NT Surprise Hotspot for Australia’s Best Rental Returns

Australia’s strongest rental returns are coming from an unexpected location, new data has revealed.

The Northern Territory has nine of Australia’s top 10 high-yield capital city suburbs, according to Domain’s September Quarter Rent Report.

The suburbs of Gray, Bakewell, Driver, Millner and Rosebery—all in the Top End—filled the top five spots for median gross rental yield, ranging from 8.73 per cent to 8.53 per cent. 

Darwin was a standout “landlord’s market”, Domain chief of research and economics Nicola Powell said.

“Its ongoing supply-demand imbalance, driven by a transient workforce and relative affordability compared to the east coast, is keeping rents high and cementing its reputation as Australia’s high-yield capital,” Powell said.

While the median weekly asking rent at Gray was $475, other areas are asking for prices closer to Australia-wide rents—Bakewell median weekly rents are $520, while Rosebery’s are at $550. 

▲ Sunset, a suburb of Mount Isa, topped the list of Queensland's top high-yield areas.

Investors are looking for higher rental returns in these areas to offset extra risk and slower capital growth. 

Units are also outpacing houses, delivering stronger yields in every city Domain considered, due to affordability and proximity to city amenities, but they often record slower capital growth over time.

Regional hotspots dominated the wider list. 

Houses at Kambalda West in WA, 631km from Perth, have increased rental yields by 9.43 per cent and have a median weekly asking rent of $390. 

Sunset, a suburb of Mount Isa, 1825km from Brisbane and 1600km from Darwin, is asking for rents of $480 with a 9.04 per cent median gross rental yield.

This was fuelled by consistent demand from transient workforces and tight housing supply in mining towns, Powell said. 

▲ Broken Hill was NSW’s highest-yield suburb.

Across the country, Melbourne is “one to watch”, according to Powell, with top yields ranging between 7.65 per cent and 6.67 per cent in suburbs such as Albion, Carlton, Travancore and Notting Hill. 

The only suburb outside the Northern Territory in the rental return top 10 was the Melbourne CBD at 7.65 per cent rental yield, with a median weekly asking rent of $650. 

“While it hasn’t led in terms of capital growth recently, its strong yields and renewed investor interest suggest the market could be regaining momentum,” Powell said. 

Perth is also performing strongly. Suburbs including Northbridge, Glendalough, Osborne Park, West Leederville and Belmont have delivered rental yields of between 7.05 per cent and 6.79 per cent. 

In Sydney, western suburbs such as Auburn and Blacktown remained strong with yields of 6.58 and 6.44 per cent respectively, but they could not compete with rental yields of 7.99 per cent at Broken Hill in Outback NSW. 

Adelaide and Hobart were lower—their top suburbs of Kilburn in SA and Gagebrook in Tasmania returning 6.07 per cent and 6.20 per cent rental yields respectively. 

Brisbane was at the bottom of the city rental yields for Fortitude Valley at 5.94 per cent. Its regional areas are considerably outperforming city yields.