Where can you buy a house under $400,000 in Canberra?

Are there any Canberra suburbs where houses are sold for below $400,000?

Last year ended on a high for Canberra house prices. The nation’s capital produced the second-best performance compared with Australia’s other major cities in the December 2017 quarter. Canberra’s rise was behind that of the robust Hobart housing market, which continues to steam ahead producing double-digit growth.

House prices in Canberra improved 5 per cent in the three months to December and 8.4 per cent compared with a year ago to reach a new record price of $753,516. For the ACT, this adds up to 15 months of house price advancement. This is not a record length of time for price growth but it proves the market has moved away from the instability experienced a few years ago.

As house prices continue to leap forward it has resulted in an eye-watering median price. A figure that is certain to leave Canberra’s first-home buyers in dismay.

There is a glimmer of hope for entry-level home hunters – there are houses in Canberra that have sold for less than $400,000.

Canberra’s greatest choice in affordable houses can be found in the suburb of Belconnen, with one in every two houses sold during 2017 priced below $400,000.

Holt offered house hunters the next best choice with 29 per cent of houses selling below $400,000 last year. Houses below this threshold accounted for about 15 per cent of sales in Charnwood, Moncrieff and Phillip.

In Wright and Latham, 11 per cent of houses sold for less than $400,000, closely followed by Ngunnawal and Scullin with one in every 10 houses.

Gordon completes the 10 suburbs to offer the greatest affordability in 2017 with 9 per cent of houses sold below $400,000.

Another 48 suburbs across Canberra recorded house transactions priced under $400,000 last year.

The proportion of houses sold for under $400,000 is likely to have been propped up by townhouse transactions. Townhouses have become a popular affordable alternative to a detached house, particularly for those averse to apartment living.

If the figure is reduced to $300,000 the affordability constraints of purchasing a house in Canberra become tight – it’s like finding a needle in a haystack.

This threshold is close to the average first-home buyer loan financed in the ACT, currently at $303,200, according to the ABS.

Belconnen trumped with 12 per cent of houses sold there last year below $300,000, followed by Lyons, Phillip and Isabella Plains with 5 per cent.

Another 22 Canberra suburbs had a small proportion of houses that sold below $300,000.

*Note that figures are based on houses (including townhouses) sold in 2017. Only suburbs with at least 20 transactions were included.