27 Sep 2024
Words Kelli Crouch, 312872 RLA Informer

Market Outlook: South Australia & Northern Territory

To ignore the regions is to ignore opportunity, writes our SA & NT broker Kelli Crouch.

I took on the challenge of establishing ResortBrokers’ market in my home state of South Australia and the Northern Territory back in 2017. After Western Australia, it’s the second largest zone in ResortBrokers’ national network, some 2.3 million sq km.

It’s a good thing I like getting out on the road. Over the last seven and a half years, I’ve done exactly that and had the great pleasure of meeting accommodation operators right across my zone, from Adelaide’s outskirts through to the Top End. There wouldn’t be too many operators I haven’t had the chance to meet.

I like the regions and the people. They’re mostly family owner-operators, so I’m always talking to people with skin in the game. Regional operators are down to earth, give generously of their time and really help me understand the accommodation market in their area. It’s one of the great perks of my job I get to meet them.

One thing I soon discovered once I started talking with operators back in 2017 was that no other brokerage was servicing the regions in either South Australia or the Territory. That was true in 2017. It’s still true now.

I never understood it. To ignore the regions is to ignore opportunity. I’m happy to talk to buyers about the benefits of going regional any day of the week. The regions always deliver better returns than major metropolitan centres. Savvy operators who’ve left the cities for the regions already know this.

So, if you want to go regional, where should you go?

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

That really depends on what you’re after. If you’re looking for lifestyle the Fleurieu Peninsula and other coastal places that aren’t too far from Adelaide have proved popular with buyers of accommodation businesses.

But if you’re after serious growth, you’d want to be looking at places like the Upper Spencer Gulf where there’s a concentration of long-term industrial projects: Port Augusta (solar), Port Pirie (metal) and Whyalla (steel). Or somewhere like Mount Gambier on the Limestone Coast, which enjoys huge corporate trade, being halfway between Adelaide and Melbourne. Accommodation operators in these places who are running their businesses well are enjoying incredible returns.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

The Territory is its own unique self. Accommodation businesses there are just as unique. It’s not just caravan parks and motels but roadhouses too. There are some incredible cashflow businesses through the centre of the country. If you’re a buyer chasing exceptional returns and don’t mind working in places city slickers might regard as “the middle of nowhere,” it’s worth your while.

I visit the Territory at least twice a year. I was in the Top End – Darwin, Katherine and Lichfield — in May. My feeling talking to operators on the ground then was they were in for a stronger year of trade to make up for an ordinary 2023. While accommodation businesses in the rest of the country traded well in 2023, the Territory was a bit softer. Not bad by any stretch, just ordinary.

To boost trade this year, tourism marketeers have pulled out the stops with the Million Dollar Road Trip NT, a partnership between the Territory Government and the Caravan Industry Association of Australia. The campaign encourages self-drivers who visit the Territory between May and September 2024 the chance to win a cool mill in cash. We’ll see how effective the campaign has been on trade in due course, but initial signs have been encouraging.

An old ResortBrokers’ saying is “Coast for show, inland for dough.” And there’s plenty of it to be had in both South Australia and the Territory. But to get the dough, you’ve got to go. END