Moving from NYC to Canberra, where to buy?

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Andynyc

After 15 years of living in NYC I have had enough and moved home. I have a transfer to Canberra and am currently looking on where to buy a home. I will be a first home owner with around 80-100k to invest in my first home. Since I have no idea of the city I wish to begin with the end in mind if I ever need to leave for any reason. Are there any good options which allow me and my family to live in a decent sized lot within range of decent schools and away from boofheads. Could anyone who is familiar with the area be able to give some pointers?

Thank you

Andrew
 
Andynyc said:
After 15 years of living in NYC I have had enough and moved home. I have a transfer to Canberra and am currently looking on where to buy a home. I will be a first home owner with around 80-100k to invest in my first home. Since I have no idea of the city I wish to begin with the end in mind if I ever need to leave for any reason. Are there any good options which allow me and my family to live in a decent sized lot within range of decent schools and away from boofheads. Could anyone who is familiar with the area be able to give some pointers?

Thank you

Andrew
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Welcome back. I dont know too much about canberra but I do know that it is likely at the bottom of the property cycle so whatever u buy will be a long term winner....

hood luck and hope others here can help ya out :D
 
As the trend with new blocks is to go smaller and smaller, a decent sized lot will push you to the middle to inner ring suburbs, with middle ring being where most of the decent schools are located. Middle ring should also keep you away from boofheads. By middle ring, I mean suburbs surrounding areas like Woden, Belconnen and Gunghalan.

As with any place with more than a few suburbs, much depends on your personal preference and budget. I strongly suggest you rent a place for at least a few months first before you buy.
 
Hey Andrew

Firstly- please tell me you use the term "boof heads" frequently in NYC :)

I've lived in Canberra my whole life - from Tuggeranong, Gunghalin and now in the inner north.

I'm completely biased but I love the inner north area. There's great schooling options - and it's gentrifying. I'm in Downer - and there seems to be quite a lot of young families moving in to the area.

We have two little ones and there's no shortage of things for them to do - the pool is close, there's lots of ovals, parks, etc and dickson/civic are just down the road.

In terms of the loan - might be best to set it up as interest only with a linked offset in case you decide to move on and rent it out.

For searching for properties - http://www.allhomes.com.au/ is the most popular website.

With being a first home buyer - concessions/grants only apply to new builds these days.

Feel free to drop by my office in Dickson for a coffee if you ever want to chat about Canberra stuff.

Cheers

Jamie
 
HomePage said:
As the trend with new blocks is to go smaller and smaller, a decent sized lot will push you to the middle to inner ring suburbs, with middle ring being where most of the decent schools are located. Middle ring should also keep you away from boofheads. By middle ring, I mean suburbs surrounding areas like Woden, Belconnen and Gunghalan.

As with any place with more than a few suburbs, much depends on your personal preference and budget. I strongly suggest you rent a place for at least a few months first before you buy.
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Im interested in your opinion on the new estates as they are more favourable from a depreciation credit perspective.. are any of these desiravle with better than average chance of capital gain
 
It is good to be home and no - they don't use boofheads. American humor is... very... different. I appreciate everyone's input and will connect with you Jamie to hear your thoughts.

Would also to know how to best use the home owner grant since I only one shot at it (what are the new estates like?) but as your mentioned homepage it may not be a good idea if the lot sizes have shrunken so much. Do you see much in knockdown rebuilds? I just came from living so long in an apartment and want some space to breathe.

I haven't even had a chance to explore the city but will definitely check out some of the areas that have been mentioned.

I am currently staying in Yass so I am not too far away.

Andrew
 
One last question - what is the feeling or the south? What is the general trend of investors on the place with the best upside?

Andrew
 
Why don't you rent first instead of committing to a purchase? Narrow down your search to a couple of areas, rent in that area/s and then if happy buy something
 
As someone has already said it is a good time to enter the Canberra property market because of government budgetary stringency. Apparently, there is a great supply in units as well which tends to push down prices.

For FHO, the ACT government has a Land Rent scheme to help cut down the cost of entry of buying the land. Generally, this relates to entry in the newer suburbs such as Crace.

