Moving to Canberra's inner suburbs?

Thank you so much for everyone’s comments. They are really useful information. We went to a few open homes in the last couple of weeks. We Like O’Connor for its close proximity to work and for our budget we could get a decent house there. Is there anything you could tell me about O’Connor? Eg streets to avoid etc?

We drove around the area and didn’t notice any govt housing there. Hopefully we didn’t miss anything.

I note that one of you said negatively about Turber School. But its performance seems pretty good on tye Better Education website. May I gave more information about why it is not so good please?

I’ve heard many good things about Garran Primary but Garran is too expensive for us. We went to an auction there last Thursday. A 3 br townhouse was sold for almost $880k. I heard Curtin Primary is great but they seem to have a really strong arts focus which doesn’t suit my kids.

Thanks again for your help!

We have been in Narrabundah for seven years and love the area. Red Hill PS, Telopea Park School and Narrabundah college have all been great. Internet is fine, no traffic and you are close to Woden and the City. Good bus connections too. Lower Narrabundah is cheaper and has improved over the years with plenty of renos and knock down/rebuilds. A lot cheaper than upper Narrabundah too.

all the inner suburbs are great,just make sure you understand the rules on which are areas that can be converted into units,so you don’t get any surprises later.

Maya123 said :

vintage123 said :

Maya123 said :

With “~$800-850k” you will have no trouble finding a house or townhouse in an inner suburb. Not everywhere, but there are houses in that price range. There are no bad areas, if you steer away from government blocks of flats. Just look around the area first.

Where are these mysterious homes?

Not mysterious at all. Just check allhomes. I didn’t say all houses and townhouses are in this price range, but there are plenty in this price range, unless your tastes run to five bedrooms with ensuites, separate entertainment rooms, etc.

I must have a different version of allhomes as I couldn’t locate anything for their budget in Curtin or Griffith.

vintage123 said :

Maya123 said :

With “~$800-850k” you will have no trouble finding a house or townhouse in an inner suburb. Not everywhere, but there are houses in that price range. There are no bad areas, if you steer away from government blocks of flats. Just look around the area first.

Where are these mysterious homes?

Not mysterious at all. Just check allhomes. I didn’t say all houses and townhouses are in this price range, but there are plenty in this price range, unless your tastes run to five bedrooms with ensuites, separate entertainment rooms, etc.

We live in Ainslie, and love it! No kids, so can’t comment on the schools, but the most valuable piece of advice I was given about Canberra when I moved here from Sydney 9 years ago was ‘”Where you live is where you play”, and I think it’s worth bearing in mind. As a former Sydney-sider I initially disregarded this advice, thinking, “I’m used to driving everywhere in Sydney, who cares, it’ll be fine!” but I soon realised this piece of advice was so true! In Sydney I wouldn’t think twice about sitting in the car for 45 mins to get from A to B, but Canberra is a lot smaller, and it’s a lot easier to stick within your locale.

Rather than having an active CBD, life in Canberra revolves more around village centres, and this has the potential to be your main hub. Buying walking distance to shops is always a good idea, and its particularly relevant in Canberra! Lyneham, O’Connor, and Ainslie all have a small, thriving central ‘hubs’ at the local shops.

Another thing to know is that, rather than entire suburbs of housing commission residences, each suburb seems to have its share of government housing. A good piece of advice would be not to buy in the streets that are situated between the govvie flats and the local shops, as the incidence of break-ins in these streets is much higher (at least, that’s the case in Ainslie).

You might like to get a hold of the local Neighbourhood Watch newsletters for areas you’re considering buying in, and having a look at the stats for different suburbs yourself. But yep overall Canberra is safe and welcoming. Best of luck with the move!

vintage123 said :

A nice place a couple of doors down from my house came onto allhomes today. This is a fantastic location.

http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/139-mugga-way-red-hill-canberra/1316970934511

“Land Tax: Approx. $12,998 pa (If rented out)”
Gasp!

Maya123 said :

With “~$800-850k” you will have no trouble finding a house or townhouse in an inner suburb. Not everywhere, but there are houses in that price range. There are no bad areas, if you steer away from government blocks of flats. Just look around the area first.

Where are these mysterious homes?

A nice place a couple of doors down from my house came onto allhomes today. This is a fantastic location.

http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/139-mugga-way-red-hill-canberra/1316970934511

Garran and Curtin are not really inner suburbs though. They are part of Woden Valley.

You’ll get a much better house in Ainslie than O’Connor for that sort of price. The only reason the south is more expensive is that it’s closer to the Parliamentary Triangle and the seat of power, and is handy for traditional “Barton” public servants. O’Connor is more expensive than Ainslie because of the senior academic belt … Curtin is a great suburb but I think it has become very expensive, ditto Garran.

