The Canberra suburbs where most units are under $400,000

Canberra’s median unit price is almost $300,000 less than the median house price, meaning for first-home buyers units present a greater opportunity to step onto the ladder. 

The median unit price in Canberra is $448,737 but, according to Domain analysis, there are suburbs in Canberra where most units sell for less than $400,000. Within ACT borders, seven suburbs fit into this category. 

From suburbs with more than 50 unit sales in the 12 months to June 2019, Bruce has the lowest median at $349,000.

Bruce is the most affordable suburb to buy a unit within 10 kilometres of Canberra’s city centre. 

So far this year, the cheapest price for a unit in Bruce has been $250,000. Two one-bedroom units have sold for this price, both in the same complex on Battye Street.

Over the year, Bruce unit prices declined 12.8 per cent, and the median is 16.9 per cent lower than five years ago. 

Harrison, in Gungahlin, has the second-lowest median price at $357,750. The lowest sale price for a unit this year is $260,000  – it’s down 7.7 per cent year-on-year. 

Phillip comes in at third. The suburb has also recorded a 14 per cent growth. There is a high volume of off-the-plan sales which means it’s hard to determine the lowest sale price with all certainty but according to available records, a one-bedroom unit sold for $230,000 in July. 

• Related: House prices tumble in million-dollar Canberra suburbs 
• Related: The regions where rents are less than the Canberra median 
• Related: Canberra house rents drop but still the most expensive capital city to rent 

Belconnen, Gungahlin, Lyneham and Greenway round out the list of the suburbs where the median unit price is below $400,000. 

A recent Domain analysis also found weekly mortgage repayments for a unit in all of these suburbs are less than the median asking rent. 

Not only is Bruce the most affordable suburb, but of the seven it had the greatest difference between repayments and rent. It is $77 more per week to rent in Bruce than it is to buy. The median weekly asking rent for the suburb is $420, whereas mortgage repayments were $343 per week. 

While Canberra’s cheapest median unit price on a suburb level is $349,000, across the border most units in great Queanbeyan are under $300,000. 

The median unit price of the region is $255,000. Queanbeyan East units have a median of $240,000 and the suburb of Queanbeyan has a median of $290,000.