The top Canberra suburbs for house price growth in 2017

Lyons, Waramanga, Cook and Banks – they’re the sleepy suburbs that have flown under the radar. However, demand, value and steady growth suggests they’re among the ones to watch in 2017.

Domain chief economist Andrew Wilson has tipped eight suburbs as Canberra’s rising stars.

While he said the inner suburbs would continue to be tightly held, suburbs on the periphery were worth keeping an eye on.

Palmerston, Chifley, Casey and Spence also made Dr Wilson’s list.

“I looked at the trends for growth [in 2016] and these suburbs have all been at the top in terms of the level of growth, but more importantly, there’s been a positive trend throughout the entire year,” Dr Wilson said.

“That shows that there’s some underlying strength in terms of demand for these suburbs.”

Dr Wilson said the volume of sales, value for money and supply versus demand also played a role in selecting the suburbs.

“They tended to be slightly lower in price than adjacent suburbs, so they may offer some value to those who are priced out of higher priced suburbs adjacent to these areas,” Dr Wilson said.

Five of the eight suburbs achieved their record sales price 2016. Banks, Palmerston and Casey’s suburb records were set in 2015.

Peter Blackshaw Belconnen principal Peter Walker sold Cook’s record-breaking home for $1,365,000 in November.

It smashed the previous suburb record, also set in 2016, by $400,000.

“It demonstrated the desire for newly established homes in good locations close to the city,” Mr Walker said.

Mr Walker said Belconnen’s more central suburbs, such as Cook, Aranda and Kaleen, had experienced an overflow from buyers priced out of the inner north.

Dr Wilson predicted Barton, Nicholls, O’Connor and Wright would be top performers in the unit and townhouse markets.

He said he expected Canberra’s median house price to rise by 5 per cent in 2017 and the median unit price to rise by 3 per cent.

“Canberra is consistently one of the fastest growing capital cities in the country and I expect it will continue to be one of the fastest growing next year,” Dr Wilson.

“An improved local economy is clearly one of the drivers and migration has risen in Canberra.”

Suburbs tipped for growth in 2017

Houses

• Casey
• Palmerston
• Spence
• Cook
• Lyons
• Chifley
• Waramanga
• Banks

Units

• Nicholls
• O’Connor
• Barton
• Wright