to a

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Speaker 2: median price of three hundred and thirty thousand across the

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Speaker 2: Greater Darwin region, so it's been very busy. The other

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Speaker 2: exciting area of growth was land sales for residential land,

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Speaker 2: where we saw growth in pretty much every sector of

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Speaker 2: land sales, from the smaller blocks under six hundred square

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Speaker 2: to the average blocks of six hundred to eight hundred

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Speaker 2: square meters, so pretty much every area was selling well.

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Speaker 2: And I know there is starting to get a bit

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Speaker 2: of pressure on available land at the moment. There are

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Speaker 2: some new releases coming out, so it'll be interesting to

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Speaker 2: see whether that continues its growth into the Dune quarter

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Speaker 2: when that happens.

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Speaker 1: So Quentin, that is for the top end. How are

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Speaker 1: things going in the lights of Alice Springs at this.

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Speaker 2: Point we look Alice Springs was a little bit quieter.

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Speaker 2: They showed a little bit of a drop in the

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Speaker 2: sales volume. Now we've actually recorded around seventy seven sales

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Speaker 2: in houses, but I believe we've had a bit of

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Speaker 2: a discrepancy in that. This morning it could be around

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Speaker 2: eighty on sales. There's about not a three that we

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Speaker 2: haven't picked up in there, but that's dropped back about

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Speaker 2: eighteen percent in its volume and its sales volume and

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Speaker 2: the medians are pretty steady. But Alice Springs has had

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Speaker 2: a pretty good run over the last couple of years anyway.

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Speaker 2: So where Darwin has dropped off dramatically in the last

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Speaker 2: few years, Alice hasn't had that same impact. It had

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Speaker 2: an impact, but not as dramatic as the Darwin market.

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Speaker 2: Their unit market was again was a bit quieter in

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Speaker 2: the sales volume, but it's still steady at around three

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Speaker 2: hundred and sixty thousand median price for a unit now,

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Speaker 2: so it's been a good, strong market. Catherine again a

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Speaker 2: little bit quieter in the sales volume, but again is

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Speaker 2: still quite a strong market. And Tennant Creek actually picked

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Speaker 2: up by fifty percent, mind you, it's on very low numbers.

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Speaker 2: They sold nine houses in Tenant over the last quarter

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Speaker 2: and their medium picked up by fifteen percent, so they're

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Speaker 2: up around the two hundred and thirty thousand, so pretty

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Speaker 2: much across the territory, the start of twenty twenty one

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Speaker 2: has been a very positive sign for the real estate market.

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Speaker 1: Quentin, what do you attribute that to?

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Speaker 2: Look, I think it's a combination of a few things. One,

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Speaker 2: we are seeing a pick up in population. I mean

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Speaker 2: it's not as dramatic as the decline we've seen over

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Speaker 2: the last five years, but people asked on ed to

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Speaker 2: come back to the territory and therefore put pressure on

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Speaker 2: the market. But equally, what we are seeing is still

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Speaker 2: large numbers of first home buyers coming into the market

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Speaker 2: using the the timing of both the available tax concessions

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Speaker 2: that the NT government has in there and also the

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Speaker 2: very very low interest rates. I mean we're now seeing

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Speaker 2: mortgages with a one in front of them rather than

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Speaker 2: a three or four. So it's a great incentive for

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Speaker 2: first home buyers to be coming into a market. And

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Speaker 2: while our median price is moving up in relative terms,

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Speaker 2: Melbourne has just cracked the million dollar median price and

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Speaker 2: Sydney is at about one point one to two million

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Speaker 2: for a median value of a property. So putting that

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Speaker 2: into perspective, when you're still in the five hundreds, it's

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Speaker 2: good buying value in Darwin and in particular in fact

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Speaker 2: across the territory when you're looking particularly to your first

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Speaker 2: home purchase. So the other area that is starting to

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Speaker 2: kick off, and we're very pleased to see this is

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Speaker 2: the investor market again, So investors are getting rental yields

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Speaker 2: up here that are around about five and a half

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Speaker 2: to six percent, compared to around say one to between

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Speaker 2: one and three percent in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. So

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Speaker 2: for an investor, this is a prime market to be

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Speaker 2: looking at for, particularly unit investments, which you can then

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Speaker 2: turn back into the rental market.

