The cheapest Canberra suburbs to rent a house: Domain Rent Report

If you’re looking for a house to rent in Canberra, a handful of suburbs in the Belconnen region have been named the most affordable areas, according to Domain data.

This comes after the ACT reached a record high median asking rent of $600 a week for a house, the highest of all capital cities. But there are still pockets in the capital where median asking rents are much less.

The latest Domain Rent Report for the December quarter shows of the 10 most affordable suburbs to rent a house in Canberra, six of those were in the Belconnen region.

The suburb of Belconnen came out on top with a median asking rent of $450 a week; this was followed by Gordon in Tuggeranong and Florey in Belconnen at $480 a week.

Three suburbs within the Belconnen regions followed with median asking rents from $490 to $495.

Property manager Claudia Dyball of inStyle Estate Agents attributed the Belconnen suburbs’ affordability to the quality of stock available there.

“When we look at Belconnen and Cook, for instance, there are a lot of ex-government houses that are a bit old so the asking rent is usually on the lower end,” she said.

Ms Dyball recently rented a property in 11 Mackellar Crescent, Cook for $550 a week, $10 more than the advertised asking price.

According to the data, Cook’s median asking rent was $495.

“This property was tenanted in the space of two weeks. This was an older house on 800 square metres of land and that’s what drew a lot of prospective tenants to it,” Ms Dyball said.

In saying that, Ms Dyball said Belconnen suburbs are high in demand.

“Much of Belconnen still represents great value for money when considering the size of the property and the land, compared to other suburbs. Plus the proximity to schools and essential amenities such as the Calvary Public Hospital are all drawcards to these suburbs,” she said.

“While it is affordable, I don’t think it will be for very long.”

Mitchell Cross, of PRD Canberra, was surprised at the suburbs that were on the more affordable end.

“There are properties we’ve rented lately that have been going for a lot more than the advertised, sometimes up to $50 more so it’s interesting to see that these suburbs are still some of the most affordable,” he said.

Pre-pandemic, this time of the year would see a lot of international students absorbing the rental market ahead of the semester, but with international borders closed, that demographic of renters has been absent.

Despite this, Mr Cross has seen more interstate university students relocate to the capital.

“We’re still getting a tonne of students through properties and houses have become more of an option of choice in the Belconnen region because it offers more for less,” he said.

“We had a four-bedroom house recently that had 17 applications and all 17 were from university students. Canberra’s rental market has been relatively strong, it’s common to see houses rented out at the first open home inspection so the demand is definitely there.”