Shock drop: Why NT renters might finally feel some reprieve

News Corp Australia Network

A NEW report has revealed a shock fall in weekly rents in regional parts of the Northern Territory, but it is still tough by tenants in the capital.

And this is despite the fact that new rental listings have dropped dramatically.

The latest PropTrack Rental Report, released on Thursday, revealed that the median weekly advertised rents in Regional NT fell 7.2 per cent during the December quarter, the largest decrease of any metro or regional area in Australia.

It was followed by Perth, down 3.2 per cent, and Regional Tasmania, where median rents fell 2.5 per cent.

MORE NEWS:

Lying to get a loan: Aussie mortgage holders stretching the truth to get a home

Inside the Qld trophy home that has footy players scrumming for a win

Mic drop! Dr Dre is selling off his eye-popping property portfolio

Quarterly rents were down in four regions, including the NT Source: PropTrack Rental report – December Qtr

---

Regional NT was also the only geographical area to see median weekly advertised rents fall over the year, according to the report.

But the rental crunch continues in Darwin, where median weekly advertised rents remained unchanged during the December quarter but were up 1.9 per cent over 12 months.

Regional NT was the only locale to see rents drop over the year. Source: PropTrack Rental report – December Qtr

---

Rental yields across Darwin and Regional NT were only down slightly when comparing the December 2022 quarter to the same period last year.

In Darwin, rental yields have eased from 6.36 per cent (2021) to 6.3 per cent (2022), with the metric likely affected by borrowing costs outpacing rent growth.

Rental yields in the regions have also declined, down from 7 per cent to 6.81 per cent.

$820/WK: 30 Lemke Street, Muirhead

---

Despite this, the Territory had among the highest rental yields in Australia due to its relatively affordability, with Perth the only location ahead of Darwin and Regional NT, recording a yield of 6.89 per cent, albeit that is also down on the 6.94 per cent recorded at the same time last year.

“We anticipate that yields will continue to climb in 2023 as rental growth outpaces property

price growth,” the report said.

“Rental yields remain historically low and in many cases are offering investors very little premium over term deposit rates while property prices reduce.

“It will be interesting to see if and how investors respond to improving yields.”

But PropTrack also revealed that new rental listings remained at historical lows.

The biggest decrease in new rental listings was recorded in the NT, with new listings down in both Darwin (-14%) and regional NT (-15.1%) year-on-year.

But there is some work to do here to ease the pressure. Source: PropTrack Rental report – December Qtr

---

As a result, available rentals in Darwin have a median days on site of 19 days, while in regional NT it is now 18 days, down from 22 days a year ago.

“Some of the rental pressures that have been evident over recent years in regional markets

appear to be easing, while the market is tightening in the major capital cities,”

$620/WK: 59A Rothdale Road, Jingili

---

PropTrack Director of Economic Research and report author, Cameron Kusher, said.

“Regionally, some people that made the move during the pandemic are now planning to stay and shifting from renting into ownership and fewer people are migrating to the regions.

“Based on these conditions, we expect that regional rental pressures are likely to continue to ease in 2023.”

$1200/WK: 31 Waters Street, Rapid Creek

---