Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, if you were listening to the show, yesterday, we
spoke to the Federal Member for Solomon, Luke Gosling about
the cap for first time buyers wanting to access the
newly expanded federal government first home Buyers game. Now, concerns
were raised about that six hundred thousand dollars not cutting
the mustard. Last week we spoke to a number of
different industry groups. We've also had those wanting to enter
(00:22):
the first home buyer market saying to us it is
just not enough. Now. Ruth Palmer from the Property Council
of the Northern Territory, the executive director, joins me on
the line. Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Ruth, Oh, good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Now, Ruth, Mister Gosling claimed yesterday that the CAP's in
line with the median house price and there's plenty on
the mark. At is that in line though with the
Property Council's latest stats and most recent report.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
No, absolutely not so. Right now, we can see that
the meeting house prices have hit six hundred thousand, and
that was recorded from our June data. So we track
this every quarter and seeing since we've been tracking this
data since last year, we've seen about a ten percent jump,
So it went from five hundred and forty six thousand
(01:08):
in December five hundred and sixty two thousand in March,
and now we've hit that six hundred thousand. So it's
only I can predict it's only going to get higher
when we do our next stats, which will come out
at the end of the year, which benchmarks that sort
of September numbers.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So, I mean, your report also found that housing supply
is one of the biggest hand brakes. Can you sort
of break that down for us?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, so across the country we are lagging behind lights
like jurisdictions. So if you look at Townsville, Royal Campden, Canned,
the territory is sitting last. So we really need to
get that housing supply up. And it also means that
we have a very limited supply of people wanting to
be able to get into the market and to be
able to purchase a home. Now.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I know that yesterday we certainly had a lot of
people that were sort of pretty fired up. I think
it's safe to say after we spoke to Luke Gousling,
because you know, they're looking right now to try and
enter the first buyer or the you know, the first
star their first time, and they're trying to get into
their first time. You know, someone even sort of sent
through what is on the market at the moment. They're
(02:11):
saying that there is absolutely bugger all in terms of
standalone houses under six hundred thousand dollars. What do you
say to that?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Ruse, Yeah, that's right. And on real estate dot com
as well, there's around six, but I reckon, I think
there's a few that are actually up for auction, so
they can always go over that six hundred thousand. So
I think realistically there's about three, and I've spoken to brokers,
I've spoken to real estate agents, so effectively, there's three
standalone houses that can be purchased if you're taking out
(02:41):
that auction. But the problem with the federal government scheme
is the cat being at six hundred thousand is the
same level it was in twenty twenty two. So it
was put at six hundred thousand in July twenty twenty two,
and before that it was five hundred thousand in twenty
twenty one, so the scheme began. So when mister Gosling
(03:02):
is talking about those one thousand people who have purchased
homes or gone through the scheme. That's over a five
year period. That will be my understanding. So I think
we need to be a little bit more realistic about
those numbers and sort of what we're staying around who's
accessed or when those people have accessed it, because when
it started, the scheme was at three hundred and seventy
(03:23):
five thousand for the territory.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Ruth can I ask there was also sort of discussion
about you know, first homeowner's ability to service alone, and
you know those in the Northern Territory being able to
service alone. But then in other parts of Australia, Like
my understanding is of this first home buyer scheme and
the extension to it in every other state, those caps
(03:45):
went up. So I mean, why would Territorians not be
able to service the loan but those in other states can?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, exactly, And so it's not We've got to remember
it's not just for first home buyers, so or young
people wanted to enter the mind market. So you know,
many Territorians are buying or looking to buy, maybe after
a separation, moving back from into state, or they're essential
workers trying to buy where they live. But a lot
of people may not know. It's also for people who
(04:13):
have not owned lands or a property for the last
ten years, so people can access this scheme if they
haven't owned property in ten years. But there's also a
two percent deposit scheme to single parents, so a lower
price point there, but still sitting at that cap, so
six hundred thousand. But what we're seeing is people are
(04:33):
going to get shut out because the cap hasn't kept pace.
And if it is really about serviceability, and we talk
about the other jurisdictions all who have jumped ACT and
Queensland have lifted their caps to one million, which is
up from seven hundred and fifty thousand, and seven hundred
thousand in South Australia who were the same as US
as six hundred thousand have gone to nine hundred thousand.
(04:55):
So you know, like when you look at that, you've
got to go, well, why are we existing and we
haven't shifted since twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
What do you think would be a reasonable cap or
is you know, are you able to say.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Well to put it into perspective, Tazzi was at six
hundred thousand and they jumped to seven hundred thousand, so
they've seen one hundred thousand increase, which I believe is reasonable.
If you put into real estate dot com houses between
six hundred and seven hundred thousand, you will see a
significant larger number of properties under that seven hundred thousand caps.
It gives people more choice, It gives people more options
(05:31):
about where they want to live. Some people might not
want to be in you know, those smaller suburb properties.
