Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with REINT CEO Quentin Killian about recent property sales increases in the NT

Transcript

Katie spoke with REINT CEO Quentin Killian about recent property sales increases in the NT · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It is just eighteen minutes after ten o'clock and we
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: know that the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: has released it's September quarter data which shows that sales
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: volumes in both houses and units across the Greater Darwin
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: region continued to climb at a good rate this quarter,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: but the medium price on both flattened as the focus
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: of the purchases moved more to properties under that six
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollar mark. Now joining us on the line
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to tell us a little bit more about the situation
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: is Quentin Killian, the CEO of the Real Estate Institute
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory. Good morning to you, Quentin.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Morning Katie.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Quentin. As I've just said there that September quarter data,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: it does show the sales volumes continue to climb. What
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: kind of numbers are we talking about, Well.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: What we saw for houses, we saw about a seven
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: point nine percent increase in sales volume quarter on quarter,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: so we saw around three hundred and ninety six houses
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: tach dwelling sold in the quarter. That The big news though,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: is that if you did a year on year comparison,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: so looking at the same time last year, that's an
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: eighty nine point five percent jump in sales volume from
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: what we saw last year, so it's a good increase. Now,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: we did talk about in the opening part there how
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: the median price is pulled back a little bit. When
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: I say a little bit, we're talking about zero point
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: eight of a percent, so it's not a huge movement
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: in the median price. It just settled it a little bit,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: and predominantly that's because we saw a larger volume of
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: houses selling under that six hundred thousand dollar mark, So
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: the median price basically is that middle point in all
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: of the sales that have occurred the previous quarter. We
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: saw a little bit more activity in that higher bracket,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: so that pushed the median up a little bit, but
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: the medians still sitting around that. It's currently sitting at
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: five hundred seventy five thousand, five hundred, so it's around
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: that five p eighty five seventy five mark.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: And Quentin, are we seeing any areas that are more
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: popular or that are seeing a greater sales Grice.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Well, we are actually in the housing market, so in
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: the detached housing we actually saw quite a sizeable jump
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: in sales in Palmerston in this quarter. With one hundred
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: and sixty eight sales go through in houses, which is
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: again a seven percent jump on the last quarter, but
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: an eighty four percent jump on the same time last year.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: And for the unit market, perhaps the strongest market was
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: the Inner Dahu and Inner City area where we actually
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: saw two hundred and nine transactions go through in the quarter,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: which was a thirty six point six percent jump on
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: sales volume from the last quarter and one hundred and
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: thirteen percent up from the last time for from this
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: time last year, so that was quite a healthy movement
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Parmeerston and they actually didn't do too badly either, forty
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: one units sold in the last quarter, which is an
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: eighty six percent jump on the quarter on quarter, so
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: that one that market is again starting to move, and
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: a lot of that has to do with both pricing,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: so people are still seeing the right pricing in the market,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: they're still seeing the opportunities. But we're also seeing a
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: lot more activity from the investor market, which is good
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: because once we bring the investors back into the market,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: we actually start to create more rental stock. Investors generally
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: are not looking for owner occupy, they're looking for rental
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: yields and Therefore they look at the market and say,
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: how can I get the best return on this and
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: when they purchase, they want to get that back in
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: and get a tenant in there. So that's great. If
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: we can get more investors in, it means we can
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: get more stock back into the rental market, which means
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: it starts to ease that rental pressure a little bit.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: And how are things going for our friends in Catherine
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: and also in Alice Springs.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: So Catherine is as always at a bloint market because
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: there's very little stock there, so it moves up and
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: down quite rapidly. But the last quarter was actually quite healthy.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: They saw one hundred and sixteen percent jump in sales volume.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: But we've got to take that in the measure. It
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: is because they are small numbers, so when they move
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: you'll see quite large percentage jumps. But it was a good,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: good month or a good quarter, I should say. For Catherine,
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: thirty nine house sales generating a median price around three
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty five thousand, So that's still a very
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: good medium to buy into that market. Only six unit sales,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: but then again there is very limited supply of units
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: coming to the market and the unit price came in
