NT · Apartments
Apartment depreciation schedules in the Northern Territory
An apartment in a mid- or high-rise building carries a larger building deduction per square metre than a standard house. Its share of a concrete frame, a basement car park, lifts, lobbies and fire services is priced at a higher rate per square metre than a house's, and the common plant (lifts, pumps, access control, the gym and pool) is substantial.
- Rate per m², NT 2015
- $2,849
- Apartment built 2015
- $230,225
- Deduction a year
- $5,756
What an apartment cost to build in the Northern Territory
For an 85 m² apartment in a high-rise building, at NT rates, excluding the plant listed separately. The capital works deduction is 2.5% of this cost a year for 40 years from completion, and a buyer claims what is left.
| Year built | Rate per m² | Construction cost | 2.5% a year | Years left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | $1,058 | $81,010 | $2,025 | 4 |
| 1995 | $1,270 | $98,542 | $2,464 | 9 |
| 2000 | $1,377 | $107,999 | $2,700 | 14 |
| 2005 | $1,859 | $148,568 | $3,714 | 19 |
| 2010 | $2,705 | $217,751 | $5,444 | 24 |
| 2015 | $2,849 | $230,225 | $5,756 | 29 |
| 2020 | $2,780 | $225,174 | $5,629 | 34 |
| 2025 | $3,493 | $283,979 | $7,099 | 39 |
Indicative, from the Ezy Depreciation cost database ledger-catalogue-2026-11-02. Years left are full income years from the current one, taking completion as 30 June of the year built.
An apartment built in 1989, a year the table leaves out, cost about $67,009 at NT rates ($878 per m²), so about $1,675 a year at 2.5% for the 3 years left of its 40 if its construction was begun after 15 September 1987 (begun earlier, it was 4% over 25 years, now run out): see depreciation on a property built in 1989 for a standard house that year in every state. The table ends with 2025, the latest year our national series rests on a published figure for, so an apartment built since, in 2026, is shown here at 2025's rates until its own year's are published: about $283,979 at NT rates, so about $7,099 a year at 2.5% over its 40 years.
How the Northern Territory compares
In our cost database, the Northern Territory is the dearest of Australia's states and territories to build an apartment in. Built in 2025, an 85 m² apartment in a high-rise building cost about $283,979 at NT rates ($3,493 per m²), $51,453 more than it would at the national benchmark rate of $2,860 per m², so its capital works deduction is about $1,286 a year higher.
No other state or territory costs more. The next dearest is Tasmania at $3,281 per m², and the same apartment would have cost $69,593 less in South Australia, the cheapest.
Between 2015 and 2025 the cost of building the same apartment in the Northern Territory rose from $230,225 to $283,979, 23% more, so the deduction for one completed in 2025 is about $1,343 a year more than for one completed in 2015, with 10 more years of its 40 to run.
Capital works in an apartment
Division 43, at 2.5% a year for 40 years
- 1The apartment's own fit-out: kitchen, bathrooms, joinery, tiling, internal doors, the balcony's balustrade and screens
- 2Its share of the building: the concrete frame and slabs, the façade, the basement car park, lobbies, corridors, lift shafts, plant rooms, the roof
- 3Its share of the common plant: lifts, fire detection and hose reels, car park doors, access control and intercom, water pumps, the pool's pump and filter, gym equipment
- 4Renovations inside the apartment: a new kitchen or bathroom is capital works from the date it was finished, at 2.5% for 40 years if it was begun after 15 September 1987. What a renovation does to the plant and works it replaces
Plant typically found in an apartment
Division 40, each at its effective life; new at today's prices
- Carpet8 yrs$4,545
- Blinds10 yrs$1,734
- Oven12 yrs$1,914
- Cooktop12 yrs$753
- Rangehood12 yrs$730
- Dishwasher8 yrs$1,276
- Exhaust fan10 yrs$128
- Smoke alarm6 yrs$122
- Video intercom10 yrs$592
- Lift30 yrs$45,029
- Booster pump (multi-storey)20 yrs$5,980
- Fire extinguisher15 yrs$36
- Together, without ducted air conditioning$62,839
- Ducted air conditioning15 yrs$12,139
Not in the total: ducted air conditioning, priced as a whole house's ducted system supplied and installed, not as one in an 85 m² apartment in a high-rise building, at the packaged unit's 15 years. It includes the ductwork, which is capital works at 2.5% a year, not plant, and no price we hold gives its share.
