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Speaker 1: It is just eighteen minutes after ten o'clock and we

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Speaker 1: know that the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: has released it's September quarter data which shows that sales

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Speaker 1: volumes in both houses and units across the Greater Darwin

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Speaker 1: region continued to climb at a good rate this quarter,

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Speaker 1: but the medium price on both flattened as the focus

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Speaker 1: of the purchases moved more to properties under that six

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollar mark. Now joining us on the line

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Speaker 1: to tell us a little bit more about the situation

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

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Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory. Good morning to you, Quentin.

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Speaker 2: Morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Quentin. As I've just said there that September quarter data,

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Speaker 1: it does show the sales volumes continue to climb. What

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Speaker 1: kind of numbers are we talking about, Well.

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Speaker 2: What we saw for houses, we saw about a seven

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Speaker 2: point nine percent increase in sales volume quarter on quarter,

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Speaker 2: so we saw around three hundred and ninety six houses

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Speaker 2: tach dwelling sold in the quarter. That The big news though,

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Speaker 2: is that if you did a year on year comparison,

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Speaker 2: so looking at the same time last year, that's an

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Speaker 2: eighty nine point five percent jump in sales volume from

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Speaker 2: what we saw last year, so it's a good increase. Now,

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Speaker 2: we did talk about in the opening part there how

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Speaker 2: the median price is pulled back a little bit. When

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Speaker 2: I say a little bit, we're talking about zero point

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Speaker 2: eight of a percent, so it's not a huge movement

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Speaker 2: in the median price. It just settled it a little bit,

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Speaker 2: and predominantly that's because we saw a larger volume of

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Speaker 2: houses selling under that six hundred thousand dollar mark, So

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Speaker 2: the median price basically is that middle point in all

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Speaker 2: of the sales that have occurred the previous quarter. We

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Speaker 2: saw a little bit more activity in that higher bracket,

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Speaker 2: so that pushed the median up a little bit, but

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Speaker 2: the medians still sitting around that. It's currently sitting at

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Speaker 2: five hundred seventy five thousand, five hundred, so it's around

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Speaker 2: that five p eighty five seventy five mark.

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Speaker 1: And Quentin, are we seeing any areas that are more

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Speaker 1: popular or that are seeing a greater sales Grice.

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Speaker 2: Well, we are actually in the housing market, so in

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Speaker 2: the detached housing we actually saw quite a sizeable jump

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Speaker 2: in sales in Palmerston in this quarter. With one hundred

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Speaker 2: and sixty eight sales go through in houses, which is

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Speaker 2: again a seven percent jump on the last quarter, but

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Speaker 2: an eighty four percent jump on the same time last year.

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Speaker 2: And for the unit market, perhaps the strongest market was

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Speaker 2: the Inner Dahu and Inner City area where we actually

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Speaker 2: saw two hundred and nine transactions go through in the quarter,

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Speaker 2: which was a thirty six point six percent jump on

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Speaker 2: sales volume from the last quarter and one hundred and

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Speaker 2: thirteen percent up from the last time for from this

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Speaker 2: time last year, so that was quite a healthy movement

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Speaker 2: Parmeerston and they actually didn't do too badly either, forty

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Speaker 2: one units sold in the last quarter, which is an

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Speaker 2: eighty six percent jump on the quarter on quarter, so

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Speaker 2: that one that market is again starting to move, and

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Speaker 2: a lot of that has to do with both pricing,

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Speaker 2: so people are still seeing the right pricing in the market,

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Speaker 2: they're still seeing the opportunities. But we're also seeing a

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Speaker 2: lot more activity from the investor market, which is good

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Speaker 2: because once we bring the investors back into the market,

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Speaker 2: we actually start to create more rental stock. Investors generally

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Speaker 2: are not looking for owner occupy, they're looking for rental

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Speaker 2: yields and Therefore they look at the market and say,

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Speaker 2: how can I get the best return on this and

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Speaker 2: when they purchase, they want to get that back in

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Speaker 2: and get a tenant in there. So that's great. If

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Speaker 2: we can get more investors in, it means we can

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Speaker 2: get more stock back into the rental market, which means

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Speaker 2: it starts to ease that rental pressure a little bit.

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Speaker 1: And how are things going for our friends in Catherine

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Speaker 1: and also in Alice Springs.

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Speaker 2: So Catherine is as always at a bloint market because

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Speaker 2: there's very little stock there, so it moves up and

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Speaker 2: down quite rapidly. But the last quarter was actually quite healthy.

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Speaker 2: They saw one hundred and sixteen percent jump in sales volume.

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Speaker 2: But we've got to take that in the measure. It

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Speaker 2: is because they are small numbers, so when they move

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Speaker 2: you'll see quite large percentage jumps. But it was a good,

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Speaker 2: good month or a good quarter, I should say. For Catherine,

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Speaker 2: thirty nine house sales generating a median price around three

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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty five thousand, So that's still a very

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Speaker 2: good medium to buy into that market. Only six unit sales,

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Speaker 2: but then again there is very limited supply of units

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Speaker 2: coming to the market and the unit price came in

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Speaker 2: around two hundred and thirty two thousand as a medium,

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Speaker 2: so again still good buying value. Alice Spring saw over

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Speaker 2: one hundred hunter fact one hundred and three houses sold

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Speaker 2: in the court, which was a twenty one percent jump

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Speaker 2: in their volume, and their median is sitting at four

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Speaker 2: hundred and eighty five thousand. That actually came back a

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Speaker 2: little bit more than the Darwin market that slipped about

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Speaker 2: two and a half percent, which tended to indicate to

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Speaker 2: me that perhaps eat It overheated a little in the

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Speaker 2: last two quarters and was just writing itself a little bit.

