Darwin rent spike may be as high as $150 a week

December‘s quarterly increase in rents in the Territory may be higher than already reported

• Darwin tops the nation in rental growth for December quarter, as rents soar to be on par with Sydney’s
• Sold in less than 2 hours: Hot Territory property market pushing up prices

December‘s quarterly increase in rents in the Territory may be higher than already reported.

Real Estate Institute of the NT chief executive officer Quentin Kilian said he has heard of rents going up as much as $150 a week.

Mr Kilian said he is still waiting to get REINT December quarter data, but he is expecting a strong finish for 2020 for the sector.

“This is not on everything, but certainly where an opportunity presents itself many of the landlords have been increasing rents,” he said.

“While that may seem harsh to tenants, the important thing to consider is that for the last five years we have had some of the lowest rents in decades because they have gone backwards by about 50 per cent.

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“For at least the last four years landlords have been doing it pretty tough.”

Federal Treasury data shows the cost to rent a house or unit in Darwin is now on a par with Sydney rents. It showed Darwin has had the highest quarterly growth in house and unit rents of any capital city in Australia and on average is about $110 a week more expensive than the majority of other states for rental accommodation.

The median weekly cost to rent a house in the December 2020 quarter was $550, the same as in Sydney.

“It is all based on supply and demand,” Mr Kilian said.

“We have seen this massive demand on the product that we have on the market at the moment and either due to lack of being able to rent a lot of people have previously been taking properties away from the market.

“They have either put them back into the sellers market or taken them off completely.

“Over the past 12 months I have seen stock diminish by around 1500 properties across the Territory.

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“I think because of COVID-19 we have less people leaving and more people coming.

“We have seen since July quite an influx and that is what has caused the pressure on the market place.

“I refer to them as COVID refugees, but we have seen a lot of people, particularly out of Victoria coming to Darwin … whether it is permanent or a temporary escape from Melbourne time will tell.”