NT Families Spending Most Income on Housing, Report Warns
The portion of income Northern Territory families are spending to cover housing costs has risen more than anywhere else in the country, with the territory's social services peak body warning cost-of-living pressures are "entrenching disadvantage".
A new report by the NT Council of Social Services (NTCOSS) has revealed households in the NT are among the hardest hit by rising cost-of-living pressures.
"Cost of living has increased for everybody across the Territory but it's those Territorians who are on a low income who are impacted the most," interim chief executive of NTCOSS, Claire Pirrett, said.
"People who are already struggling are now experiencing a rapid rise in cost of living," she said.
Cost of living 'driving people to be homeless'
The report flagged rental affordability, fuel and travel costs, and power prices as major pressure points.
At the end of 2025, the NT had the second highest average rent in the country behind NSW.
The average rent for a three-bedroom house in the NT was $710 per week — $60 above the national average of $650 per week.
The NTCOSS report also showed Territory families are paying 26.1 per cent of their weekly income to cover housing costs.
Ms Pirrett said one of the biggest indicators of cost-of-living stress in the NT are the rates of homelessness, which are the highest in Australia.
"We know the cost of living is extremely high — so high it is driving people to be homeless," Ms Pirrett said.
Ms Pirrett said another indicator of families struggling to manage cost of living was the increase in the number of households being disconnected from power after failing to top up their smart meters.
Most households in remote Aboriginal communities, and some urban public houses, use prepaid smart meters.
If meters are not topped up or don't have sufficient funds, power is disconnected.
The report noted 103,648 instances of people being disconnected from power in major centres across the NT in 2024-25 — a 30 per cent increase from the year before.
First home-buyer grants making a difference, government says
The NT's treasurer and minster for housing Bill Yan said the government's HomeGrown grant program was already helping boost housing stock and assisting young families break into the housing market.
"To provide that additional access to renters we need to build more houses and that's where our $50,000 and $30,000 grants are providing that opportunity."
The government has approved and paid 510 grants since launching last year.
Mr Yan also pointed to an increase in construction activity over the last quarter and an increase in house prices as indicators of a stronger housing market.
In their report, NTCOSS made several recommendations to the territory and federal governments to help ease pressure on household budgets.
The recommendations included increases to income support payments and amendments to rental protection legislation to provide NT renters with better protections.
Mr Yan said the government had received submissions from the Real Estate Institute of the NT about changes to tenancy laws and said reforms would be considered.
"We're taking all of this on board because we understand the issues that renters face," he said.