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Speaker 2: And in the unit market, they also had a good

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Speaker 2: strong quarter with five point six percent increase of fifty

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Speaker 2: seven units sold at a median price for units around

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Speaker 2: three hundred and twenty thousand. So generally, what we're seeing

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Speaker 2: right across the territory is good, strong sales activity and

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Speaker 2: the median seems to be finding a comfortable point at

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Speaker 2: the moment that it's sort of hovering around. It's taken

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Speaker 2: a run up over the last two quarters, and now

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Speaker 2: it seems to be leveling out a little bit.

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Speaker 1: And Quentin, what about when you talk about you know,

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Speaker 1: when you do talk about the rental markets and those

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Speaker 1: vacancy rates, how things tracking around Darwin.

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Speaker 2: Firstly, look, they're very very tight. The rental market is

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Speaker 2: still extremely tight. We showed a rental vacancy rate of

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Speaker 2: one point nine percent across Greater Darwin, which is an

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Speaker 2: extremely tight market by any stretch, but it gets even

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Speaker 2: tighter when you sort of break it down a little bit.

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Speaker 2: So in Palmerston it was around the same one point

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Speaker 2: nine percent. That's combining all dwellings, that's houses and units,

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Speaker 2: but in Catherine it was one percent and an Ala

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Speaker 2: Springs one point five percent. And if you go down

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Speaker 2: to look at more granular level for Catherine, the house

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Speaker 2: vacancy was less than half a percent, so it was

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Speaker 2: actually zero point five percent. And in the rural market

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Speaker 2: there is no units available at the moment, so they're

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Speaker 2: showing a zero percent vacancy rate in the unit area

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Speaker 2: and it is a tight type market. And again that's

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Speaker 2: another reason for us to be looking at the investor

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Speaker 2: market and trying to encourage investors to come in because

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Speaker 2: when they come in, they buy it that stock, and yes,

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Speaker 2: it does start to take away stock from house buyers,

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Speaker 2: but it also then generates material or new stock into

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Speaker 2: the rental market.

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Speaker 1: And no doubt I'm assuming that those prices are quite

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Speaker 1: high as well. In the rental market.

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Speaker 2: Yes, they have continued to fill upward pressure, So we're

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Speaker 2: looking at an average or a median rent on a

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Speaker 2: three bedroom home is coming in around five eighty eight

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Speaker 2: point fifty per week, and a two bedroom unit is

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Speaker 2: averaging around four hundred and twenty three dollars per week.

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Speaker 2: So both the markets, the house market and the unit

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Speaker 2: market did see more upward pressure in the last quarter

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Speaker 2: on nts, and that's just largely due to supply and demand.

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Speaker 2: So you know, we have a situation where for the

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Speaker 2: last five or six years, rents have fallen quite dramatically

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Speaker 2: because there was little demand and a lot of supply. Well,

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Speaker 2: that market has now shifted to very little supply and

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Speaker 2: a lot of demand, and so the equation on rents

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Speaker 2: unfortunately has shifted as well.

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Speaker 1: Well. Quentin. It certainly makes for some interesting reading. And

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Speaker 1: I know that that for some people probably maybe a

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Speaker 1: bit difficult to be able to get into the rental

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Speaker 1: market and a little bit more expensive than what they

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Speaker 1: might hope for. But if you're looking to sell your house,

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Speaker 1: it's probably a good time to do it.

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Speaker 2: By the look of it. Look, I mean if that's

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Speaker 2: if that's your desire, then certainly I would be talking

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Speaker 2: to your real estate agent about getting it appraisal and

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Speaker 2: your property to find out what it's worth and having

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Speaker 2: a chat to them about what the process would be. Equally,

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Speaker 2: the market is still well priced when you make comparisons

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Speaker 2: against other capital cities, and I really would be urging

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Speaker 2: people to say, well, if you are in the market

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Speaker 2: and you're looking to buy, go and talk to your broker,

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Speaker 2: talk to them about what your opportunities are, and what

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Speaker 2: your affordability is, what your purchasing power is, and really

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Speaker 2: seriously have a look at the marketplace. While these prices

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Speaker 2: still exist, and while we still have access to very

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Speaker 2: very low interest rates, even with the opera rules changing

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Speaker 2: slightly to increase that lending buffer, it still is a

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Speaker 2: good buying equation when you can get mortgages that start

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Speaker 2: with a one compared to a three or a four

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Speaker 2: or five. So it's still very much a good buying

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Speaker 2: opportunity in the marketplace.

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Speaker 1: Well, Quentin Killian, the Real Estate Institute of the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory CE are always good to talk to you, mate.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for your time today.

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Speaker 2: Absolute pleasure, Katie. Thank you.