ACT Canberra IP suburbs and whole market trends in ACT

I would say around 20K.

I like your idea of buying a run down house in a good suburb then renovating the kitchen/bathroom. You can change the outlook of the home but you cannot change the location and neighbourhood.

These renovated houses being sold in Belconnen suburbs have this problem because if you visit places like Fraser, Higgins, Flynn you feel like in some kind of tradie's backyard. Paint buckets, renovation clutter, old junk cars, etc are on display on the nature strips. Although Melba and Evatt have some good pockets but majority of it has the same rough feel. There's a stark contrast between Nicholls and Spence although they are just next to each other.

Canberra will get denser in the inner suburbs rather than growing on the fringe. So I doubt Belconnen suburbs will ever appreciate from where they are now. Bigger blocks in Inner North like Watson, Kaleen might go up once the apartment boom reaches there.

 

Belconnen is quite different suburb to suburb IMO. I doubt the apartment "boom" is going much further given that current stock is pretty hard to sell now.

I think 20k is a conservative estimate if the OP is lucky and also chooses the cheapest possible options for all the fittings and appliances, especially if it'll be a project managed renovation. We were quoted about that for a bathroom renovation that was really just retiling the room and reusing the same fittings except for the shower. I think kitchens can be a bit more expensive just because there are more components than a bathroom. I would budget 30k to be safe and that would be for an average finish.

 

Hi guys, thanks for your answers. To be honest I am not a tradie so didn't really have anywhere to start. I wouldn't really have known whether $20k, $30k, or even $50k was reasonable.

I'm really loving that you guys are sharing your thoughts on suburbs for some capital gains with me. There are definitely trade-offs to be made with every suburb.

How about Woden or Weston Creek? I notice that not many people have talked about it here...

 

Which specific areas? Are you looking at houses?

 

Yeah, i'm referring to 4bed 2bathroom houses for my family to live in for about a decade. Not really familiar with what's available in the southside and what the districts are like. there's only so much you can tell from driving around!

Anyway, I guess my question was around capital growth. Do you guys think house prices in the Woden and Weston Creek districts have gone up in line with other districts in the (say) last five years? Or pretty much smack bang on the ACT growth average?

Cheers

 

Houses in Woden and Weston Creek, both well established areas, seemed to have grown largely in line with the housing market in Canberra. The market for detached houses has really peaked (and dropped a little off the peak) in the past 6-9 months. Weston Creek you will get more bang for your buck as opposed to Curtin, Lyons, Garran and the suburbs directly adjacent to Woden. They are both good middle class areas, with the Woden suburbs probably better than that due to their proximity to both the city and Woden. I have lived in Canberra my whole life and would have no problem living in any of the suburbs in these areas.

 

Thanks Todd, much appreciated! Lots to think about but we've got time on our side, it seems (going by the auction we attended on the weekend and seeing the weekend's ACT auction clearance results).