Canberra’s most popular suburbs of 2022 for home hunters revealed

Canberra’s most popular suburbs have been revealed, with Deakin in the city’s Inner South trumping the list as the suburb with the highest views per listing for 2022, according to Domain data.

The 2022 Domain End of Year Wrap, released on Thursday, noted the top 10 suburbs that garnered the most eyes throughout the year for both houses and units were spread across the Inner South, Inner North and Woden Valley – Canberra’s most expensive regions.

“Some buyers may be looking towards these areas as an aspirational suburb to live in and I think that’s probably why we’ve seen some of the highest views per listing coming out of these areas,” Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said. 

“When you think about some of the homes that are being sold in these suburbs, they’ve been record-breaking, elite homes that have hit the market in Yarralumla, Deakin and Forrest.”

According to internal Allhomes data, Deakin recorded a median house price of $2,037,500 and a median unit price of $612,500, based on sales in the suburb over the past 11 months.

Stephen Thompson of LJ Hooker Manuka, who is synonymous with sales in the Inner South, was not surprised by the results.

“Deakin is, was, and always will be, one of the most desirable suburbs to live in Canberra,” Thompson said.

“The real estate market in Deakin generally follows the rest of Canberra. However, as there are only a limited number of homes available, the demand is always high no matter what the market is doing.”

Powell said it was also important to consider the size of the suburb when looking at the city’s most popular areas.

“For instance, Kambah is the largest suburb in Canberra, therefore more options may be available. Whereas, when a suburb is small and tightly held, it’s highly desirable – buyers compete to gain access to it,” she said. 

While these suburbs attracted many buyers hoping to call the inner-city suburbs home, the suburbs that garnered the quickest sales were Charnwood in Belconnen, Duffy in Weston Creek and Spence in Belconnen.

The average number of days properties spent on the market in all three suburbs was 24. In comparison, in 2021, the fewest number of days on market for a suburb in the capital was 14, which was in Holder, Weston Creek.

“What you tend to find in a market that is slowing down and going into a downturn is that days on market lengthen and I think buyers are now taking time in making their purchasing decisions,” Powell said.

“We have seen a slowdown in demand and that has only lengthened those days on market. It’s a combination of a variety of economic factors that we’re seeing contribute to that slowdown in Canberra.

Mark Larmer of Independent Our Team said buyers priced out of the market might be looking at some of Canberra’s more affordable heartlands in Belconnen.

Internal Allhomes data calculated Charnwood’s median house price to be $745,000 and units to be $528,000, based on sales in the suburb over the past 11 months. 

Using the same data, in Duffy, the median house price was $1.112 million for a house and $865,000 for a unit. In Spence, the median was $900,000 for a house and $607,000 for a unit.

“Other areas have all gone up in value and have had good capital gains, and as interest rates have risen and serviceability has risen, people can’t afford the suburbs that they really want to buy into,” Larmer said.

“If you’ve got $700,000 to spend, for instance, you can’t shop in other suburbs because there isn’t anything under that price point and, by default, you end up looking in the suburb which is the only suburb in that price point.”

Looking ahead, Powell is predicting a softer downturn in 2023 as “economic shifts and global influences [make] their mark on consumer sentiment and therefore the property market”.

“At the end of 2022, the market is very different in the ACT compared to what we saw in late 2021 or even into 2022,” she said. “If the market loses momentum, days on market will lengthen even more.”