Free market report · Data to July 2026
Palmerston property market
Palmerston is one of the 453 council areas we track on the Momentum Dial, our property clock. This page is the plain-numbers read: where it sits in the cycle, who lives there, what's being built, and the suburbs inside it.
Palmerston is home to 43,193 people. On the Buyers First Momentum Dial its house market currently reads at Peak, while units read Slowing. Same council, different clocks, which is exactly why we track them separately. The number that matters most here: population is compounding at +2.1% a year. People arriving is the rawest form of housing demand. Here's the rest of the picture, in plain numbers.
Houses · cycle position
Peak
The Palmerston house market is growing at its fastest pace in the current cycle. That is a momentum reading, not a crash call: markets can sit at peak growth for a long time before easing.
+3% to +11%
Modelled 12-month price range
+4.0%
Modelled 12-month rent change
Units · cycle position
Slowing
The unit market is still growing, but the pace has come off its fastest point. Slowing markets often keep rising for years, just less quickly.
-4% to +13%
Modelled 12-month price range
+3.3%
Modelled 12-month rent change
At a glance · houses
$778,347
Typical house, August 2026
+3.6% a year since 2010
+6.3%
Growth a year, last 10 years
+8.5% a year over the last 5
$682
Rent a week
4.6% gross yield
6 of 15
Years prices fell since 2010
Worst: 2016, -4%
The clock measures growth momentum, not price. Peak means growing fastest, not about to fall. Cycle data and projections sourced from HtAG Analytics. See Palmerston on the clock.
Free · One per person
Want all of this written up for Palmerston?
The full report is this data as a written document, plus the current price, rent, yield and growth on one suburb inside Palmerston, and the numbers that cut against the area. I write them by hand, so it comes from me rather than out of a system.
The numbers, explained
Palmerston in charts.
The typical house in Palmerston went from $429,725 in 2010 to $778,347 in August 2026. That is +81% in total, +3.6% a year. It went backwards 6 years in a row at one point. Any market can have a bad year. The ones that stack them are the ones that hurt, and this is the number we weigh most.
Houses · price change each year · 2011 to 2026
Prices in Palmerston fell in 6 of the last 15 years
+81%
Since 2010
+6.3%
Per year, last 10 years
6 of 15
Years going backwards
-4.0%
Worst year (2016)
What this shows. How much the typical house price in Palmerston went up or down each year. Teal bars are up years, red bars are down years, and the faded bar is this year so far.
Why it matters. The size of a good year matters less than how many bad years there were and whether they came in a row. Boring? Absolutely. But the length of the down stretch is what decides whether you get out the other side. Typical price at December each year, data from HtAG Analytics.
You don't need to know property to read this. Every chart below opens with the point in one line, then says what it shows and why we care. Teal is a good sign, amber is okay, red means watch it.
The scorecard · 7 things we check
Palmerston scores 23 out of 35. Solid.
prices are rising as fast as they will this cycle, so the easy money has been made
6 of 15 years
1.6 new homes approved per 100 that exist
population growing 2.1% a year
4.1% unemployed, Australia 4.2%
a house costs 5.7 years of a local household's income
0.7% of rentals are empty, so about 1 in every 100
What this shows. Seven quick checks on Palmerston, each scored out of five. Five is the reading we most want to see.
Why it matters. No single number tells you whether an area is a good buy. Together they show whether the pieces line up. These are bands, not rules: a council outside a band can still be the right buy for the right person, and one inside every band can still be wrong for you.
House prices since 2010 · Palmerston vs the 4 most similar councils in NT
Palmerston has outgrown similar councils over ten years
+8.5% vs +3.9%
A year, last 5 years
+6.3% vs +1.5%
A year, last 10 years
+3.4% vs +1.5%
A year, last 15 years
What this shows. The typical house price in Palmerston every year, in teal, next to the middle of the five councils in NT closest to it in size and starting price: Alice Springs, Litchfield, Darwin, Katherine. The small "vs" number in each tile is those councils.
Why it matters. Beating its peers over a whole decade is worth more than any single hot year. It usually means something real is pulling people here.
Momentum · the last 36 months
Prices in Palmerston are picking up speed right now
$772,239
3-month price, August 2026
+6.9%
3-month price vs 12-month price
1,529 vs 2,150
Houses sold, last 12 months vs the 12 before
What this shows. Two versions of the same price. The dotted teal line averages the last three months, so it reacts fast. The grey line averages the last twelve, so it moves slowly. The bars are how many houses sold each month.
Why it matters. The last three months are running ahead of the last twelve. That is what speeding up looks like before it shows in the yearly number.