People might want to go rural. People might want to
be in town. We have to be able to provide
people with a choice because if we want to encourage
people to want to come to the Northern Territory, but
also people in the territory to get off the rent
around about, then we need to be able to provide
(05:53):
them options, not just three properties that currently sit on
the market.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Hey, just on the rental market. What did the quarterly
report find in regards to the rental market? How those
you know, how the vacancy rates sitting? How things looking.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, so in March when we did our last number, well,
when we released our report in July, the March numbers
showed that our vacancy in Darwin was three point three
percent and in Alice Springs was two point nine. Darwin's
vacancy rates now are sitting at one point seven and
that's in the rental market, so there is only one
point seven percent, so we are tight, so there's very
(06:29):
limited rental stock. Alice Springs is at two point five percent,
so that's also seeing that drop down as well, So
there's very limited supply down in Alice Springs as well.
But so this is another issue that we have, is
there the supply and demand is just out of whack
and the rental market is so tight, rents are skyrocketing.
(06:50):
Because of that, there's limited housing on the market for
people to get in and buy, even through these incentive schemes.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I know they'd also been discussion from the Member for
Solomon yesterday. He was sort of saying, well, you know,
you've got the Northern Territory Treasurer calling on him to
you know, to review this price cap for the Northern
Territory for the first time Buyers scheme and the extended
first time Buyers scheme. But then you know what about
the Northern Territory government scheme here, you know, should they
(07:19):
lift their cap also?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, at the moment, the Northern Territory has the highest
scheme across the country when it comes to first home
buyers with that fifty thousand dollars first home owners grant,
So I mean, I think the government has put in
place schemes that have shown to be effective. We would
have preferred to have seen as well, the ten thousand
dollars existing home still on the market. That was one
(07:44):
thing that we felt was being taken up by a
lot of people being able to go into an existing
home because we know that the time to take it
takes to build a home, and you and I spoke
about this last week can skyrock it out to almost
a year. And you've got to remember high cost of
living at the moment, the pressures of that people have
to then rent while they build, or they've got to
(08:06):
be living somewhere. They might own another property, but likelihood
is people have to rent while that build is happening.
So we've got to remember not everybody also wants to
build a new home. Some people might want to go
into existing stocks. So we've just got to make sure
that we're you know, supporting everyone or supporting people in
the choices that they want to have when it comes
(08:26):
to housing, because people in an existing home might want
to right size into something something smaller if it was
mum and dad, kids have left four bedroom house, they
want to right size into something two bedroom they might
want to build, But then there is that option of
that four bedroom house to be taken up by a family,
and that's where that scheme we felt was really effective.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Well, Ruth Palmer, really good to speak with you this morning.
I appreciate you having a quick chat with us today.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, thanks a lot, Katie, thank you, thanks so much.
Now, if you were listening to the show, yesterday, we
spoke to the Federal Member for Solomon, Luke Gosling about
the cap for first time buyers wanting to access the
newly expanded federal government first home Buyers game. Now, concerns
were raised about that six hundred thousand dollars not cutting
the mustard. Last week we spoke to a number of
different industry groups. We've also had those wanting to enter
(00:22):
the first home buyer market saying to us it is
just not enough. Now. Ruth Palmer from the Property Council
of the Northern Territory, the executive director, joins me on
the line. Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Ruth, Oh, good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Now, Ruth, Mister Gosling claimed yesterday that the CAP's in
line with the median house price and there's plenty on
the mark. At is that in line though with the
Property Council's latest stats and most recent report.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
No, absolutely not so. Right now, we can see that
the meeting house prices have hit six hundred thousand, and
that was recorded from our June data. So we track
this every quarter and seeing since we've been tracking this
data since last year, we've seen about a ten percent jump,
So it went from five hundred and forty six thousand
(01:08):
in December five hundred and sixty two thousand in March,
and now we've hit that six hundred thousand. So it's
only I can predict it's only going to get higher
when we do our next stats, which will come out
at the end of the year, which benchmarks that sort
of September numbers.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So, I mean, your report also found that housing supply
is one of the biggest hand brakes. Can you sort
of break that down for us?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, so across the country we are lagging behind lights
like jurisdictions. So if you look at Townsville, Royal Campden, Canned,
the territory is sitting last. So we really need to
get that housing supply up. And it also means that
we have a very limited supply of people wanting to
be able to get into the market and to be
able to purchase a home. Now.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I know that yesterday we certainly had a lot of
people that were sort of pretty fired up. I think
it's safe to say after we spoke to Luke Gousling,
because you know, they're looking right now to try and
enter the first buyer or the you know, the first
star their first time, and they're trying to get into
their first time. You know, someone even sort of sent
through what is on the market at the moment. They're
(02:11):
saying that there is absolutely bugger all in terms of
standalone houses under six hundred thousand dollars. What do you
say to that?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Ruse, Yeah, that's right. And on real estate dot com
as well, there's around six, but I reckon, I think
there's a few that are actually up for auction, so
they can always go over that six hundred thousand. So
I think realistically there's about three, and I've spoken to brokers,
I've spoken to real estate agents, so effectively, there's three
standalone houses that can be purchased if you're taking out
(02:41):
that auction. But the problem with the federal government scheme
is the cat being at six hundred thousand is the
same level it was in twenty twenty two. So it
was put at six hundred thousand in July twenty twenty two,
and before that it was five hundred thousand in twenty
twenty one, so the scheme began. So when mister Gosling
(03:02):
is talking about those one thousand people who have purchased
homes or gone through the scheme. That's over a five
year period. That will be my understanding. So I think
we need to be a little bit more realistic about
those numbers and sort of what we're staying around who's
accessed or when those people have accessed it, because when
it started, the scheme was at three hundred and seventy
(03:23):
five thousand for the territory.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Ruth can I ask there was also sort of discussion
about you know, first homeowner's ability to service alone, and
you know those in the Northern Territory being able to
service alone. But then in other parts of Australia, Like
my understanding is of this first home buyer scheme and
the extension to it in every other state, those caps
(03:45):
went up. So I mean, why would Territorians not be
able to service the loan but those in other states can?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, exactly, And so it's not We've got to remember
it's not just for first home buyers, so or young
people wanted to enter the mind market. So you know,
many Territorians are buying or looking to buy, maybe after
a separation, moving back from into state, or they're essential
workers trying to buy where they live. But a lot
of people may not know. It's also for people who
(04:13):
have not owned lands or a property for the last
ten years, so people can access this scheme if they
haven't owned property in ten years. But there's also a
two percent deposit scheme to single parents, so a lower
price point there, but still sitting at that cap, so
six hundred thousand. But what we're seeing is people are
(04:33):
going to get shut out because the cap hasn't kept pace.
