The month in review: Regional NT
By Herron Todd White
December 2016
Alice Springs
This time last year we noted that we would be expecting a quiet year ahead which certainly rang true in both the house and unit sectors. Overall sales numbers declined from 418 to 363 year on year to the September quarter. The removal of the First Home Buyer’s Grant from existing dwellings in 2014 had a significant negative impact on the market during 2015 and this has continued into 2016 with the stamp duty concessions introduced after the election having had little to no impact.
Although the low transaction numbers were the dominant topic of discussion throughout the year, there were some highlights. The upper end of the market showed good volumes with around 35 sales at $700,000, mainly in Desert Springs, Stirling Heights and the rural residential suburbs.
Both Desert Springs (golf course) and Ross (rural residential) had a sale at $1.25 million which was great news for these markets.
The sub $300,000 unit market, typically circa 1980s townhouses, have been showing the largest declines in the broader market, in some cases between 20% and 30% falls since their peak during 2010 and 2011. During 2015 there were approximately 44 sales in the sub $300,000 market (excluding newly built units). At the time of writing there were already 40 sales with eight weeks of sales to come, an early sign that this market may be stabilising.
Finally, in the vacant land market, after a solid initial take up, sales have stalled in the new suburb of Kilgariff and we are yet to see a settled sale of a completed dwelling. The recent release at South Edge has also had a good initial take up with around 40% of lots sold. |
