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Katie Woolf spoke with REINT CEO Quentin Killian · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Quentin Killian, the CEO of the Real Estate Institute of
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory. Good morning, Quentin, Morning Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Now Quentin.
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  Speaker 1: The latest property sales report it's been released and well
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  Speaker 1: the top end property market was as hot as the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: weather was the headline in in that media release. How
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  Speaker 1: are things going at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Look, it is a very very robust market at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: It's quite exciting to see the movement that we're seeing
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  Speaker 2: in there. Just to give you some perspectives, the sales
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  Speaker 2: volume for housing for detached housing in March quarter jumped
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  Speaker 2: up ten point eight percent in the quarter, which is
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  Speaker 2: a great growth and annually that's a fifty one point
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  Speaker 2: one percent growth on where it was selling out last year.
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  Speaker 2: The median price for housing also jumped up nine point
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  Speaker 2: four percent in the quarter, which is sixteen point four
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  Speaker 2: percent better than last year and now sits at five
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  Speaker 2: hundred and forty seven thousand for the median price for
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  Speaker 2: house in the territory or in Darwin oceand say And
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  Speaker 2: units were also a great performer. They sold four point
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  Speaker 2: three percent more in the last quarter, which is at
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  Speaker 2: forty three point three percent more than what it was
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  Speaker 2: selling at last year and that's moved up to a
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  Speaker 2: median price of three hundred and thirty thousand across the
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  Speaker 2: Greater Darwin region, so it's been very busy. The other
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  Speaker 2: exciting area of growth was land sales for residential land,
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  Speaker 2: where we saw growth in pretty much every sector of
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  Speaker 2: land sales, from the smaller blocks under six hundred square
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  Speaker 2: to the average blocks of six hundred to eight hundred
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  Speaker 2: square meters, so pretty much every area was selling well.
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  Speaker 2: And I know there is starting to get a bit
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  Speaker 2: of pressure on available land at the moment. There are
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  Speaker 2: some new releases coming out, so it'll be interesting to
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  Speaker 2: see whether that continues its growth into the Dune quarter
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  Speaker 2: when that happens.
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  Speaker 1: So Quentin, that is for the top end. How are
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  Speaker 1: things going in the lights of Alice Springs at this.
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  Speaker 2: Point we look Alice Springs was a little bit quieter.
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  Speaker 2: They showed a little bit of a drop in the
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  Speaker 2: sales volume. Now we've actually recorded around seventy seven sales
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  Speaker 2: in houses, but I believe we've had a bit of
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  Speaker 2: a discrepancy in that. This morning it could be around
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  Speaker 2: eighty on sales. There's about not a three that we
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  Speaker 2: haven't picked up in there, but that's dropped back about
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  Speaker 2: eighteen percent in its volume and its sales volume and
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  Speaker 2: the medians are pretty steady. But Alice Springs has had
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  Speaker 2: a pretty good run over the last couple of years anyway.
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  Speaker 2: So where Darwin has dropped off dramatically in the last
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  Speaker 2: few years, Alice hasn't had that same impact. It had
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  Speaker 2: an impact, but not as dramatic as the Darwin market.
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  Speaker 2: Their unit market was again was a bit quieter in
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  Speaker 2: the sales volume, but it's still steady at around three
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  Speaker 2: hundred and sixty thousand median price for a unit now,
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  Speaker 2: so it's been a good, strong market. Catherine again a
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  Speaker 2: little bit quieter in the sales volume, but again is
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  Speaker 2: still quite a strong market. And Tennant Creek actually picked
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  Speaker 2: up by fifty percent, mind you, it's on very low numbers.
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  Speaker 2: They sold nine houses in Tenant over the last quarter
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  Speaker 2: and their medium picked up by fifteen percent, so they're
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  Speaker 2: up around the two hundred and thirty thousand, so pretty
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  Speaker 2: much across the territory, the start of twenty twenty one
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  Speaker 2: has been a very positive sign for the real estate market.
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  Speaker 1: Quentin, what do you attribute that to?
