Leading professional Glenn Grantham says major projects could raise values, rents

A top real estate professional says major projects on the horizon could spark significant residential growth.

MAJOR projects on the horizon could spark residential values and rents to rise next year, according to a leading real estate professional.

Raine & Horne general manager Glenn Grantham says with the recent announcement of major project status for the $15bn Desert Bloom hydrogen project in Central Australia, the development could drive 11 per cent capital growth for Darwin real estate in 2022 and rental increases of 15 per cent.

“We are bracing ourselves for a big start to 2022 thanks to some very exciting infrastructure projects,” he said.

“Apart from Desert Bloom, there will be the development of the CBD campus of Charles Darwin University from April 2022 that will bring thousands of students to Darwin.

“The next stage of the Barossa Gas project will also commence in 2022, and we expect significant amounts of money will be invested in that project and plenty of jobs.

“There have been plenty of infrastructure projects promised but in 2022 we will start to see these projects come to fruition, and this means more jobs and demand for real estate.

“We had a great year with sales up 100 per cent year on year, and with projects such as Desert Bloom hydrogen in prospect, there is no reason we can’t achieve average annual growth of 11 per cent in 2022.”

Mr Grantham said the growth could help values and rents recover and get closer to the 2015 housing peak. “In some situations we’re back to 2015,” he said.

“By and large though, the bulk of the market is still 10 to 11 per cent down on that (2015) mark.

“Towards the latter half of next year, I would be very surprised if the majority of the market weren’t at that mark.”

Mr Grantham added that overall the market performed well in 2021, but the loss of the NT’s first homeowner subsidies impacted demand.

Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory chief executive Quentin Kilian said any growth would need to be supported by sufficient housing supply.

“If the projects in the pipeline come to fruition, and I hope they do, it will have a very positive impact on both business and population growth in Darwin,” he said.

“As it stands, we are experiencing a shortage in supply against the current demand.

“If we see an increase in demand, we need to be focusing heavily on bringing it forward to increase the supply to match it.

“If (government) can get the red tape out of the way and help developers, rather than hinder to get projects through.

“Instead of taking four or five years to get an apartment building up, they should turn it around as quickly as they possibly can.

“We need to put our commercial hat on and look at how we can ensure adequate supply is brought to the market to meet the demand.

“We don’t want a big gap between supply and demand.”

Originally published as Leading professional Glenn Grantham says major projects could raise values, rents