New homes · approvals as a share of all the homes here
New homes in Palmerston are keeping pace with the people
What this shows. For every 100 homes already in Palmerston, how many new ones the council approved each year. The teal band is the range we call balanced.
Why it matters. New homes are arriving at about the pace the population absorbs them. Balanced. The home count is the population divided by the average household size, so treat the rate as a guide rather than a census.
Affordability · house price in years of local household income
A house in Palmerston costs 5.7 years of a local family's income
What this shows. Take the typical house price and divide it by what a typical household here earns in a year. A bar of 7 means seven years of the whole household's income buys one house.
Why it matters. Affordable by Australian standards. There is room for prices to move before the locals get priced out, and locals are the steadiest buyers a market has. Income is the 2021 Census figure carried forward at 3.5% a year, so it is an estimate, not a measurement.
Rents · typical weekly house rent, last 36 months · and how many rentals sit empty
Rent in Palmerston is $682 a week, up 6.9% in a year
$682
A week, August 2026
+6.9%
Change in the last year
0.7%
Rentals sitting empty (tight)
What this shows. What a typical house in Palmerston rents for each week, month by month. The empty-rentals number is the share of rental homes with nobody in them: under 1.5% is tight, over 3% means tenants have plenty of choice.
Why it matters. Rents rising faster than inflation means more people want to live here than there are homes to rent. That pressure eventually shows up in prices.
Rental yield · a year of rent as a share of the price, Palmerston vs similar councils
Rent covers 4.6% of the price each year in Palmerston
What this shows. Yield is simple: a whole year of rent divided by the house price. A $500,000 house renting for $500 a week earns $26,000 a year, which is a 5.2% yield.
Why it matters. Lower than similar councils, which are around 5.4%. Prices have run ahead of rents, so you are paying more of the loan yourself while you wait for growth. We don't buy on yield alone and we never set a yield cut-off; it is one piece of the picture, next to growth.
The people
Who lives in Palmerston.
The population has grown +2.1% a year over the last five years, which is quick by national standards. The growth is mostly homegrown, births outrunning deaths, rather than people moving in. Softer as a demand signal. The median age is 31 and the median household brings in $2,199 a week (Census 2021). 45% of households rent, a deep tenant pool if you're buying to hold, and more investor competition when stock is tight.
Population · ABS estimates 2015 to 2025
Palmerston is growing fast: 43,193 people, up +2.1% a year
43,193
People, 2025
+2.1% vs +1.3%
A year, last 5 years · typical NT council
+2.0%
A year, last 10 years
Why it matters. People arriving is the rawest form of housing demand. Every new household needs somewhere to live before anything else happens.
Where the growth came from · last 3 years
Growth in Palmerston is homegrown: births outran deaths by 1,636
Net change: +2,193 people over three years.
What this shows. Three ways a place gains or loses people: babies born minus people who died, people who moved here from another part of Australia, and people who arrived from overseas. Bars to the right add people, bars to the left take them away.
Why it matters. Births outrunning deaths is the softest kind of growth. It adds people, but it does not add new households straight away.
Age and households · Census 2021
Palmerston is younger than the typical NT council: median age 31 vs 34
Palmerston Typical NT council (middle of 6)
Why it matters. A younger area means first-home buyers, growing families and renters. Three-bedroom houses near schools and jobs are the bread and butter.
Income and who owns the homes · Census 2021
Palmerston is a renters' market: 45% of homes are rented, vs 47% in the typical NT council
Own or paying off Renting Other
Why it matters. Lots of renters means a deep tenant pool if you are buying to hold, and more investor competition when stock is tight.
New supply
What's being approved to build.
248 dwellings were approved in FY26, 150 of them houses. Approvals are clearly trending up, so more supply is coming. Whether that's a problem depends on whether the population keeps outrunning it. On the non-residential side, $50 million of building was approved in FY26, $15 million of it public money. Governments build where they expect people. Within that, $16 million of education and health buildings have been approved across the last three financial years. Schools and hospitals are the most honest signal governments give about where they expect families.
Homes approved · ABS, by financial year
Building in Palmerston is steady: 248 homes approved in FY26
Houses Units, townhouses and other
248
Homes approved, FY26
60%
Of them houses
1.6%
New homes per 100 that exist
What this shows. How many new homes the council approved each financial year, split into houses and everything else. Approved is not built, but it is the earliest warning of supply on the way.
Why it matters. Enough building to house the newcomers without flooding the market. Boring is good here.
Non-residential building approved · ABS
Government spending on buildings in Palmerston is rising: $15m approved in FY26
Government projects All non-residential
$50m
All sectors, FY26
$15m
Government, FY26
$16m
Schools and health, last 3 years
What this shows. The dollar value of shops, offices, schools, hospitals and other non-home buildings approved each year. The darker bar is the government's share.