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Speaker 1: And Quentin talking about rentals, how are those how are

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Speaker 1: those vacancy rates going in the rental area.

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Speaker 2: Oh, look, the vacancy rates are very squeezed again. We're

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Speaker 2: down to one point eight percent across the Greater Darwin area,

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Speaker 2: one point six percent in Palmerston and two point four

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Speaker 2: percent in Alice Springs. And if you're looking for a

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Speaker 2: unit in the rural area, that's hit the vacancy rate

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Speaker 2: of zero. So I'm sure that there are some, but

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Speaker 2: there's they're not showing up on our stats at the moment.

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Speaker 2: But yes, the vacancy rate has tightened up again in

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Speaker 2: the March quarter from the December quarter, and rents have

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Speaker 2: risen across the board a little bit. They're not jumping

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Speaker 2: and leaping up at a great rate of notes, but

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Speaker 2: we didn't see that the overall rents, so we're talking

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Speaker 2: about Greater Dam and including Palmerston. House rent moved up

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Speaker 2: six percent in the quarter to an average of five

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Speaker 2: hundred and thirty eight a week, and unit rents were

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Speaker 2: pretty steady. That only moved about zero point one percent

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Speaker 2: in the course, so that sits around about an average

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Speaker 2: of three point sixty four per week.

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Speaker 1: Quentin, I guess none of us ever really know, But

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Speaker 1: are you expecting things to slow down or continue on

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Speaker 1: this path at this point?

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Speaker 2: I'm loath to crystal ballgames because there are so many

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Speaker 2: external factors that can impact on the market. But all

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Speaker 2: the current signs are showing us that the demand is maintaining,

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Speaker 2: and as long as that demand maintains, then the market

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Speaker 2: will remain active. So as long as we can keep

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Speaker 2: bringing people to the territory and that they're is a

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Speaker 2: growth in our population, there will continue to be a

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Speaker 2: demand on the housing market, and supply is tight. The

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Speaker 2: more that we can have people looking at coming back

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Speaker 2: into the sales market and also new land releases, a

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Speaker 2: new product coming into the market eases that supply a

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Speaker 2: little bit, but at the moment, demand is certainly pushing

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Speaker 2: supply to its limits.

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Speaker 1: Quentin just quickly before we wrap up. Is there a

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Speaker 1: particular suburb which is the most popular to buy a home?

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Speaker 2: Not really, No, it's sort of spread across and it

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Speaker 2: really depends on the price point that you're looking at,

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Speaker 2: because it does vary, say greatly between Fanny Bay, lark

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Speaker 2: Here out to Gray and Molded, So it really does

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Speaker 2: depend on the price point. But we are seeing quite

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Speaker 2: a lot of sales. Very popular area in general, not

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Speaker 2: in a suburb, but in general is Palmerston at the moment.

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Speaker 2: So in the March quarter we saw sales volumes in

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Speaker 2: housing drop jump up to one hundred and fifteen properties

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Speaker 2: sold in the March quarter, So Palmerston is proving to

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Speaker 2: be quite popular and I think that's largely because of

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Speaker 2: the slightly lower price point than moving closer to the city.

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Speaker 1: Well, Quentin Killian, it is always great to catch up

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Speaker 1: with you. I know you're a busy man this morning,

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Speaker 1: so we really appreciate.

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Speaker 2: Your time, my pleasure, Katie.

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Speaker 1: Thank you. That is Quentin Killian. There the Real Estate

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Speaker 1: Institute of the Northern Territories CEO