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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Howard Springs is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Darwin, Australia, with a population of approximately 3,153, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 24 km from the Darwin CBD, Howard Springs is a middle ring area in Northern Territory. The median household income is $133,120 per year.
Above-average earnings in Howard Springs support sustained property values.
Official Australia Post postcode for Howard Springs. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Weekly median rent for occupied homes. Live rental data integration coming soon.
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Estimated 1 school within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Howard Springs on My School →Estimated 1 park and green spaces near this suburb.
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
3,153 residents places Howard Springs squarely in the middle of the Northern Territory suburb size distribution (state median 3,057), with market depth comparable to most NT localities. Median household income of $133,120/year runs 17% above the Northern Territory suburb median of $113,308, indicating strong purchasing power and the type of demographic profile that tends to sustain premium property prices through market cycles. Rent of $400/week (73% coverage of the $2,388/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $655/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. 24 km from Darwin places Howard Springs in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs. Separate houses make up 88% of dwellings — 20 percentage points above the Northern Territory median of 68% — pointing to a family-oriented, land-rich market where value is concentrated in the underlying block.
This suburb suits long-term investors looking for a balance of rental yield and capital growth. Schools and transport underpin family demand. Local rents consume roughly 16% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Howard Springs stacks up against the median of all Northern Territory suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Howard Springs sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Howard Springs | NT median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,153 | 3,057 | +3% |
| Median household income | $133,120/yr | $113,308/yr | +17% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $400 | $360 | +11% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,388 | $1,950 | +22% |
| Distance to CBD | 24 km | 15 km | +60% |
| Separate houses | 88% | 68% | +20pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Howard Springs — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Strong buy-and-hold fundamentals: household incomes run 17% above the Northern Territory suburb median ($133,120 vs $113,308), and the 24 km CBD distance keeps this suburb in the primary demand zone. In Northern Territory, suburbs with this profile have historically clustered in the upper tercile of 10-year capital growth.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $400/week covers 73% of a $2,388/month mortgage, leaving a $655/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
With 88% houses in a 3,153-person market, renovation margins depend on individual street and aspect rather than any suburb-wide story — do comparable-sales analysis before committing capital.
Run the numbers on a Howard Springs property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Howard Springs enters 2026 with a demographic tailwind — household incomes 17% above the Northern Territory suburb median of $113,308 and a population of 3,153 give it the depth and purchasing power to outperform the wider NT market over the next 12–18 months. Rental coverage runs at ~73% of the typical mortgage ($1,733/month rent vs $2,388/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. The EquitySight investment score of 78/100 places Howard Springs in the upper-middle tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is constructive heading into the second half of 2026.
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Howard Springs scores 78/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 3,153, median household income of $133,120/year and median weekly rent of $400. Whether it fits your portfolio depends on whether you are targeting cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — all three are scored with suburb-specific numbers elsewhere on this page.
The main demand drivers in Howard Springs are proximity to Darwin (24 km), an above-state-median household income of $133,120/year, a dwelling mix that is 88% separate houses, roughly 1 schools and 1 parks within the catchment. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand and are the factors we weight most heavily in the suburb's investment score.
Howard Springs has a usual resident population of approximately 3,153, compared with a Northern Territory suburb median of 3,057 — placing it in the upper half of the state's suburbs by size. Population is the clearest proxy for market depth: more residents mean more transactions and typically a shorter average days-on-market on resale.
Howard Springs sits 24 km straight-line from the Darwin CBD. This is comfortable commuter territory, with reasonable rail and road access to the city.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $400 in Howard Springs, equating to approximately $20,800/year in gross rental income (state median $360/week). Market rents have typically drifted above the recorded figure — verify against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Howard Springs is $2,388, or approximately $28,656/year (vs $1,950/month state median). Stress-test your own borrowing at rates 1–2 percentage points above today's to make sure you can still service the loan through an RBA tightening cycle.
A median weekly rent of $400 works out to $1,733/month, covering 73% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,388/month. That leaves a $655/month shortfall (around $7,860/year before tax benefits), so a typical owner-occupier-priced property here is negatively geared. Actual cash flow depends on your deposit, loan terms, ownership costs and marginal tax rate — run the full numbers in our rental yield calculator.
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (3,153 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,388 median mortgage, the broader Northern Territory market cycle. Each of these is covered in the Risk Factors section above with suburb-specific numbers rather than generic warnings.
Every number on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census of Population and Housing, Australia Post postcode reference data, and OpenStreetMap amenity tiles. The investment score, strategy verdicts, and comparison table are computed deterministically from those inputs — no opinion, no estimation. See our full methodology and the data sources and licences for the formulas we use.