Agents begging developers to take their money to Katherine

REAL ESTATE professionals are begging property developers to take their cash to this area. CLICK to find out WHICH AREA

Agents are begging property developers to take their money to Katherine.

• REVEALED: Darwin’s Top 20 real estate agents
• Cattleman’s dream property sells for more than $1.8m
• REVEALED: Alice Springs’ Top 10 real estate agents

PROPERTY developers are being urged to take their money to Katherine, with real estate agents begging for more properties to lease amid the area’s record high yields.

Outside of Darwin, Katherine has the highest rental yields for houses, sitting at 8.51 per cent, with Katherine South at 7.80 per cent and Katherine East at 7.66 per cent, according to RP Data for August.

MORE NEWS

REVEALED: Darwin’s Top 10 fastest selling suburbs

Agent reveals why Darwin city units will outperform houses

REVEALED: Darwin’s Top 10 richest home sales in early 2020

Elders Real Estate Katherine principal Alison Ross, who has watched the market for more than 20 years, said yields were strong because of the consistent flow of essential service people and defence personnel from RAAF Base Tindal.

“Katherine’s always had a stable rental yield due to those supporting industries: police, defence, education and health,” she said.

“We’re also the central point for the Vic/Daly, Roper/Gulf shires, so those two shires are based in Katherine, so that’s quite a good account for that demand for housing.”

Agents are begging property developers to take their money to Katherine.

Ms Ross said, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Katherine had piqued the interest of investors from the eastern seaboard – in particular Sydney – but any further growth in the rental market hinged on property developments.

“There’s a high demand for units, which we’ve only seen one unit development, really, in the last 10 years,” she said.

“There’s demand from employees coming to town to rent one or two-bedroom units and also furnished units, but there’s no supply of them.

“We need someone to come to Katherine to build them, because we will rent them.”

SOLID RETURNS IN ALICE SPRINGS

Houses in the Red Centre also bring high yields, with Sadadeen at 6.76 per cent, Larapinta at 6.50 per cent and The Gap is at 6.24 per cent.

First National Framptons director Andrew Doyle explained that a shortage of land also kept yields high in Alice Springs.

“Traditionally, our rental yields have been have been strong because we’ve always had a shortage of rental properties, so rental yields have remained high,” he said.

“We have a shortage of land, because all of the surrounding land to Alice Springs is subject to native title claim.”

Mr Doyle said the majority of investors in Alice Springs were former residents who leased out their properties after leaving, with some landlords renting their properties for 25 years.

“We’re seeing more investors in the last, probably, six months,” he said.

LIMITED TIME: New NT News subscription offer: $1 a week for the first 12 weeks

“Our vacancy rates are still relatively low, and we’ve still got good demand for quality rental properties, particularly houses … the other thing we’ve got here is employment is very strong, so I think the strong employment also drives the demand for the rental properties.” Mr Doyle said he anticipated yields would remain above average, with major mining and construction projects attracting people to live in Alice Springs.

Follow @raphsaroukos