This month, NextHotSpot.com.au has contributed the market report for Northern Territory

 

The highest per capita investment in resources of any state or territory around the country has helped make Darwin property more expensive than Melbourne’s. A small population with very strong employment and more workers coming contributes to a compelling case for the ‘Top End’. Darwin and Palmerston should be the focus for property investors.

 

Strong employment, low rental vacancies, and the prospect of thousands of incoming workers required to support massive investment have resulted in a Darwin median house price that is second only to Sydney’s, among large Australian cities. That’s right. The stats say median Darwin is more expensive than median Melbourne!

 

Somewhere between booming frontier towns and emerging provincial capital cities, Darwin and Palmerston have unique dynamics. With around 3,000 construction workers expected to start arriving this year for the Inpex gas project, Palmerston seems the logical place for them to live. How the FIFO game plays out at the top end is hard to predict, given the different factors involved here. Many will initially be housed in a camp, but we expect more than a few to stay.