Deductible if bought new for the property while it is let; if it came with a second-hand property acquired since 9 May 2017, or was used while the property was the owner's home, generally not for an individual, though still valued for the capital gain. In a holiday apartment its owner also stays in, even plant bought new since 9 May 2017 is generally not deductible once that private use is not occasional, from the income year it begins (section 40-27). Common plant is shared by unit entitlement.
An apartment tower's common plant and the body corporate in the Northern Territory
An apartment in the Northern Territory is a lot in a scheme run by its body corporate under the Unit Title Schemes Act 2009. A scheme registered before that Act began remains under the Unit Titles Act 1975. The body corporate holds the records, insures the building and levies the owners; it does not claim the building's deductions for them: each owner claims their own apartment and their share of everything common.
In a high-rise that share is small and the common plant is large. At 8 of 1,000 entitlements, the share of a lift costing about $45,029 installed is $360; of the booster pumps, fire hose reels, access control, CCTV, the car park gate, the gym and the pool's pump and filter, $48 or less each. Together the items in the table come to about $468 for that share, nearly all of it deducted at once or pooled.
The share of the structure is where an apartment's deduction lies: the concrete frame, basement, lift shafts and plant rooms are what make its rate per m² the highest of any dwelling. Built in 2025 at NT rates, an 85 m² apartment in a high-rise building cost about $283,979 ($3,493 per m², before the plant the builder installs, priced as plant, is taken out), about $7,099 a year, where the same floor area in a unit in a walk-up block in the Northern Territory cost about $179,434 ($2,213 per m²). A façade re-clad later is a new capital work, its share claimed at 2.5% for 40 years from its completion; a lift replaced is new plant, its share deducted over the lift's effective life (or pooled, or at once, by the share's cost); a special levy's share for either is claimed the same way, and levies paid into the body corporate's administrative fund are generally an expense of the year.
| Item | Cost | Life | The share | Deducted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lift | $45,029 | 30 yrs | $360 | in the low-value pool |
| Booster pump (multi-storey) | $5,980 | 20 yrs | $48 | deducted at once, generally |
| Fire hose reel | $897 | 10 yrs | $7 | deducted at once, generally |
| Access door controller | $897 | 5 yrs | $7 | deducted at once, generally |
| CCTV recorder | $598 | 4 yrs | $5 | deducted at once, generally |
| Gate motor | $1,805 | 10 yrs | $14 | deducted at once, generally |
| Gym cardio machine | $1,495 | 5 yrs | $12 | deducted at once, generally |
| Pool pump | $721 | 10 yrs | $6 | deducted at once, generally |
| Pool filter | $1,017 | 10 yrs | $8 | deducted at once, generally |
Indicative, at our cost database's installed prices, those of the lift, the fire hose reel, the access door controller and the gym cardio machine our own estimates, not observed prices; a building has several of some. Each lot's entitlement, and what the building has, is on its plan and asset register.
Common questions
What does an apartment built in 2015 in the Northern Territory claim in capital works?
For an 85 m² apartment in a high-rise building, about $230,225 of construction cost at NT rates ($2,849 per m²), so about $5,756 a year at 2.5% for the 29 years left of its 40. A larger or better-finished apartment costs more: the guide to build quality and storeys sets each tier's cost side by side, state by state.
Why is an apartment's building cost higher than a house's?
Because the building is. A high-rise's concrete structure, basement, lifts, fire systems and shared areas cost more per square metre of saleable floor than a timber-framed house on a slab, and each apartment carries its share. For a building begun after 15 September 1987, the deduction is 2.5% of that cost a year for 40 years from completion.
How is the lift shared?
By unit entitlement. An apartment with 8 of 1,000 entitlements carries 0.8% of the lift's cost, which for one lift is a few hundred dollars: small enough for the low-value pool, so it is deducted faster than its 30-year effective life would suggest.
Is the rate different for apartments in NT?
The rate is federal: 2.5% a year for residential construction begun after 15 September 1987, everywhere in Australia. What differs is the cost it applies to. Construction in NT runs about 23% above the national benchmark, and an apartment's structure costs 1.50× a single-storey house's per square metre.
Apartments elsewhere
General information only, not advice about your circumstances. Speak to a registered tax agent before relying on it.