The South beyond the Woden-Weston belt seems to be in the doldrum. Measures have been put in place around Greenway to give an economic lift to Tuggernong but the South still seems to be struggling. This is just my take of the ambience of the area.

Inner South and inner North are stalwarts in Canberra realty especially with all the developments currently around the airport and mooted around Lake Burley Griffin. Its fundamentals cannot be removed - established schools, Parliamentary triangle, foreign outposts, commercial, federal and Territory departments. Consequently, the centre of gravity for peak valuation in realty tends to swing towards the inner South - from Yarralumla to O'Malley.
 
Hi Andrew

I got your message to call - I'll give you a buzz when I'm back in the office on Monday.

I'm not overly keen on the newer suburbs. There's usually an abundance of supply - which has an effect on longer term growth. The blocks are also quite small and in some of those burbs there's a lack of character (IMO) - but that should change over time.

If I was buying in Canberra right now - I'd be looking at something reasonably central within close proximity to the city. I'd look at inner south/north - the latter is generally a bit more affordable.

It comes down to your budget too and what you're comfortable with spending.

Cheers

Jamie
 
One of the drivers for price in the near term will be the wholesale resumption of houses due to the exposure to Mr Fluffy and asbestos. Was it over 1000 houses?

Take that many out of the market & you create instant demand and limited supply ===》 price inflation.
 
You will love Canberra, especially if you have small children. It's a great place to raise a family. As I am sure the others will say, this is a great time to buy. Public service cuts have hit hard.

I have lived in the inner south for nearly 30 years. We don't have boofheads here. But there is government housing intermingled with privately owned, so there is always an eclectic mix.

If you are coming with work, they might put you in a serviced apartment for a while (probably in Kingston). You can then look around and get an idea of what you want. Everyone in Canberra uses Allhomes. The older suburbs are my favourite.
 
I hadn't been to canberra for years then went twice in as many months.

The first I stayed in the Hotel Canberra (Park Hyatt) - lovely established area (around 1920's). Flat as. Felt very comfortable in the area. I even went out for a jog (large blocks, nice homes).

Second stay was some upmarket hotel in Acton (linked to the Bicicletta Restaurant). Obviously I went for a bike ride around Parliament House as it was reasonably close.

I preferred the first area - don't know why.
 
My 2 Boofeeds
 

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Scott No Mates said:
I hadn't been to canberra for years then went twice in as many months.

The first I stayed in the Hotel Canberra (Park Hyatt) - lovely established area (around 1920's). Flat as. Felt very comfortable in the area. I even went out for a jog (large blocks, nice homes).

Second stay was some upmarket hotel in Acton (linked to the Bicicletta Restaurant). Obviously I went for a bike ride around Parliament House as it was reasonably close.

I preferred the first area - don't know why.
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Lovely areas, however also two of the most expensive areas in Canberra.

I dont think you can go too wrong. Very few areas I wouldn't live in Canberra. Depends what you are looking for and where you are going to work. Your budget is also going to dictate to a certain extent.

We live in Dunlop - literally the last house in Canberra and I love it. We back onto the farmland between Canberra and Murrumbateman. Often wake up to the sounds of cows in the paddocks. Not for everyone, but I like it.
 
Andynyc said:
Would also to know how to best use the home owner grant since I only one shot at it (what are the new estates like?) but as your mentioned homepage it may not be a good idea if the lot sizes have shrunken so much. Do you see much in knockdown rebuilds? I just came from living so long in an apartment and want some space to breathe.


Andrew
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There are plenty of new suburbs out at Weston Creek, and they are still fairly central --McCubbin Rise, Stromlo. Ngunnawal is another newer area with many new homes. Jerrabomberra is in NSW but still very close. Nothing is too far away in Canberra.

Bicicletta, an eatery, is at New Acton with Nishi apartments. Very nice but not much parking. Right next to ANU and a short walk into Civic. Nice cinema there.

Park Hyatt is near Parliament House (old and new) and the lake. Up the road is Yarralumla and in the inner south.

All of Canberra is lovely. I love the hordes of cockies that visit during winter, the rosellas and all the native birds. Lots of kangaroos though, even on some of the major roads.
 
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