ACT Canberra Property 2018

{Note - thread continued from here: ACT - Canberra Property 2017}


Auction watch: Cook home astounds at auction

The vendors have to be pretty happy with that result

 

The Watson property they've listed has been eclipsed by a long way. High quality KDR but still...

19 Simpson Street, Watson, ACT 2602 - Property Details

 

Geocon founder's home breaks Kingston suburb record

 

That's a great result

Photos are a bit strange - looks like an off the plan advert

Cheers

Jamie

 

Aranda home goes under the hammer twice

Lol I'm not sure how the bidder made that mistake but could happen I guess

 

Canberra posts strong clearance rate at weekend auctions with three suburb records broken

Go Belconnen go

 

Jerra is nice! how come your selling geoff?

 

Sounds like fair reasons- all the best in reaching your retirement goals

 

As an open question- why do so many investors I talk to just never consider Canberra? Is it mainly due to land tax?- I'm sure some Sydney suburbs have pretty high land tax!

 

Land tax is state based tax. Canberra has no threshold whereas it's $629k in NSW. Unless you're using the 6 years of absence for tax purposes, it's not really worth it even as a "cost of running a business". Canberra is not particularly friendly to investors with high costs and low yields so unless you got in at a good time, it'll be costing a bit to hold. I can only assume this is why the vacancy rate is so low.

 

Some good points.

Not an abundance of good investment grade properties under $629k in Sydney though so this would have to be factored in?

I was thinking along the lines of Canberra land tax being 2-3k p/a, however the Sydney land taxes in addition to the high council rates (esp in the east, inner west, north shore!) would make the equation pretty balances in terms of holding costs i would have thought?

 

I'm not sure how the yields are low, even if you include land tax. Before we moved back in, our IP was getting about 6% gross which is good for a metropolitan area

 

Canberra is two speed and most investors are looking at sub 600k market for properties. There are very few apartments in Canberra that would represent a good investment, but I believe houses will see very good growth over the next few years.

Talk in Canberra at present is that ACT Government is going to further slow or stop new suburb releases into the future, but build upwards along the new light rail project and in town centres. So we will see many more apartments, but less and less new houses being supplied (which is already a quantifiable trend according to QBE state & territory property report).

There are also a few other good trends for Canberra houses:
- Possible new federal Labor government (increase in public servants)
- Solid population growth
- Public sector wages growth leads private sector wages growth
- Ongoing low rental vacancy rates
- Relative price compared to Sydney/Melbourne is very cheap
- In the event of an unemployment triggered downturn Canberra fares better than most as public servants do not lose their jobs at the same rate.

 

Sorry I should have clarified I was referring to a house, not an apartment

 

A good article on the supply side movement of the Canberra housing market:

Triple whammy of rates, house prices and stamp duty not what we were promised

 

Hi Folks, apart from being a real estate investor, I also work for an agent here in Canberra. We have a couple of properties coming up soon that will be sold off-market. Admins - would it be OK to post some details here? I'm sure you don't want the page flooded with real-estate deals, but I know that these will be good buys for folks who want to flip in the Canberra area and thought you guys might like first pick at them.