I have just moved to Canberra and the rental market is pricey and very tight – we applied for four properties before we were ‘lucky enough’ to be accepted, and we are 2 profs happy to pay market rates. This is nothing like our native Brisbane where you have plenty of properties to choose from.
Entry to purchase property is pricey, but because rental prices are high and there (appears to be) an oversupply of tenants, we are thinking we should try and buy, and keep it as an investment as we will probably move again within the next couple of years.
Any knowledge or thoughts on Canberra appreciated.
hotchocolate,
Canberra doesnt seem to get much of a mention in these forums…hmm.In the areas you have looked, what is the average rent as opposed to the average price to buy in canberra?
ie yield?
Live, Learn and GrowLifexperience
Two bedroom units/townhouses, Inner North – buy for $215k rent for $230/wk; buy for $240k rent for $260/week; buy for $270k, rent for $290/week.
Reasonable for a capital city especially if there is a high demand for rentals, I am very interested to hear other views for canberra.
Live, Learn and GrowLifexperience
hotchocolate,
Is the rental market transient on the whole. Do people often move on like yourself after short periods. This could be a little troublesome as a landlord.Is canberra the kind of place that would be good to raise a family?
cheers
Live, Learn and GrowLifexperience
lifeX,
I’ve lived in Canberra for 15 years and I love it. I know that is going to shock alot of people but we get bad press due to all the pollies here.I’ve also lived in Manly NSW and Brisbane, which were both great places. And I consider Brissy very similar people and things to do wise. Great place to bring up kids, good schooling and mostly safe.
Canberra is 2hrs to beach, 2hrs to snow and 2.5hrs to Sydney. It use to be very much a public service town but I would say it is now about 50/50. Prices have gone through the roof over the last 4 years with it now starting to fall slightly in the outer suburbs. Near city is still very high.
Medium house price approx. $340k for june 04. There are alot of postings here and the upper incomes like renting nice in places and nice homes. Never had to many problems renting my places out.
hope that helps
Canberra has good town planning and a higher average income I think (but check on this) then Sydney. Unfortunately it’s very cold and depressing in the winter.
For a period in the early 90’s there was a great fear that as it became self governing there would be less commonwealth subsidisation and it would also suffer economically with downsizing of federal agencies. Canberra property stagnated, went down or flatlined for over 5 years. Because this bearishness was not supported by the fundamentals of a growing population prices in this city have soared in the past 5 years. Prices although high are more sustainable than in sydney .
The population is not transient. People generally move to canberra and stay there as from what I hear it is a nice place to bring up your kids. The outflow is when the kids in their 18-25’s move out to goto uni in sydney or for the social scene in Sydney. This results in a larger proportion of 35-50 year olds (who are affluent). The best suburbs in canberra (eg yaralumla) rival some upper end Sydney suburbs in price. Canberra has reasonable fundamentals.
Also it has low crime rate, a very strong educational system which (unlike sydney the average public school there is pretty good), fantastic cycle paths, good transport, low unemployment, excellent social infrastructure. It is an ideal place to raise kids if you are middle class (except for the weather). I regret selling my IP there in the 90’s as it would be worth quite a tidy sum now, doh !
I am not so sure of some of the newer suburbs. If you can stick to ones where there are primary schools closing then you maybe more likely to do better. In the decade I invested the deakin/curtin/ middle ring areas did much better % wise than the what was then the upper ring (red hill, yaralumla) and the lower end (tugeranong, weston/belconen)
my sister moved to Canberra and couldn’t speak highly enough of the place. she was looking to buy but a BIS Shrapnel forecast put her off. after having seen their complete reversal with their latest whacky forecasts I think it may have been a mistake!
Extensive list of ‘Off The Plan’ property available for sale in Perth.John – 0419 198 856
Canberra is a great place to be and it has often received a bad rap and at times been referred to as a concrete jungle. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I first lived in Canberra in 1981, was back there in ’92 and about to move there again in 2005. Canberra gnerally has a low vacancy, but in the mid 90s it was as high as 6%; if you crunched the numbers you would find it on average to be less than 2%. We have a rental property there, its been positive for a number of years now but its capital growth has gone through the roof after clawing its way back from negative growth around 95-96.
There has always been a high percentage of town houses in Canberra. This swings in cycles, where you at times have an oversupply. Prices are generally slow to achieve capital growth, but with all things property, long term you will gain.
My advice for town houses is to look at complexes that have around 10-12 or so townhouses in them. Look for features such as security aqnd surrounding infrastructure – ie: bus stops, shopping centres.
I am biaised about Canberra property, you can’t lose over the long term, so long as you buy right in the first place
cheers[biggrin]
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