Northern Territory faces critical housing shortage as new home completions hit 50-year low

Homebuilding in the Northern Territory has collapsed to near-record lows, with new research revealing just one home was built for every three needed last year to keep pace with population growth.

A damning report from bheja.ai, conducted by Primara Research, exposes a critical housing shortage, showing the NT delivered a staggering 69 per cent fewer homes than required in 2025.

The Territory delivered a mere 449 homes last year, falling drastically short of the 1469 dwellings needed to accommodate its population growth.

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The 1020-dwelling gap represents more than one per cent of the NT’s existing housing supply. Alarmingly, 2025 marks only the second time in 50 years that annual completions have dipped below 500, with both instances occurring consecutively over the last two years.

Source: ABS Building Activity and Regional Population ·

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It represents an 83 per cent collapse from the 2014 peak of 2706 completions, making it the largest decline of any state or territory in Australia.

The housing crisis is also not isolated to a particular type of dwelling.

Other residential completions hit a 55-year low of just 55 in 2025, leaving house construction as the only meaningful source of new dwellings.

High costs, low demand: A vicious cycle

While the cost to build a house in the NT has increased by 34 per cent over the last five years – a figure below the national average increase of 43 per cent – the Territory remains a more expensive place to build than Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania. This is a persistent legacy from as recently as 2016, when the NT held the dubious distinction of being the most expensive building market in the country.

Although construction costs have somewhat converged with national averages, they have not decreased, making the NT an unappealing prospect for builders weighing up where to operate.

Further complicating the picture is the Territory’s unique demand dynamics.

The NT records the lowest proportion of owner-occupier loans of any state or territory, indicating a largely transient population that typically opts to rent rather than buy.

New research from bheja.ai, conducted by Primara Research, reveals the Northern Territory delivered just 449 homes in 2025, falling 69 per cent short of what population growth required.

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For those who do venture into homeownership, the average NT loan of $492,800 still translates to a substantial monthly repayment of $2,857 at the lowest current market rate, according to bheja.ai founder, Pravin Mahajan.

“The low proportion of owner-occupier loans in NT points to a transient population that rents rather than buys,” he said.

“Without that stable demand base, investors need strong yields to justify building, and in a small remote market that’s a difficult case to make. The result is neither demand pool is large enough to trigger construction at scale.

“Population growth should be the demand signal that triggers new construction, but supply isn’t responding.

“That points to an affordability problem, and in a rising rate environment, there’s little reason to expect that to change anytime soon.”