Thoughts on Belconnen/Bruce - ACT

Hi!

first post! (be nice :)
Interesting to read people opinions on these forums.

I'm looking at properties in Canberra and noticed that there are many new developments starting, in progress, or completing in the belconnen/bruce area. It seems like the happening place at the moment, a good location.

what are people's thoughts on some of the developments going on there?
The Hub, Verve, Oracle, Vantage, to name a few.

Cheers
 
My gut reaction is that they're ugly and will become dated very quickly. I know property isn't necessarily a beauty contest, but I see a great potential for them to become slums very very quickly.

I'm not really a big fan of the ACT (investment-wise) anyway - the land tax treatment is atrocious. There's better returns to be had in Queanbeyan IMO.
 
belconnen is "on the way from misery to happieness again" Ahuh! Ahuh!

look folks if you look in the inner burbs of belconnen they will do very well , its the next value add area, the government are due very soon to upgrade the large mall and get it looking like new , large office blocks online , its now becoming its own little city,
scullin,page,higgins,hawker,flory,flynn,evett,melba, and even charnwood, any of those are go getters , the units have their own merrit , but i am a value add buyer , the kids of these original homes are moving to the newer burbs in gungalin, so these older ones are slowly becoming "old money" territory, get in ASAP, ie feb through to july, ;)
 
Agree with Craig.

I live on this side of town, and I can see huge potential. Bruce is a good investment area, IMHO (although like craig I prefer houses to units) because it is right in the thick of everything. near belconnen, UC, CIT, Calvary Hospital, AIS, etc - plenty of renters requiring accomodation. The trick is to get something that doesn't cost the moon ;)

It is amazing how good old 'charney' which has always had a crap reputation, is fast becoming popular. I am in the new section of MacGregor, and got a great bargain when I bought here - but alot of the newer houses have now been on the market for a while and the asking prices are just unrealistic IMHO, however they are extending this development area even further towards Charnwood, and the properties are still selling, just not quite as fast as they were previously.

My IP is being built out at Casey, as I beleive the Gungahlin area is set to grow a hell of alot bigger yet - but you have to be careful, because many of the already established houses already have big $ signs on them. But our house and land are costing us a fixed price of $418k, and at the moment is looking to be bank valued about 20k more then that once built (conservative estimate). Given that is in 6mths time, we may see even more capital growth before it is even built.

Franklin would have been a good area as well.

Honestly, I think so long as you are getting a good price on the property to begin with- all of Canberra is a good investment oppertunity atm. We are still a growing city. The key is to get the good price and ensure it is in an attractive area for good quality renters. We could have bought something older with more land on the other side of town for the same price, but decided to forgo that for the rental appeal and increased rental income, potential growth and depeciability in the new suburb.

As for Land Tax - not nice, but just a cost of doing business in the ACT.

Have a search of the older threads, I think we discussed this topic of Belconnen area, a couple of mths ago...
 
thanks for the comments!
Gungahlin looks to be shaping up to be a good town centre as well. Are there any major offices out there?
anything particular about the Land Tax in ACT, or is it just relatively higher than other cities?
 
No govt offices in gungalhin as yet. Don't think there are any planned for the immediate future either. But Canberra being Canberra, and the public service being the major employer - I personally think it is just a matter of time.

Land tax in ACT - If it is an investment property, you have to pay regardless of how much property you have or its worth, as opposed to NSW, for example, where you only start paying if you own more then a certain value of land. As far as I am aware anyway - someone can correct me if I am wrong.
 
No govt offices in gungalhin as yet. Don't think there are any planned for the immediate future either. But Canberra being Canberra, and the public service being the major employer - I personally think it is just a matter of time.

Land tax in ACT - If it is an investment property, you have to pay regardless of how much property you have or its worth, as opposed to NSW, for example, where you only start paying if you own more then a certain value of land. As far as I am aware anyway - someone can correct me if I am wrong.


An ACT statutory authority, ACTTAB had been moved from Dickson to Gungahlin to boost employment in the area.
 
FACSIA (or whatever Immi is now called) tried moving part of their offices out to Gungahlin. Very quickly moved back into Belco due to staff complaints/movements to other departments.

Northside still has a lot of advantages to it. Then again - I think a lot of ACT does!
 
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