Four inner south suburbs have led the territory's drop in home values, a new report finds.
Griffith, Kingston, Barton and Forrest were the territory suburbs with the most decline in value during the quarter to September 2024, by an average of 2.65 per cent.
Barton saw the largest decline across the last year, to 4.7 per cent.
This is largely due to a fall in unit value, which has been happening across Canberra for at least six months, according to CoreLogic economist Kaytlin Ezzy.
"North and south Canberra see some of the highest concentration of units," she said.
All south Canberra suburbs and 58 per cent of north Canberra suburbs were in decline.
This is welcome news to first-home buyers, who historically have found outer suburbs to be a more affordable option.
"Given in the ACT we are seeing a strong flow of medium and high density housing in the past couple of years, that is helping to create downwards pressure in the territory's central regions," Ms Ezzy said.
The inner north suburbs of Braddon and Dickson had the next-largest dwelling value declines, at 2.2 and 2.1 per cent respectively.
Those hoping to buy a house close to the city may also be in luck, as Ms Ezzy said demand was now being placed on outer suburbs, driving down the price of suburbs like Forrest.
Here, the median dwelling value was $1,280,447, down 0.5 per cent from a year prior.
Outer suburbs
Canberra's outer suburbs - particularly around Tuggeranong and Belconnen - tell a more complex story.
Demand for detached dwellings in these areas had increased.
"For houses in particular, people are looking to your more affordable suburbs to get in," Ms Ezzy said.
While dwelling value was in decline across 47 per cent of Tuggeranong suburbs last quarter, Gowrie saw the highest growth.
Its median dwelling value has increased by 12 per cent, to just over $1 million.
In Belconnen, nine of the 26 suburbs - or 34.6 per cent - were in decline, but five had the largest rise in median values.
The latter included Hawker, Kaleen, Macquarie, Higgins and Cook, which saw an annual change of 7.5 per cent.
"A lot of the strength in the Belconnen market is the affordability compared to other areas of [similar distance form the city], like Weston Creek," Ms Ezzy said.
What's happening nationally?
These Canberra suburbs aren't outliers nationally. Almost 30 per cent of Australian suburbs have seen a fall in property prices.
Ms Ezzy said it was likely value would continue to decline as spring commences.
"We are starting to see declines become more commons as pace of growth continues to ease," she said.
"Spring is typically when we see more properties come to market. If we don't see a subsequent rise in buyers, that would add to the downward pressure in values."
