Darwin Blog

Darwin Raine & Horne general manager Glenn Grantham said investors from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne had been driving growth in Top End property markets over the past 12 months.

But he said South Australians moving to Darwin in recent months has resulted in increased competition for Top End properties.

“Darwin values are growing by 5-8 per cent depending on the property and the location, and coincidently, only Adelaide is producing better annual returns,” Mr Grantham said.

^{Owner-occupiers are driving million-dollar sales in Darwin’s northern suburbs.}

“We always have people moving here from South Australia, but more seem to be staying, and perhaps Adelaide’s higher real estate prices are a factor. Either way, new home buyers from the southern state are now vying for quality, well-located properties in Darwin.”

Mr Grantham questioned recent market forecasts which predicted NT property markets would fall by between 6-10 per cent this year.

Earlier this month PropTrack published a forecast which tipped Darwin property prices to drop by up to six per cent in 2023.

“Darwin often works countercyclical to the bigger capitals, evidenced by our growth over the past year and activity,” he said. “In January, for example, the value of our settled sales jumped by 13 per cent compared to the first month in 2022,” he said.

“With the demand from eastern state investors and homebuyers from South Australia combined with local downsizers, upgraders and first-time buyers, I see no reason that Darwin will fall.

“We have seen no evidence of a fall in inquiries and are shifting as many properties as we were before the latest interest rate rise. Even the last rate increase of 2022 had little impact on inquiries or prices, and we sold as many properties in December and January as we expected.”

^{Interstate investors have their eyes on sub-$500,000 properties in Darwin.}

Mr Grantham said while it is mostly owner-occupiers inquiring about the million-dollar houses on the market in inner-suburbs like Larrakeyah, Stuart Park, Fannie Bay and Nightcliff, interstate investors hunt for the $500,000 properties and below.

“Darwin’s yields that can be as high as 7-8 per cent are attractive to interstate investors. We can sell a four-bedroom apartment in the Darwin CBD for $450,000 and rent it out for $550- $600” he said.

“Good luck finding yields like this in Sydney or Melbourne, especially with our vacancy rates near enough to zero.”

Last November Mr Grantham predicted the federal government’s NT infrastructure spend and a number of planned major projects could contribute to annualised capital growth of 7-10 per cent over the next decade.

For all your real estate sales and property management needs in Darwin, and Palmerston or to find out about the auction process, contact Raine & Horne Darwin on 08 8941 8941.

Originally published as Leading agent Glenn Grantham said forget the naysayers predicting a drop in Top End property prices