Latest NT Property Council quarterly report shows Alice Springs house values down, rents up
Rents are up but house prices are down in the Red Centre capital, according to a new report, with fresh insights into the government’s homebuyers grants also revealed.
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House prices are going down and rents are going up in Alice Springs, according to a new quarterly report, as a bank manager says there’s “not a significant appetite” for a $50k grant to build a home in the town.
The NT Property Council has released its first quarterly report, and it shows house prices in Alice Springs fell by 16 per cent.
NT Property Council executive director Ruth Palmer said it was the first time the council had delivered the report, and a first for Alice Springs too.
The report was handed out in Alice Springs at a Property Council breakfast, which featured three keynote speakers.
Those included Herron Todd White property valuer Peter Nichols, ANZ NT district manager Sophia Dullaway, and LJ Hooker AS principal Doug Fraser.
The report showed the median home price in Alice Springs in June 2024 was $494,100, but by December the figure had fallen to $440,000 – a $54,100 decrease.
In the same period, rental prices went up in town, with the median price rising to $580 by December from $550 in June.
The rental vacancy rate rose to 3.5 per cent in Alice Springs, according to the report.
Mr Nichols said he’d seen reductions “ranging between seven and 15 per cent in four or so years” in homes throughout Alice Springs.
But he also cautioned “reading too much” into the figures as “with a small transaction number or a small base, those figures can be prone to a fair bit of volatility”.
Mr Fraser said “it certainly appears that a number of long term residents are leaving town” but “the demographics of home purchases has changed significantly over the last few years with a number of migrant buyers entering the market”.
“Property sales numbers have been in decline with 385 houses sold in 2022, 252 in 2023 and dropping down to 239 in 2024. There were 200 unit sales in 2022, 156 in 2023 and only 135 in 2024,” he said.
“The number of people leaving town is emphasised by the number of residential properties currently on the market.
“As of this week there are 185 houses for sale in Alice Springs and 68 units for sale.”
Ms Dullaway said she’d seen little uptake in the CLP government’s $50,000 incentive for first home buyers to build a new home.
“Definitely not in the younger group are we seeing that type of appetite whether it’s here or Darwin, it’s not a significant appetite for the $50k,” she said.
“We’ve only had four people interested in the last six months for the $50k.”
She said high construction costs were preventing people from wanting to build homes.
However, there was significant interest in the government’s $10k grant for buying an established home, Ms Dullaway said.
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Originally published as Latest NT Property Council quarterly report shows Alice Springs house values down, rents up
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