House values in Crace, Forde jump by over 20pc, data shows
Median home values at Crace and Forde in Canberra's north have jumped by more than 20 per cent despite an overall market slowdown in the ACT, a report has found.
Annual figures released by Core Logic RP Data showed over the past 12 months in Crace the median home value increased by 24.3 per cent to $470,005, while in Forde it went up by 21 per cent to $598,357.
The priciest suburb to buy a home in was Forrest, where the average price for a house this year was $2,150,707.
In the unit market, Mawson and Yarralumla in the territory's south saw the greatest increase in median prices, with values up by 9.1 per cent and 8.9 per cent respectively, with Yarralumla also recording the highest median price overall at $866,757.
The most affordable suburbs to buy in were Charnwood and Ngunnawal for houses, and Hughes and Downer for units.
The median house price was $392,302 in Charnwood and $395,703 in Ngunnawal, with median unit prices sitting at $242,517 in Hughes and $289,512 in Downer.
It was a similar story in the rental market, where Charnwood and Ngunnawal were the cheapest places to rent a house, with median weekly prices of $400 and $408 respectively.
On average the most affordable suburbs to rent a unit in were Hughes ($290/week) and Campbell ($328/week), while the most expensive were Ainslie ($600/week) and Barton ($520/week).
Core Logic RP Data's head of research Tim Lawless said the ACT's housing market saw a slowdown in the second half of 2014, and things were looking grim for next year too.
Mr Lawless said home values were likely to finish the second half of next year approximately 1 per cent lower, which he attributed largely to cuts in public service spending.
"Uncertainty surrounding the local labour market, federal government job cuts and potentially an oversupply of housing are all factors that likely to contribute to flat to falling housing values during 2015," he said.
He said the slowdown in Canberra came as the national housing market moved into the new year with "substantial momentum", with dwelling values up by 8.5 per cent overall across all capitals.
Suburbs with the highest median values*
Suburbs with the lowest median values *
