OTHER STATES AND TERRITORIES
Hobart was the leading capital city for price growth and time on market in 2018 (according to most research sources), while regional Tasmania also ranked nationally on price performance. This has sprung out of a marked improvement in the Tasmanian economy – traditionally it has ranked eighth and last among the states and territories (CommSec’s State of the States report) but in the past two years it has risen to No. 4.
Hotspotting analysis of sales activity indicates that Hobart has passed its peak and price growth is likely to be lower in 2019. But regional areas, headed by Launceston, will continue to deliver good growth, with investors attracted by the potential to buy houses below $300,000 at good rental yields.
A feature of Hobart’s market is the very low vacancy rates and high rental growth. The only capital city challenging Hobart in this regard is Canberra, with vacancies consistently below 1% and rental growth strong.
Canberra has been a solid performer on prices also. Depending on whose figures you believe, it has been the No. 1 or No. 2 among the capital cities on price growth recently.
Some forecasters expect Canberra to be among the growth leaders in the next few years. The ACT economy ranks No. 3 in the nation, vacancies are low, rentals are high, unemployment is low – it all points to a period of solid performance by Canberra.
The Northern Territory has been the basket-case economy in recent years and Darwin has been the weakest capital city property market.
There’s nothing in any of the economic or property numbers to suggest any dramatic change will occur in 2019. Twice in the past 30 years Darwin has led the nation on price growth (during the five-year periods from 1993-97 and from 2008-12) and it will eventually recover but it won’t happen until there is vast improvement in the territory’s economy.
The situation there is so dire that the territory government is offering cash incentives to families who are willing to move to Darwin.
The big exception is Alice Springs, which is a steady market with good demand and the only meaningful price growth to be found in the territory.