Median house prices in Woden Valley crack $1 million: Domain report

Median house prices in the Woden Valley region have shot up to seven figures to claim a spot in Canberra’s million-dollar club after new data showed prices in the region had climbed by almost 20 per cent in a single year.

The Woden Valley median house price now sits at $1,062,500, up 18.1 per cent over the year – the strongest growth for houses across all Canberra regions, according to the Domain House Price Report for the March quarter 2021.

“Houses at the upper end of the market are leading, with the strongest yearly gains recorded in Woden Valley, Inner North, Inner South,” Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell said.

“All three areas have a median above $1 million. A higher average wage, job security and low mortgage rates have spurred buyers to upsize.”

House prices in the Inner North increased by 17.4 per cent over the year to $1.08 million, while prices in the Inner South increased by 14.1 per cent over the year to $1.5 million.

Anthony Weston of Blackshaw Woden said he wasn’t surprised by the surge in house prices in Woden Valley, adding that he noticed an increase in demand in the past six months.

“This is a tightly held region. Once people buy a house here, they don’t leave, so the turnover of properties is very low but very competitive, and that has only fuelled demand,” he said.

“What we’ve also found is that buyers who are priced out of the Inner South are looking towards Woden Valley. It’s the next best thing and only two to three minutes from the Inner South.”

There are pockets in Woden Valley that were favourites among buyers, including Garran, Curtin, Hughes and O’Malley, Mr Weston said.

“These suburbs hug the borders of the Inner South, so it’s a natural progression for house-hunters in the Inner South to look at Woden Valley,” he said.

Stephen Thompson of LJ Hooker Manuka recently sold a four-bedroom property at 17 Flanagan Street, Garran, for an undisclosed price, in a heated auction between 20 bidders.

Government records show the property last sold in 2019 for $1.1 million.

“It was an unassuming home that sold significantly above the price expectation because it was a house that lent itself to further improvement and these days, buyers are looking to knock down and rebuild properties, and Woden Valley houses are no exception,” Mr Thompson said.

But while sellers in Woden Valley were pocketing more with sales exceeding price expectations, buyers now had to aim their sights further south, Mr Weston said.

“We have a pool of house hunters who were initially looking at the Woden Valley area but have had to search for houses in Tuggeranong and on the outskirts of Weston Creek because they were priced out,” he said.

Domain data showed the median house price in Weston Creek was $785,000, an increase of 6.9 per cent over the year, while the median in Tuggeranong was $700,000, up 13.8 per cent over the year. Tuggeranong is also the most affordable area in which to purchase a house.

“Because people are being pushed further south, house prices in Tuggeranong are also increasing. A year ago, in Kambah, for instance, there’d barely be a million-dollar sale, but that’s common now,” Mr Weston said.

For units, the median unit price in the Inner South increased by 13.3 per cent over the year to $600,000, the strongest growth in unit prices of all Canberra regions.

“It has been a consistent Canberra trend, units providing more subtle growth compared to houses. The unit market is not uniform across the territory, with apartments in Gungahlin, South Canberra and Tuggeranong growing over the quarter and year,” Dr Powell added.

Mr Thompson said while demand for houses over than units was expected to continue because owner-occupiers were driving market activity, investors were starting to return to the Canberra property market.

“We’re seeing interstate investors from Melbourne and Sydney return and purchasing these Inner South units because the rental returns are higher than in their respective cities,” he said.

“Units in the more established suburbs of this region offer buyers more space, more mature garden surrounds and are close to some of Canberra’s best restaurants and landmarks.”

The median rental yield for units in Canberra is 5.99 per cent. Melbourne and Sydney’s unit yields are 3.95 per cent and 3.54 per cent, respectively.