Why it matters. Governments build where they expect people. Schools and hospitals are the most honest signal they give about where families are heading. For the named projects behind these numbers, ask for the full report.
Jobs
Who's working in Palmerston.
Work here runs on public administration (20% of jobs), ahead of health care and social assistance and construction. 3,422 more residents are in work than five years ago (+16.6%). That is strong jobs growth, and it usually shows up in housing demand with a lag. Unemployment tracks close to the national average at 4.1%. On the ABS advantage index this council ranks in the top 30% of the country, which you'll notice in the price tags.
Jobs · SALM, March 2026
3,422 more people in Palmerston have a job than five years ago
24,046
Residents in work
4.1% vs 4.2%
Unemployed · Australia
+16.6%
Jobs change, 5 years
Palmerston Australia
Why it matters. Strong jobs growth shows up in housing demand with a lag. People get the job first and buy the house a year or two later.
Who employs people here · Census 2021
Public administration is the biggest employer in Palmerston, 20% of jobs
What this shows. The five industries that employ the most residents, as a share of all jobs. The pill is the ABS advantage score: Palmerston sits in decile 8 of 10 nationally, where 10 is the most advantaged.
Why it matters. A spread of employers means no single closure can empty the town. That is the kind of job base that holds house prices through a downturn.
The outlook
Is Palmerston worth buying into?
Put the drivers together and the case for Palmerston is: a population that keeps growing, a job base that has expanded, public building spend trending up. None of this guarantees anything. It tells you where to look harder, which is what a report like this is for.
Free · Written by hand · One per person
This page is the public data. The full report is that written up as a document, plus the current price, rent, yield and growth on one suburb inside Palmerston. One per person.
Name, email and phone. I write these by hand, one per person, and the conversation afterwards is the only thing the report costs.
Inside the LGA
The suburbs of Palmerston.
We hold live snapshot data for 9 suburbs in Palmerston. Click through for the full numbers.
| Suburb | Typical price | Rent/wk | Gross yield | 1yr growth | Listings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durack | $801,774 | $733 | 4.8% | +21% | REA · Domain |
| Farrar | $781,466 | $732 | 4.9% | +20% | REA · Domain |
| Gunn | $763,898 | $705 | 4.8% | +24% | REA · Domain |
| Rosebery | $709,027 | $735 | 5.4% | +11% | REA · Domain |
| Woodroffe | $655,555 | $651 | 5.2% | +24% | REA · Domain |
| Driver | $650,860 | $661 | 5.3% | +19% | REA · Domain |
| Bakewell | $641,076 | $690 | 5.6% | +14% | REA · Domain |
| Gray | $626,569 | $621 | 5.2% | +26% | REA · Domain |
| Moulden | $618,322 | $590 | 5.0% | +24% | REA · Domain |
Next step. See what's for sale in Durack on realestate.com.au or Domain. Then send me the address before you make an offer. That is the part the data cannot do.
All 18 suburbs and localities in Palmerston
Archer · Bakewell · Bellamack · Driver · Durack · Farrar · Gray · Gunn · Johnston · Marlow Lagoon · Mitchell · Moulden · Palmerston City · Pinelands · Rosebery · Woodroffe · Yarrawonga · Zuccoli
Free · Written by hand · One per person
Want the full workup on Palmerston?
This page is the public data. The full report is the written workup: current price, rent, gross yield and vacancy, growth over 1, 3, 5 and 10 years, days on market and demand, and the supply coming down the pipe, for Palmerston or any suburb in it. Same data we run for clients. I pull it and email it through, usually within a business day. One per person, no charge, and no 14-part email sequence afterwards. All I ask is that if it lands, you take the fifteen minute call at the end of it.
Name, email and phone. I write these by hand, one per person, and the conversation afterwards is the only thing the report costs.
Keep comparing
Markets of a similar size in NT.
A council only makes sense in context. These are the NT markets closest to Palmerston in population, each with its own written report.
General information only, not financial or investment advice. Cycle positions and projections are modelled LGA-level figures to July 2026, sourced from HtAG Analytics. Population and approvals are ABS estimates; employment is SALM smoothed data; income, age and tenure are Census 2021. None of it can see street quality, flood maps, zoning or the contract, which is where deals are actually won and lost. Get advice on your own situation before acting.
Data finds the area. It doesn't buy the house.
We narrow 15,000 suburbs to the top 5 for each client, then find the street and the property. If Palmerston is on your list, that's a conversation worth having early.