My understanding is that there has not been enough new land, eg recently there was a release in Forde and this was all snapped up. Also the Forde land was not cheap, $185,000 for a cottage block. So by the time you had put a house on that land (and building costs are high here), it is costing you a fair bit more than an entry level established home in the surrounding areas keeping the prices of existing homes high.[\quote]
I'm not saying that you won't see any capital gain on the outer suburbs, I think the expected public service increases will see to that, but I think there are better ways to spend your money, and this is why:
Land releases have been slow up until recently... but the ACT govt is *supposedly* releasing 1500 new blocks immediately... there are only around 5-6000 property transfers in the ACT each year, so 1500 blocks is significant. Of course there is a bit of a time delay but the end result is lower capital gains over the same period for similar existing properties than if no blocks were released at all.
Most people who buy in outer suburbs generally do so because for the features they want they can't afford to be closer. 15% of new land releases now are supposed to be 'affordable' housing within the $200-$300 000 range when built (land itself between $60,000 and $120,000). The competition then becomes between an 700m2 block with a 40 year old house in Charnwood or a 300m2 block with a brand new house in nearby macgregor west for the same price.
