Suburbs around Canberra attracting first-home buyers

Property price growth in these areas has slowed down

Suburbs around Canberra attracting first-home buyers

House price growth in the regional suburbs around Canberra has recently weakened, making them a more attractive option for first-home buyers or investors.

An article on property website Allhomes cited data from the latest Domain House Price Report showing that while most of the regional towns outside of Canberra experienced significant growth over the past five years, that growth has noticeably slowed down.

Such was the case in Snowy Monaro district, where median house prices rose by 61.4% over the five years leading up to December 2023, but recorded a more modest 1% price growth in the past year. The current median house price in Snowy Monaro is $575,000, making it one of the more affordable options near the Australian Capital Territory.

The Goulburn region witnessed a decline in median house prices by 2% throughout 2023, with a quarterly decrease of 0.8% in December. Despite this recent dip, Goulburn’s housing market has also seen significant growth over the last five years, with median prices increasing by 44.2% from $430,000 to $620,000 by the end of 2023.

Meanwhile, Queanbeyan’s housing market outperformed Canberra’s in the latter part of 2023, with a 0.6% rise in median house prices to $835,000, despite a 9.4% drop over the year. Over five years, Queanbeyan experienced a robust growth of 39.2%.

Aaron Papahatzis, co-principal of Belle Property Queanbeyan, was quoted in the Allhomes article as saying that while the Queanbeyan market had experienced a slowdown in the first half of 2022, activity picked up from spring, driven largely by first-home buyers.

Papahatzis noted a higher demand for properties than available listings, with high-end lifestyle properties taking longer to sell.

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