More Fun Times in Darwin

Just some more info for those thinking of investing in Darwin. Could be some more opportunities if they clean up the Narrows area and get rid of the old HC units. Haven't seen the expression salt and peppered use for a while and wonder how pc it is?

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=763693

The following is from the link above.

Locals from the The Narrows, on the fringes of Darwin's CBD, said their units were awash with drunken violence and people were forced to stash weapons next to their doors to protect themselves from intruders.

One single mother said she was under siege every night as drunk men tried to kick down the door.

"During the day it's all right," said the mother of four.

"But once the sun goes down everyone comes out, screaming, yelling and fighting...

"They come around looking for single women and I'm a single mother. I'm inside shaking.... (the children) cling to me, follow me to the bathroom."

Retired screenwriter Fred Burrows - who described the complex as "hell on earth" - said there was drinking and fighting every night.

NT Housing Minister Rob Knight said by knocking down the old stocks of public housing - and building new homes dispersed in small pockets through regular suburbs - crime would be reduced.

"By having less intensive public housing ... you don't get the types of trouble that you typically get," he said.

"In certain suburbs when you see a lot more public housing close together, you get a lot more trouble.

"We have other suburbs where it is salt and peppered through, it has been successful."

Public and private housing doesn't work

State governments have tried placing public and private housing together. It never works. These social experiments were a failure in the 1970's, and they will fail again.

Phil

"Haven't seen the expression salt and peppered use for a while and wonder how pc it is?"

Not sure they have such a strong sense of political correctness in Darwin. Salt and pepper could be just as politically incorrect by referring to whites as salt. 35% indigenous populution in Darwin. I remember seeing 4wd's in Darwin queued up 15 deep and two cars wide outside a drive in bottleshop on a Sunday afternoon. Sober aboriginal guy and his two kids sitting in the shade of a shop awning across the road watching the whole scene.

In Redfern in Sydney they are trying a similar thing by mixing housing commission amongst non-housing commission. Demolishing old housing commission sites and rebuilding with a mix of tenants/owners. Hope it works.

Phil,

Not sure if it doesn't work. After Tracy(74) the rebuilding process created suburbs that are mixed Private Ownership & Public Housing together. It has worked in quite a few suburbs but mostly those that don't have unit complexes. Quite a few streets have 2-3 PH, although PH is also provided to govt, commwealth and Defense workers.

Darwin is fine

Wouldn't get carried away with newspaper reports. Narrows is old area in not an ideal location.

Darwin has been essential rebuilt since 1974 so is in better shape than many places. There are a few lower socioeconomic areas but these are quickly transiting to being more expensive and up market as the land and housing shortage causes people to buy into them. Most of Darwin and Palmerston is fine.

The only area with problems is the earliest and cheapest part of Palmerston which was predominantly housing commission. But even prices there are starting to climb high. The newer and modern Palmerston is well away from the old areas.

as i posted elsewhere Darwin Palmerston is probably the best place to be at the moment - for work, business and property investment.

The Territory economy is still cruising along and looks like it will heat up not get cooler.

http://newsroom.nt.gov.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewRelease&id=5199&d=5

There actually might end up with too much money floating around the economy over the next 6 months with all these packages and developments. A bit sureal.

The real danger for Darwin / Palmerston is that because they haven't and probably won't be hit that hard by the recession is that they will accelerate into the stratosphere when the world economy actually does turn around.

Properties will go through the roof again and government simply wont be able to turn of blocks fast enough. I think at the moment the need is for 1,700 per year but government has only been releasing 700 blocks per year.

There is a huge backlog in demand pent up in the Dawin Palmerston area. That we burst onto the market once Inpex gets up and running or when the world economy gives a hint of recovery.

Decent Darwin properties are over $700k so the best bet would be those in the range in the Palmerston & Durack areas between $550k and $750k - they are usually fairly new, and modern designed and tend to be in the 'better' (more re-saleable / easy to rent) areas.

Darwin would be probably the only place in Australia safe to buy property at the moment, that has the prospect of good returns and capital growth.

Nothing like a big brawl for fun!!

News Report

UP to 300 youths have brawled at a Darwin shopping centre and homemade bombs have been set off elsewhere in the city..........

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I've lived in Darwin for 10 years now and can say that out of anywhere I've ever been, Darwin is about as good as it gets.

Fights or trouble in Darwin have been practically next to none for me
and compared to when I was living in Geelong or Surfers thats very tame, its like me telling people how it is in Perth at the moment when I've never been, I know what goes on here because I've been here for 10 years now and I get out alot.

The city at night has that 'mean' feel to it, as it does with Geelong and Surfers, unlike Melbourne, you get a good feeling out in Melbourne at night.

Karama service station isn't a good place to be hanging out at night as there are gangs there, maybe steer clear of Palmo shops at night too because of the same young clowns but thats about it, the other 99.9% is great.

Brawls and home made bombs. Darwin is certainly turning into an interesting place. 300 fighting might not sound like a lot compared to other places but then you have to remember the size of the population and then this number is quite alarming. W2BW, do you know which gangs were involved in this latest incident? My understanding is the police have asked the media not say which gangs to stop the popularity of this becoming more frequent as to get their names in the paper.

Kina,

No need to double up with the same post on two threads.

Mods,

Is it worthwhile combining this thread with the other Darwin thread?

Compared to other capital cities, Darwin is very tame. I've lived in Palmerston for almost three years now ( and lived here for a year in 2000/01 ) and I have never had any issues. Of course, I don't come home from clubs at 4 am when most of these alcohol induced problems occur. I don't own any property in Darwin, but I think it's a great place ( especially in the Dry Season ). I'm actually dreading going back down South next year to deal with the increased noise and people.

Phil

300 in a fight? - Total Invention

The story about '..300 fighting might not sound ...' is a total invention.

It was not on Darwin TV or in any Newspapers or was it reported anywhere else except the one entry on a news site and, shop owners at Casuarina know nothing of such a thing nor does anybody in Darwin you speak to heard of such a thing happening.

The number 300 should make you suspicious of the story in any case. You wouldn't be able to get 300 kids together in Darwin or Casuarina at the one place except at Darwin's major high school. 300 kids would just about fill up Casuarina shopping centre. You certainly wouldn't miss them if it were anywhere close to being true.

In other words the story is nonsense. Probably it was 3 or 10 kids. You would be very hard pressed to get even 30. Someone in the news room has got the story messed up.

Fun Times in Darwin as Property keeps booming

The only fun times in Darwin seem to be the home and unit market which according to the last news report in last weeks NT News was STILL booming despite the economic slow down elsewhere in the country. Not good news for new home buyers.

A lot of southern money is entering the market for the high rental returns and steady capital growth, and the probability of higher growth and also for the much lower risk of contraction (there being a huge home shortage in the Darwin area now).

I can guess that people with cash not wanting to go back into the share market and not wanting 3% interest rates on cash are looking at the property markets. Probably the Darwin and Palmerston areas are the best placed in Australia for growth.

kina said:

Not good news for new home buyers.

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Good news for home sellers

A lot of southern money is entering the market for the high rental returns and steady capital growth,

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Pesky southern investors with their crazy money, I've been up against them before pushing property prices to the moon.

Dave