A snapshot of Canberra’s land and property market activity has been published today, Tuesday 19 July, and the results have captured the reality of land supply and release in the Capital.

The ACT Land and Property Report release has provided insight and analysis of land and property indicators from July to December 2021 and reveals a decline in settlements of single residential blocks while housing prices continue to rise.

According to the report, the ACT’s housing market conditions have remained steady in both the established and new market segments.

This is despite a decrease in the number of single residential block settlements in the six months to December 2021.

The Suburban Land Agency (SLA) settled 340 single residential blocks, excluding public housing and land rent blocks, at a median price of $415,000. The median area was 540sqm and the median price per sqm was $756.

With the supply of blocks in decline, the number of single residential blocks exchanged fell as a result.

The SLA exchanged 224 standard single residential blocks, excluding public housing and land rent blocks, at a median price of $475,000. The median area was 540sqm and the median price per sqm was $889.

The report suggested the ACT Government’s stamp duty concession on vacant land for eligible home buyers in the COVID-19 stimulus package that expired on 30 June 2021, was a possible contributing factor in the slowdown.

However, buyer activity for single dwelling blocks and house sales was continuously supported through the ongoing HomeBuyer Concession Scheme established on 1 July 2019.

Single dwelling blocks in new suburban estates available for sale has declined, as of 31 December 2021.

Additionally, just 24 single residential dwelling blocks were available for sale in Whitlam, compared to 79 of the same blocks which were available for sale as of 30 June 2021.

Canberra’s multi-unit activity has remained steady, despite a downward trend in the December quarter in the number of units in the planning and design phase. The report suggests this was due to a rise in units under construction within the same time period.

A total of 567 units were completed across 16 multi-unit development sites, which was a decrease of five sites and 1326 units compared to the previous six months.

Thirty-seven of 1048 loose fill asbestos identified properties remain standing in Canberra, while 1011 were demolished.

Demand for residential land has remained strong in Canberra, with the report revealing there were 19,871 applications for just 152 blocks of land across two recent land ballots in the ACT.

Liberals say Canberrans ‘deprived of genuine housing choice’

Canberra Liberals Leader Elizabeth Lee said the report displays a “stark story” of Canberra residents being deprived of “genuine choice” in housing options.

“This Labor-Greens government is denying Canberrans the opportunity of owning their own home because it is deliberately restricting the release of land,” Ms Lee said.

“When questioned about the pathetically low number of blocks being drip fed to Canberrans, the relevant ministers refuse to even address the obvious problem. Instead, they talk about the number of ‘dwellings’, a huge portion of that being high density housing.

“This government also continues to drag its heels on the Western Edge feasibility study, despite many years and over $1 million looking into the area for housing.”

Ms Lee is calling on the ACT Government to provide Canberrans the opportunity to own their own home.

“The indicative land release program shows there will only be 4,171 blocks released in the next four years, but we also know this government continually fails to meet its own already low targets,” Ms Lee said.

“The upcoming budget provides the perfect opportunity for this Labor-Green government to address this issue head-on, particularly with recent census data indicating 20,000 more people are living in Canberra than thought.”

ACT Housing Minister Yvette Berry hits back at Liberals land release claims

ACT Housing Minister Yvette Berry described the Canberra Liberals response to the report as “remarkable” and said the ACT Government must remain “sensible and responsible” when it comes to land decisions.

“I think it’s remarkable that the Canberra Liberals have put out a release today calling for pretty much open slather on pretty much undeveloped land to provide more land supply in the ACT, when we are providing over 16,000 dwellings over the next three or four years,” Ms Berry said.

“Particularly after the State of the Environment Report has been released by the Federal Environment Minister, which describes that some of our green spaces are in really dire straits, and we need to make sure that we make sensible and responsible decisions when we release land in the ACT.

“What Canberrans want is real choice, but they also want to see that their environment, their cultural heritage, is protected, and that decisions around developing undeveloped land is taken sensibly and that a responsible approach is made.

“Making sure that we protect those green spaces, that we protect our native flora and fauna, and that we can also deliver Canberrans what they want – and that is a mix of housing choices, not just one narrow focus, which is what the Canberra Liberals are focused on today.”

Ms Berry said the ACT Government is working in collaboration with the Federal Labor Government in addressing the housing and economic crisis, which is being felt right across the country.

“We are responsibly releasing land – we are releasing land at the rate that we always have. We’ve had remarkable circumstances over the last couple of years where the economic situation within the country has changed the way everybody behaves – the way people purchase land, the way people purchase any products,” she said.

“We’ve got this cost of living which is a real issue within our community. But just calling for open slather on undeveloped land is irresponsible and we need to be doing that carefully and responsibly, and that’s what the ACT Government is doing.

“We are already working with the Federal Government. Just last week we had the Housing Ministers Meeting and I know that the Chief Minister Andrew Barr is talking with the Finance Minister and Treasurer about opportunities in the ACT.

“We’ve got more to do, but we have a federal government that is committed to actually working with states and territories, developing a national plan to address this crisis, not just announceables that actually don’t address some of the complex issues that we’re facing in the country.”

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