“The latest housing market figures highlight growing confidence in the Northern Territory economy and property sector,” trumpet Joshua Burgoyne and Bill Yan in a media release.

The Ministers for Land and Housing Construction, respectively, clearly consider the Northern Territory to consist exclusively of Darwin.

It’s an enduring stance of NT governments, CLP and Labor, and usually labelled as the “above the Berrimah Line” syndrome.

“According to the latest PropTrack Home Price Index for May 2026, Darwin is at the top of the charts for monthly growth home prices, and the median home value for all dwellings increased 17.6 per cent ($98,000) over the past 12 months,” the Ministers report.

However, Mr Burgoyne and Mr Yan are silent about the report’s second focus. Under the heading regional areas, which in the NT has Alice Springs as its major centre, the Territory’s housing costs are the nation’s lowest, by a massive margin. They are less half of the national average.

These are numbers from the PropTrack Home Price Index May 2026:

• Regional NT including Alice Springs: 5-year growth 4.8 per cent. Annual growth ($) $15,800. Median value $353,000.
• National average: 52.3 per cent. $70,300. $723,000.
• Regional NSW: 34.7 per cent. $57,800. $789,000.
• Regional Queensland: 81.9 pre cent. $107,900. $836,000.
• Regional WA: 99.5 per cent. $96,200. $661,000.

Ironically, Ministers Burgoyne and Yan have their Parliamentary seats in regional NT, Braitling and Namatjira, respectively. Are they missing a great opportunity for touting cheap housing? There’s certainly plenty of space.

The ministers’ statement includes Kilgariff as being part of “continuing development of Crown land projects”. They don’t say why they have to be jammed into small blocks. 

This article appeared on Alice Springs News on 9 June 2026.