‘Tight but accessible’: How to secure a rental property in the NT

Rental properties are still available in the NT, but canny house hunters can secure an edge with a few simple hacks. Read what they are.

Residential area of Alice Springs. Picture: PHIL WILLIAMS

Private rental markets in the Territory’s two main population centres are tight but accessible, with three to four week lead times advised for renters to secure a property of choice.

In Darwin, while the market is tighter than it was two years ago, demand has also softened and in Alice Springs, limited markets mean that at any one time, up to a dozen homes could be available to rent.

Chantelle Dalton, property management agent with Darwin’s LJ Hooker, said although the number of properties available in the Top End had declined in recent years, it had been matched by a softening in rental demands due to slow population growth.

LJ Hooker Darwin agent Chantelle Dalton.

“I wouldn’t say it is easy to get a rental property in the Top End but it’s easier than it was 12 months ago,” she said.

“It is easier to secure the property if you have your application ready and documentation in order, because there’s a lot more candidates for rental properties than there has been.

“This gives property owners a larger pool of prospective renters from which to choose and the more successful applicants are the ones that are organised in advance.”

Ms Dalton said the spread of rentals in the Top End is reasonably consistent, with no hotspots like in the larger capital cities – where people are forced to rent huge distances from the CBD.

Instead in the Top End, families tended to gravitate towards houses in Palmerston where the rents are cheaper.

First National Alice Springs principal Eli Melky.

With 90 per cent of rental applications now conducted online, Ms Dalton said renters that adopt a personal approach and visit agencies in person can have an advantage when it comes to securing a property.

She said modern homes and CBD apartments still held a lot of appeal for renters.

Eli Melky, principal and managing director at First National Alice Springs, said as few as 10-15 rental properties could be available at any given time in the desert town and advised prospective renters to give themselves time to secure a lease.

He said demand for rentals in the town is “healthy”, and that some renters are electing to buy and then retain the property as an investment if they leave the town.

“People draw comparisons with eastern states prices and they’re surprised its expensive to rent in Alice Springs compared to the product they get here and people are looking at jumping out of rentals and buying because the rental yield is so strong.”