The Real Estate Local Market (RELM) report has been released by the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory showing the results of the March quarter in 2020.

“This report looks at the real estate market for the March Quarter 2020, which captures the lead-in period to the Coronavirus," said Quentin Kilian, REINT Chief Executive Officer.

"We suspect that the following report in the June Quarter will show a different picture again.

At a Glance:

• Sizeable drop in volume across the Greater Darwin marketplace for detached dwellings since December 2019
• Sales volumes fell by 27 per cent
• Sales volumes still above 12 per cent for the same time last year 
• Median price, up this quarter by 2.2 per cent quarter on quarter

“Life in this current COVID-19 crisis has tested the ‘norm’ as we know it, but it is pleasing though to see how well the real estate community in the Northern Territory has adapted to the current environment and, in the main, are pushing on with business as best they can.
 
“Looking at the Detached Dwelling or ‘House’ market, the first quarter of this year saw a sizeable drop across the Greater Darwin marketplace compared to December 2019, where we had seen a sizeable upward movement in volume.”  
 
The March 2020 Quarter saw sales volumes fall by 27 per cent.
 
“But the good news is that they are still some 12 per cent above the same time last year, and equally good news is that we continue to see a small rise in the median price, up this quarter by 2.2 per cent to $470,000.” said Mr Kilian.
 
The majority of the sales came in the $350-$450,000 range with an almost equivalent amount in the $450-600,000 range.  

Palmerston was down by 28 percent in volumes, which is actually lower than this time last year, and the median price in Palmerston also took a further hit dropping 1.2 percent on the last quarter and 4.5 percent lower than last year at $425,000. 

Alice Springs also saw a sizeable drop in volumes, down by 28.6 percent for the quarter and 11.8 percent year on year.  

However the Alice Springs median price rose 1.6 percent to be steady with the same time last year at $457,000.
 
The Unit/Townhouse market saw similar falls in quarterly volumes, but all jurisdictions remain well above where sales were last year. 
 
“For Greater Darwin volumes fell 14 percent but that is still 34 percent higher than this quarter last year and the median priced slipped a little, dropping by 0.7 percent to $302,750," said Mr Kilian.
 
Palmerston unit market performed reasonably well this quarter. 
 
“While volume was down 5.3 percent against the December Quarter, that is up 50 percent compared to March 2019, so overall volumes are increasing, and Palmerston also recorded an increase of 12.9 percent on the median Unit price, up to $269,750," said Mr Kilian.
 
Alice Springs again took a sizeable slide of 38.6 percent in sales volumes in the Unit market, but is still up 12.5 from last year and the median price in Alice rose 7.4 percent for the quarter to $327,000 – which is still higher than the media unit price in Darwin. 
 
Vacancy rates fell across most jurisdictions, except Alice Springs. 
 
“This indicates an active rental market over the last quarter coupled with lower numbers of reported properties under management due to a number of properties being withdrawn from the market or sold.” said Mr Kilian    
 
“Greater Darwin vacancy rate was down to 5.4 percent, which, while still too high, is the lowest we’ve seen it for quite some time.” said Mr Kilian.
 
Rents, after showing a little bit of a lift in December, have taken a hit in March 2020.  

The average rent for a 3 bedroom House in Darwin is $459.00 per week – down 2.7 percent for the quarter but slightly higher than this time last year.  

Unit rental, averaged on a 2 bedroom unit in Darwin, was also down 2.4 percent to $330.00 per week, but again that is 4.4 percent higher than March 2019.
 
“There is still great news for investors in that rental yields remain the strongest of any Australian Capital city at 5.1 percent on houses and 5.7 percent on Units.” said Mr Kilian.
 
“We are seeing increased buyer enquiries and activity coming from interstate and a recent survey of REINT Members indicated that the property letting side of the industry was still quite busy.
 
“And with the Chief Minister lifting the restrictions on open houses and auctions from this weekend, it’s a great time to get back to normal and start your property search.” 
 
The RELM is available on subscription here

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