ACT Canberra Property 2016

Our house in Canberra is pretty close to cashflow neutral at present

 

Doubt it - the reason for the increased rates and land tax was (I think) predicated on the eventual removal of stamp duty over a "number of years".

 

Congrats! I know others who have been in negative for years and have slowly got to neutral or even slightly positive. It's just that I'm sure I can find other opportunities away from the ACT that don't take 15 years!

 

Ours has only been rented for 5 months. I think what helped was buying a house that was quite nice but in a cheaper area meaning that we can charge a bit more than neighbouring houses for rent without having the higher mortgage payments of a house in a more expensive area.

 

You can get close for detached houses - especially in outter burbs of Tuggers and Belco where you might land something for low $400's (or you used to back in the day) and rent for mid to high $400's p.w

I've got one in Tuggers that's postive by a whole $10 p.m without depreciation.

Cheers

Jamie

 

Good on you Jamie. Is that positive with land tax included?

Even a $400k house is $40+ pw just in land tax, not including 8% PM fee ($40pw on $500). So a $400k house rented at $500pw would "lose" $80+ pw in land tax and PM, then there is utilities, maintenance, etc. So gross yield is 6.5%, but I find it hard to pull out positive gearing out of it given expenses and that old = lower depreciation...

 

Do some renovations and then get increased rent plus more depreciation

 

Renovations in Canberra?! Braaaaaave person!

OMG, I'm still finishing the PPOR renos - of 6 possible builders, one finally was serious and good quality and reasonable price and competant and would come on time. First plasterer was caught stealing; next two quotes to finish up were 900% more than they should be - I know because the third quote was 1/10th the price and was done well in a timely manner. Plumber and sparky have been ok, but the plumber's price is high (like all Canberra plumbers). Third roofer was good. Second drainer was ok. Third glazier was good. one out of three engineers has been ok. First asbestos removal people were good. These are only the people who turned up, not the ones referred by builders, REA's, friends or who responded on hipages and serviceseeking!

I will renovate in Canberra again, but only because I now have some good names for trades. If I knew before what I knew now, I would never have started...

 

You're right - it's all about WHO you know.

I'm lucky to have good builder friend that I trust.

I left him the keys to the house and some money - and left for a month. He coordinated everything.

Cheers

Jamie

 

Yep - and I included $1k for maintenance.

Rent $480 p.w

Rate is 3.86% which helps.

Cheers

Jamie

 

Central Belco suburbs like Page, Florey and Scullin are still really good value IMO.

And yes, I agree regarding tradies. I haven't had a huge amount of experience yet but definitely not the best experience with the ones I've used.

 

Wow - sweet! I need to get out more...

 

If you don't want to do renovations, I still find Gungahlin pretty good. The blocks are generally smaller, but the houses are newer and tend to be more popular. The land tax is way lower and greater depreciation benefits.

 

I personally think the new parts of Gungahlin are overpriced compared to what you can get elsewhere in Canberra for the same or lower cost

 

Yes agree, I have mine in the suburb of Gungahlin which is the older area as opposed to the general Gungahlin area. It still gets great depreciation and great rental return.

 

Yes! Entry level Page is about 470k now (based on auction last week), but still good value. Not sure why median isnt higher.

evatt too ( i have vested interrst also), had a good 12 months. Mckellar ( from memory the top canberra performer in the last 12 mnths or so) is finally rubbing off on it ( the difference in medians being one of the reasons i bought there)

Though not sure how positive they are with 5k of your 23k rent going in rates/land tax

 

With the erudition on show, is it time for a meetup?

 

Guys - we've found the public servant!!!!!

 

Pffft. No, I just work with them .
And I'd better not comment on the actual state of their linguistic acumen...

 

anyone want to have a few suburb median prices guesses for the end of 2017?

imo generally speaking similar as this year. house prices to remain solid 5-7% growth. apartments to not grow at all, or even fall a bit as the supply comes online. cheaper suburbs (mainly talking belconnen) to play a little catch up too.

anyhow, using all homes data (non unit median )

Page
2015 - 495k
2016 - 525k
2017 - 560k imo

Evatt
2015 - 477k
2016 - 545k
2017 - 560k imo

I find those 2 interesting in comparison!

Downer
2015 - 675k
2016 - 745k
2017 - 790k imo

And the easier one to predict...rate and land tax increase..10% +

ps. dunno what 'erudition' means