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: around two hundred and thirty two thousand as a medium,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: so again still good buying value. Alice Spring saw over
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: one hundred hunter fact one hundred and three houses sold
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: in the court, which was a twenty one percent jump
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: in their volume, and their median is sitting at four
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: hundred and eighty five thousand. That actually came back a
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: little bit more than the Darwin market that slipped about
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: two and a half percent, which tended to indicate to
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: me that perhaps eat It overheated a little in the
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: last two quarters and was just writing itself a little bit.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: And in the unit market, they also had a good
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: strong quarter with five point six percent increase of fifty
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: seven units sold at a median price for units around
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: three hundred and twenty thousand. So generally, what we're seeing
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: right across the territory is good, strong sales activity and
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: the median seems to be finding a comfortable point at
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: the moment that it's sort of hovering around. It's taken
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: a run up over the last two quarters, and now
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: it seems to be leveling out a little bit.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: And Quentin, what about when you talk about you know,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: when you do talk about the rental markets and those
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: vacancy rates, how things tracking around Darwin.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Firstly, look, they're very very tight. The rental market is
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: still extremely tight. We showed a rental vacancy rate of
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: one point nine percent across Greater Darwin, which is an
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: extremely tight market by any stretch, but it gets even
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: tighter when you sort of break it down a little bit.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: So in Palmerston it was around the same one point
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: nine percent. That's combining all dwellings, that's houses and units,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: but in Catherine it was one percent and an Ala
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Springs one point five percent. And if you go down
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: to look at more granular level for Catherine, the house
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: vacancy was less than half a percent, so it was
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: actually zero point five percent. And in the rural market
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: there is no units available at the moment, so they're
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: showing a zero percent vacancy rate in the unit area
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: and it is a tight type market. And again that's
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: another reason for us to be looking at the investor
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: market and trying to encourage investors to come in because
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: when they come in, they buy it that stock, and yes,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: it does start to take away stock from house buyers,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: but it also then generates material or new stock into
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: the rental market.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: And no doubt I'm assuming that those prices are quite
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: high as well. In the rental market.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Yes, they have continued to fill upward pressure, So we're
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: looking at an average or a median rent on a
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: three bedroom home is coming in around five eighty eight
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: point fifty per week, and a two bedroom unit is
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: averaging around four hundred and twenty three dollars per week.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: So both the markets, the house market and the unit
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: market did see more upward pressure in the last quarter
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: on nts, and that's just largely due to supply and demand.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: So you know, we have a situation where for the
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: last five or six years, rents have fallen quite dramatically
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: because there was little demand and a lot of supply. Well,
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: that market has now shifted to very little supply and
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: a lot of demand, and so the equation on rents
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: unfortunately has shifted as well.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Well. Quentin. It certainly makes for some interesting reading. And
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: I know that that for some people probably maybe a
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: bit difficult to be able to get into the rental
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: market and a little bit more expensive than what they
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: might hope for. But if you're looking to sell your house,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: it's probably a good time to do it.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: By the look of it. Look, I mean if that's
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: if that's your desire, then certainly I would be talking
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: to your real estate agent about getting it appraisal and
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: your property to find out what it's worth and having
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: a chat to them about what the process would be. Equally,
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: the market is still well priced when you make comparisons
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: against other capital cities, and I really would be urging
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: people to say, well, if you are in the market
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: and you're looking to buy, go and talk to your broker,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: talk to them about what your opportunities are, and what
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: your affordability is, what your purchasing power is, and really
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: seriously have a look at the marketplace. While these prices
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: still exist, and while we still have access to very
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: very low interest rates, even with the opera rules changing
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: slightly to increase that lending buffer, it still is a
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: good buying equation when you can get mortgages that start
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: with a one compared to a three or a four
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: or five. So it's still very much a good buying
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: opportunity in the marketplace.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Well, Quentin Killian, the Real Estate Institute of the Northern
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Territory CE are always good to talk to you, mate.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Thanks for your time today.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Absolute pleasure, Katie. Thank you.