NT Darwin... Is now the time?

POSITIVE SIGNS: Sections of the real estate industry believe Darwin's housing market is beginning to turn around.

One agent is reporting a big increase in sales in May and says it's a sign we've passed the bottom of the market.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1857102274328736

Now obviously it's fair to say that real estate agents pushing real estate sales is nothing more than hot air, however anecdotaly, property in good suburbs, i.e. Stuart Park, Parap, Fannie Bay, Nightcliff are selling straight away, at cheap prices.

Is now the time to buy?

 

I was thinking about this just this morning.

I think for certain stock.....HELL YES!!!!

Elevated with a granny flat in the northern suburbs will give you a fantastic yield and access to a product that is no longer being built.

I'm going to buy one later this year.

 

It may be but I think Darwin, like Townsville etc is too small a market to predict with any form of reliability - too dependent on transients, projects etc. You could win big but you could also...

 

Before sure, but everything has had a 30 percent haircut......this takes a fair chunck of the risk out of the equation.

Buying as an investment from interstate is fraught with danger. You really need to know the place, demographics and climate in order to purchase safely.

However once you know the lie of the land, it becomes a bit like what @Leo2413 has been alluding to in a few of his recent threads.... opportunity is everywhere!

For example..a lot of family homes come with a granny flat, which increases yield quite a bit.
There are opportunities with this.

Anything built in Darwin since the 90s are almost always hot-boxes. Old elevated stuff designed for the conditions becomes rarer over time and more desirable because...well it's hot. There's opportunities with this as well.

The overall stats for Darwin are still horrible...no doubt about that but once you take the no-go zones out of it (CBD highrise, storm surge areas and Palmerston) things start looking pretty good.

Like I said before, you HAVE to have some local knowledge in order to get it right though.

 

That I agree with you, and I would recommend the Darwin market for someone permanently on the ground who can see, smell and feel the change.

 

INPEX is finally packing up. When it goes later this quarter so will 4000 jobs.

Moment of truth time.

 

I think prices will fall further.

Inpex finishing and they are still releasing land and building...

 

This needs repeating a lot

 

Did the workers leave yet?

We're coming up around 20th November to try and find a rental and then we'll relocate in December. Trying to monitor rental and property market online as best I can.

 

I'm normally a half glass full, value investor, buy low, sell high guy but Darwin looks pretty dire.

 

Yeah, hard to make heads and tails of it at the moment, im from NSW, trying to find a rental in November for a family of 7, looks like buying is also tricky right now. Havingg a tricky time getting my head across it. Ive been reading core logic and real estate.com and fin review and anywhere else I can get a market analysis but not seeing too much corroborating opinions on whether property prices will fall or rental prices will fall, or if both will now rise.

 

Rents are still high and vacancy still low. Yes, there are bargains around, but chart wise, the bottom was April. I bought last month and looking at another 2 this month if finance works in my favour.

My honest advise is to buy now, as quickly and as much as you can. A development I am involved in just sold 15 units to a single investor who is known to make very wise investments.

Now is the time to stock up as prices are already rising in line with traditional uptick.

Bargains are everywhere and if you have cash, now is the time. I’m a builder/developer and advocating for people to buy existing property.

 

Cheers, appreciate the reply, every bit of information helps us out. My home is in East Maitland NSW which is experiencing decent growth in value at the moment, so may use the equity to buy up in Darwin. Thinking of renting for a little bit first because I'm told even the good suburbs in Darwin have bad streets and we would be firing totally blind at this stage.

"Traditional uptick" is this a Darwin end of year cycle?

 

Other than your mate buying all those units what makes you think Darwin’s going to get growth?

Still 2000 plus workers due to finish soon on inpex, plenty will leave the NT.

No other really big projects on the horizon.

 

Where is this "low vacancy" you speak of?

Which development just sold 15 units? Or at the very least... Where is it?

 

Low vacancy is everywhere, have you tried renting recently? All of my properties are fully occupied at great pricing. It's simply about having quality properties.

I'm not prepared to divulge which development it is, but there aren't too many recently built or under construction, so it shouldn't be too hard to work out.

 

The govt is spending a fortune, investment is at massive highs in the private sector.

For eg.

Berrimah Business Park Expansion
AMART Precinct
Palmerston Multi Use Hi Rise
New Palmerston Bunnings
New Truck City
Northcrest/Berrimah Farm
New Land Development at Airport
Zuccoli Aspire
Gunn Point Road Seal
Prawn Farm
Landbridge Hotel
Final stage of Gateway

What else?

Theres a bunch, expansion of trains at Conoco Philips, expansion of trains at Inpex, Marines expansion onto RAAF Darwin, Robo Barracks and QRF/Amphibious Base at Gunn Point, Fracking, New Port Expansion, Battery Factory, all sorts of stuff coming up.

If you hang out with the big boys in Darwin, you would know that they are all spending their money NOW!

 

Interesting.

Love your positivity! I'll keep an eye on this.

Still won't be buying a unit in Darwin though! Ha!

 

When are those 2000 odd workers due to shoot through, a little self interest in hoping that some more rentals pop onto the market soon