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think it's a combination of a few things. One,
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  Speaker 2: we are seeing a pick up in population. I mean
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  Speaker 2: it's not as dramatic as the decline we've seen over
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  Speaker 2: the last five years, but people asked on ed to
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  Speaker 2: come back to the territory and therefore put pressure on
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  Speaker 2: the market. But equally, what we are seeing is still
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  Speaker 2: large numbers of first home buyers coming into the market
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  Speaker 2: using the the timing of both the available tax concessions
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  Speaker 2: that the NT government has in there and also the
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  Speaker 2: very very low interest rates. I mean we're now seeing
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  Speaker 2: mortgages with a one in front of them rather than
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  Speaker 2: a three or four. So it's a great incentive for
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  Speaker 2: first home buyers to be coming into a market. And
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  Speaker 2: while our median price is moving up in relative terms,
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  Speaker 2: Melbourne has just cracked the million dollar median price and
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  Speaker 2: Sydney is at about one point one to two million
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  Speaker 2: for a median value of a property. So putting that
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  Speaker 2: into perspective, when you're still in the five hundreds, it's
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  Speaker 2: good buying value in Darwin and in particular in fact
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  Speaker 2: across the territory when you're looking particularly to your first
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  Speaker 2: home purchase. So the other area that is starting to
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  Speaker 2: kick off, and we're very pleased to see this is
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  Speaker 2: the investor market again, So investors are getting rental yields
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  Speaker 2: up here that are around about five and a half
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  Speaker 2: to six percent, compared to around say one to between
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  Speaker 2: one and three percent in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. So
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  Speaker 2: for an investor, this is a prime market to be
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  Speaker 2: looking at for, particularly unit investments, which you can then
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  Speaker 2: turn back into the rental market.
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  Speaker 1: And Quentin talking about rentals, how are those how are
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  Speaker 1: those vacancy rates going in the rental area.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, look, the vacancy rates are very squeezed again. We're
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  Speaker 2: down to one point eight percent across the Greater Darwin area,
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  Speaker 2: one point six percent in Palmerston and two point four
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  Speaker 2: percent in Alice Springs. And if you're looking for a
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  Speaker 2: unit in the rural area, that's hit the vacancy rate
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  Speaker 2: of zero. So I'm sure that there are some, but
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  Speaker 2: there's they're not showing up on our stats at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: But yes, the vacancy rate has tightened up again in
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  Speaker 2: the March quarter from the December quarter, and rents have
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  Speaker 2: risen across the board a little bit. They're not jumping
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  Speaker 2: and leaping up at a great rate of notes, but
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  Speaker 2: we didn't see that the overall rents, so we're talking
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  Speaker 2: about Greater Dam and including Palmerston. House rent moved up
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  Speaker 2: six percent in the quarter to an average of five
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  Speaker 2: hundred and thirty eight a week, and unit rents were
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  Speaker 2: pretty steady. That only moved about zero point one percent
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  Speaker 2: in the course, so that sits around about an average
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  Speaker 2: of three point sixty four per week.
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  Speaker 1: Quentin, I guess none of us ever really know, But
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  Speaker 1: are you expecting things to slow down or continue on
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  Speaker 1: this path at this point?
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  Speaker 2: I'm loath to crystal ballgames because there are so many
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  Speaker 2: external factors that can impact on the market. But all
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  Speaker 2: the current signs are showing us that the demand is maintaining,
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  Speaker 2: and as long as that demand maintains, then the market
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  Speaker 2: will remain active. So as long as we can keep
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  Speaker 2: bringing people to the territory and that they're is a
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  Speaker 2: growth in our population, there will continue to be a
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  Speaker 2: demand on the housing market, and supply is tight. The
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  Speaker 2: more that we can have people looking at coming back
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  Speaker 2: into the sales market and also new land releases, a
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  Speaker 2: new product coming into the market eases that supply a
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  Speaker 2: little bit, but at the moment, demand is certainly pushing
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  Speaker 2: supply to its limits.
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  Speaker 1: Quentin just quickly before we wrap up. Is there a
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  Speaker 1: particular suburb which is the most popular to buy a home?
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  Speaker 2: Not really, No, it's sort of spread across and it
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  Speaker 2: really depends on the price point that you're looking at,
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  Speaker 2: because it does vary, say greatly between Fanny Bay, lark
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  Speaker 2: Here out to Gray and Molded, So it really does
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  Speaker 2: depend on the price point. But we are seeing quite
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  Speaker 2: a lot of sales. Very popular area in general, not
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  Speaker 2: in a suburb, but in general is Palmerston at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: So in the March quarter we saw sales volumes in
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  Speaker 2: housing drop jump up to one hundred and fifteen properties
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  Speaker 2: sold in the March quarter, So Palmerston is proving to
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  Speaker 2: be quite popular and I think that's largely because of
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  Speaker 2: the slightly lower price point than moving closer to the city.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Quentin Killian, it is always great to catch up
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  Speaker 1: with you. I know you're a busy man this morning,
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  Speaker 1: so we really appreciate.
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  Speaker 2: Your time, my pleasure, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. That is Quentin Killian. There the Real Estate
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  Speaker 1: Institute of the Northern Territories CEO