Five NT suburbs named as 2024 rising stars

The Territory suburbs primed for price growth have been revealed even as Darwin has been labelled one of the weakest property markets in the country. See if your suburb made the list.

The Darwin property market has been labelled weak in a new market analysis. Picture: Che Chorley

The Darwin housing market has been named one of the weakest in the country, trailing behind most other capital cities and high performing regional centres in the latest Rising Stars property report.

The 2024 Canstar report – developed with Hotspotting’s Terry Ryder – ranked Darwin 13th out of 14 markets across Australia.

“We see Brisbane as the likely leader, with Adelaide and Sydney close behind; Perth starting to slip down the rankings, while remaining a growth market; Melbourne doing better than in 2023; Queensland emerging as the strongest regional market; and Canberra and Darwin the weakest locations,” Mr Ryder said.

Hotspotting managing director Terry Ryder. Picture: Supplied

The Rising Stars report examined forward-looking indicators to predict markets primed for property price growth in 2024, and forecasted the future of Australia’s 14 key property markets — eight capital cities and six regional areas.

Darwin was ranked 12th for sales volumes, 13th for quarterly price growth, 14th for vacancy rate, 12th for rental growth and 12th for infrastructure spending.

This gave the NT’s capital an overall ranking of 13, sitting second last ahead of Canberra.

“The Darwin market has entered 2024 at a low ebb, with little prospect for improvement,” the report said.

“Darwin looked to be in a solid position at the start of 2023, with busy sales activity and low vacancies, but its economy and property market weakened as the year evolved and prices were largely stagnant throughout the year.”

The 2024 Canstar Rising Stars report has predicted Australia’s best performing markets. Picture: Supplied

The report said the Territory economy, consistently ranked the weakest in the nation, was undermining the Darwin property market.

“The biggest infrastructure and resources projects in the Northern Territory are happening outside of Darwin,” the report said.

“There are several large-scale developments proposed with potential impacts and Darwin needs some of these to get under way to energise the local economy.”

In the rental market, Darwin had the highest rental yields of any Australian capital city, with median yields of 6 per cent for houses and 7.4 per cent for units.

“Whether this remains the case is debatable, as Darwin ranks last on vacancy rates in this analysis and close to last on the rental growth assessment,” the report said.

The report found the strongest sector in the Territory to be Palmerston, where sales activity trends were more positive.

“A common theme among most of the Darwin LGA suburbs that have positive trends is affordable apartments, which is an emerging national phenomenon,” the report said.

The home at 7 Knight St, Fannie Bay, recently sold for $1.825m. Picture: Supplied

THE TERRITORY’S RISING STARS

The 2024 Canstar Rising Stars report identified five Territory suburbs primed for growth.

Coming in first was the Darwin City unit market, followed by Gunn, Fannie Bay for both its house and unit markets, Nightcliff for its house and unit markets and Zuccoli.

“Downtown central Darwin has seen an uplift in buyer demand for its affordable apartments in recent months, with signs of prices starting to nudge upwards,” the report said.

“Over 220 apartments have sold in the past year, at a median price of $430,000, with investors attracted by the high rental yields.”

Gunn made the list for being one of the most affordable in the greater Darwin region, with a median house price of $490,000, while Fannie Bay represented the top end of the property market.

“Price growth has been scarce in greater Darwin in the past 12 months but the median house price for Fannie Bay has increased 8 per cent to $1.135 million,” the report said.

Nightcliff had a similar story with the house prices up 6.3 per cent and unit prices up 7.3 per cent annually.

Zuccoli was the final suburb on the list thanks to its median house price lifting 10.8 per cent in the past year to $565,000 and the median rental yield sitting at 6.7 per cent.

Originally published as Five NT suburbs named as 2024 rising stars