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Speaker 1: Now we know the calls for the first home buyer

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Speaker 1: cap to be lifted on the federal government's First Home

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Speaker 1: Buyer scheme. They're getting louder as the territory housing market

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Speaker 1: continues to shift. Ruth Palmer joined us a couple of

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Speaker 1: weeks ago to talk about the climbing costs making it

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Speaker 1: more difficult for locals to access the scheme. Now Ruth,

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Speaker 1: the executive director of the Property Council, joins me on

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Speaker 1: the line right now. Good morning to your Ruth.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Ruth and numbers they're continuing to grow when it comes

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Speaker 1: to homes in Darwin and Palmerston. I mean since we

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Speaker 1: last spoke, what have we seen? Have we seen these things?

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Speaker 1: You know, like the house prices continue to go up,

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Speaker 1: houses stock levels looking.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, Katie. When we last spoke we were

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Speaker 2: talking about that six hundred thousand cap and our June

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Speaker 2: report showing that the median house price was at six

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Speaker 2: hundred thousand. The latest Domain report that was in September,

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Speaker 2: which was published in the Australian Financial Review, has the

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Speaker 2: house prices the median house price now at six hundred

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Speaker 2: and fifty six thousand. We are seeing that steady increase

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Speaker 2: and it's jump to about ten percent just in the

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Speaker 2: last six months, so it is something that we're tracking.

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Speaker 2: It is something that we've tracked now for a year's

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Speaker 2: part of our reporting. But now that latest domain report

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Speaker 2: has that medium house price at six hundred and fifty

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Speaker 2: six thousand dollars, So these are numbers that can't be ignored.

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Speaker 2: So that it is happening, and my feeling is that

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Speaker 2: it will continue to grow because we are seeing that

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Speaker 2: increase around construction activity, building approvals, our employment rising, and

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Speaker 2: that workforce participation increasing.

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Speaker 1: And we're like, we really don't have a lot of

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Speaker 1: stock available either, do we I know that therese you know,

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Speaker 1: there's quite a few units and townhouses available, but when

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Speaker 1: you're talking about standalone houses, there's not a loss.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. And you know, we have a very

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Speaker 2: tight rental market at the moment at one point seven percent,

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Speaker 2: so you can see that all lives are on the territory.

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Speaker 2: So we do need to make sure that we are

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Speaker 2: supporting existing stock that is in the market, but that

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Speaker 2: we've also got the capacity to be able to build

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Speaker 2: new properties right across the territory, not just in Darwin,

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Speaker 2: right across the territory, but also looking at that existing

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Speaker 2: stock as well, so what is available and they're not

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Speaker 2: sitting at six hundred thousand and under Ruth.

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Speaker 1: Have you had the opportunity to speak to the Member

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Speaker 1: for Solomon, Luke Gosling or to get in contact with

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Speaker 1: the federal Housing Minister about this.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely so I have been in contact with Luke

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Speaker 2: and I have given him some data around where that

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Speaker 2: six hundred and fifty six thousand comes from. But one

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Speaker 2: of the benefits of being part of a national organization

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Speaker 2: with the Property Council is we do have that direct

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Speaker 2: line into the federal government. So I know my team

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Speaker 2: down in New South Wales and Victoria, part of our

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Speaker 2: National Advocacy Group, are working with the Housing Minister on

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Speaker 2: now looking at bringing this cap up because one of

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Speaker 2: the things is is if you're not talking about it,

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Speaker 2: if you're not bringing it to the forefront, it's not

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Speaker 2: something that will get addressed. So we know the federal

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Speaker 2: government has eight jurisdic to be looking at. All of

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Speaker 2: those governments are probably in their ear going. We want

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Speaker 2: an increase, We want an increase. We need as industry

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Speaker 2: to be pushing and pushing to make sure that the

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Speaker 2: territory isn't forgotten. We know that we haven't seen movement

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Speaker 2: in the last few years with our housing prices, but

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Speaker 2: it's really beneficial for me to be able to tap

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Speaker 2: into our national teams to actually get their foot in

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Speaker 2: the door, which I know they've done, so we hopefully,

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Speaker 2: you know, we will see that change. There are still

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Speaker 2: tweaks that can happen. We can see that movement. So

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Speaker 2: now we need to just make sure we keep the

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Speaker 2: pressure on as the industry here in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: that the territory is open for business. People are coming here.

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Speaker 2: Activity is happening, and we need to keep that momentum,

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Speaker 2: that momentum going.

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Speaker 1: Rousie, from your perspective, why is it so important that

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Speaker 1: we get this sorted out?

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Speaker 2: Well, we've got essential workers, Katie, central workers, first home buyers,

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Speaker 2: they're single parents. We need to make sure that it's

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Speaker 2: fair and equitable for everyone to be able to access.

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Speaker 2: If we've only got a few houses on the market

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Speaker 2: at six hundred thousand and under, then that's going to

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Speaker 2: drive people then into more rentals, which again with a

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Speaker 2: titan market, is not something that we want to be seeing.

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Speaker 2: So if we've got a few properties at six hundred

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Speaker 2: thousand or under. It's really locking people out. So the

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Speaker 2: people we need to be supporting are the people who

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Speaker 2: want to get into homes. Otherwise again we are just

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Speaker 2: putting them back on the rental market and paying higher

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Speaker 2: prices given that squeeze. Some people choose to rent, that's

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Speaker 2: absolutely up to them. But some people who want to

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Speaker 2: actually put their roots down in their territory, they want

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Speaker 2: to call the territory home, they want to grow and

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Speaker 2: raise their families here, they want to work here. They

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Speaker 2: could be five fou workers as well. We need to

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Speaker 2: provide them as many opportunities as we can to be

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Speaker 2: able to make them permanent territories, because that's how we're

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Speaker 2: going to create a stable economy, stable population, which again

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Speaker 2: grows our own workforce as well well.

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Speaker 1: Property Council of Australia's Northern Territory Executive Director Ruth Palmer,

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time this morning. We're due to

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Speaker 1: catch up with Luke Gosling tomorrow, so we'll see if

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Speaker 1: we can get a bit of an update from him

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Speaker 1: on this median house price and whether they're going to

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Speaker 1: change that cap.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I just want to let territorianes know that

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Speaker 2: we have their back. We're doing everything we can, and

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Speaker 2: I'm absolutely pushing at every single level that i can

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Speaker 2: to have this cap lifted.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff, Ruth, good to speak to you this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time. Thanks Katie, thank you