And if it is really about serviceability, and we talk
about the other jurisdictions all who have jumped ACT and
Queensland have lifted their caps to one million, which is
up from seven hundred and fifty thousand, and seven hundred
thousand in South Australia who were the same as US
as six hundred thousand have gone to nine hundred thousand.
(04:55):
So you know, like when you look at that, you've
got to go, well, why are we existing and we
haven't shifted since twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
What do you think would be a reasonable cap or
is you know, are you able to say.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Well to put it into perspective, Tazzi was at six
hundred thousand and they jumped to seven hundred thousand, so
they've seen one hundred thousand increase, which I believe is reasonable.
If you put into real estate dot com houses between
six hundred and seven hundred thousand, you will see a
significant larger number of properties under that seven hundred thousand caps.
It gives people more choice, It gives people more options
(05:31):
about where they want to live. Some people might not
want to be in you know, those smaller suburb properties.
People might want to go rural. People might want to
be in town. We have to be able to provide
people with a choice because if we want to encourage
people to want to come to the Northern Territory, but
also people in the territory to get off the rent
around about, then we need to be able to provide
(05:53):
them options, not just three properties that currently sit on
the market.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Hey, just on the rental market. What did the quarterly
report find in regards to the rental market? How those
you know, how the vacancy rates sitting? How things looking.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, so in March when we did our last number, well,
when we released our report in July, the March numbers
showed that our vacancy in Darwin was three point three
percent and in Alice Springs was two point nine. Darwin's
vacancy rates now are sitting at one point seven and
that's in the rental market, so there is only one
point seven percent, so we are tight, so there's very
(06:29):
limited rental stock. Alice Springs is at two point five percent,
so that's also seeing that drop down as well, So
there's very limited supply down in Alice Springs as well.
But so this is another issue that we have, is
there the supply and demand is just out of whack
and the rental market is so tight, rents are skyrocketing.
(06:50):
Because of that, there's limited housing on the market for
people to get in and buy, even through these incentive schemes.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I know they'd also been discussion from the Member for
Solomon yesterday. He was sort of saying, well, you know,
you've got the Northern Territory Treasurer calling on him to
you know, to review this price cap for the Northern
Territory for the first time Buyers scheme and the extended
first time Buyers scheme. But then you know what about
the Northern Territory government scheme here, you know, should they
(07:19):
lift their cap also?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, at the moment, the Northern Territory has the highest
scheme across the country when it comes to first home
buyers with that fifty thousand dollars first home owners grant,
So I mean, I think the government has put in
place schemes that have shown to be effective. We would
have preferred to have seen as well, the ten thousand
dollars existing home still on the market. That was one
(07:44):
thing that we felt was being taken up by a
lot of people being able to go into an existing
home because we know that the time to take it
takes to build a home, and you and I spoke
about this last week can skyrock it out to almost
a year. And you've got to remember high cost of
living at the moment, the pressures of that people have
to then rent while they build, or they've got to
(08:06):
be living somewhere. They might own another property, but likelihood
is people have to rent while that build is happening.
So we've got to remember not everybody also wants to
build a new home. Some people might want to go
into existing stocks. So we've just got to make sure
that we're you know, supporting everyone or supporting people in
the choices that they want to have when it comes
(08:26):
to housing, because people in an existing home might want
to right size into something something smaller if it was
mum and dad, kids have left four bedroom house, they
want to right size into something two bedroom they might
want to build, But then there is that option of
that four bedroom house to be taken up by a family,
and that's where that scheme we felt was really effective.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Well, Ruth Palmer, really good to speak with you this morning.
I appreciate you having a quick chat with us today.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, thanks a lot, Katie, thank you, thanks so much.
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