Don’t move your kids to Turner Primary – it’s in one of the notorious anti-vaxxer hippy areas. There’s a fresh breakout of four cases of whooping cough currently. Not enough vaccinations to ensure herd immunity …

vintage123 said :

The new sekisui display home at wright is a little bit above your budget, however if you downsize it a bit or remove some of the inclusions then you may be lucky enough to grab a house and land package in wright and complete it when you save a bit more cash.

They want inner suburbs, and wright is hardly that.

Garran is a bit snootier & 10 minutes quicker to get to the airport but is a pain to get in or out of at peak hours. Curtin is very practical – has its own Coles 7 minutes to Civic & abt 4 minutes to Woden. Curtin Primary & Deakin high are as good as any public school in the ACT.

The new sekisui display home at wright is a little bit above your budget, however if you downsize it a bit or remove some of the inclusions then you may be lucky enough to grab a house and land package in wright and complete it when you save a bit more cash.

Curtin Primary is a fantastic school with a dedicated gifted and talented stream. If your children qualify, it bumps them up in terms of priority of placement even if you’re out of area. The new suburbs of Wright and Coombs (actually quite central in terms of Canberra’s long North-South layout) are included in the catchment for Curtin Primary (the zone is shared with Duffy Primary).

Garran Primary is also a very good school, but the only way to get in if you’re out of area is through their dedicated G&T stream, and the entry requirements for their program are far more stringent than Curtin’s.

Curtin and Garran are both great suburbs, and very close to the Woden town centre and our largest (tertiary) hospital, which may or may not suit in terms of employment, but has pretty much everything else you might need.

With “~$800-850k” you will have no trouble finding a house or townhouse in an inner suburb. Not everywhere, but there are houses in that price range. There are no bad areas, if you steer away from government blocks of flats. Just look around the area first.

vintage123 said :

What a sad sign of the times regarding home affordability. Last week we were unable to find a place for a sydneysider with a budget of $460k and now we still struggle to find another with a $850k budget. Crazy times.

Be patient, not long now until the bubble bursts and it all becomes a buyer’s market.

What a sad sign of the times regarding home affordability. Last week we were unable to find a place for a sydneysider with a budget of $460k and now we still struggle to find another with a $850k budget. Crazy times.

Check VDSL2 (60Mb) Plans and availability here:

http://www.transact.com.au/internet/vdsl2

http://www.transact.com.au/internet

http://www.iinet.net.au/internet/broadband/vdsl2/

rubaiyat said :

Spiral said :

Aragornerama said :

The internet is fine everywhere in Canberra. I think most of the older suburbs don’t have NBN, but they cope fine without it.

Sadly this is not true.

When we lived in Calwell (until about 2 years ago) we could only get ADSL throught Transact. Telstra would not supply to our house because we were too far from the exchange so we were restricted to ISPs that used the Transact network. Even Transact only supplied it on the understanding that the speed and reliability would not meet their normal standards (and it was bad: slow and many dropouts per day).

The next 10 or so houses dopwn the street couldn’t get ADSL at all.

There were no plans to improve the network as they were just waiting for the NBN to be rolled out.

Transact now offers VDSL2, which is a fair bit faster than ADSL2+, to most suburbs now so you should be fine.

Decent speed Internet is usually cheaper in Canberra than Sydney. Check if NBN is available in your suburub of choice, that is always your best deal.

While most of Canberra should have adecent level of internet service, its always worthwhile checking first!! I could only get ADSL for years until Telstra added ADSL2. But I can’t get any of the cheap deals because they rely on the ISP putting their own equipment into the exchange.

Also for the OP, while some might disagree (i’d argue they also have no sense of reality), we really don’t have a bad suburb in Canberra. there are parts that can be and they are mostly the older blocks of units and flats. Some are in the inner suburbs, so its worth having a look around the area, but in general while crime can happen in Canberra and does, common sense is usually enough to keep you safe.

Spiral said :

Aragornerama said :

The internet is fine everywhere in Canberra. I think most of the older suburbs don’t have NBN, but they cope fine without it.

Sadly this is not true.

When we lived in Calwell (until about 2 years ago) we could only get ADSL throught Transact. Telstra would not supply to our house because we were too far from the exchange so we were restricted to ISPs that used the Transact network. Even Transact only supplied it on the understanding that the speed and reliability would not meet their normal standards (and it was bad: slow and many dropouts per day).

The next 10 or so houses dopwn the street couldn’t get ADSL at all.

There were no plans to improve the network as they were just waiting for the NBN to be rolled out.

Transact now offers VDSL2, which is a fair bit faster than ADSL2+, to most suburbs now so you should be fine.

Decent speed Internet is usually cheaper in Canberra than Sydney. Check if NBN is available in your suburub of choice, that is always your best deal.

Aragornerama said :

The internet is fine everywhere in Canberra. I think most of the older suburbs don’t have NBN, but they cope fine without it.

Sadly this is not true.

When we lived in Calwell (until about 2 years ago) we could only get ADSL throught Transact. Telstra would not supply to our house because we were too far from the exchange so we were restricted to ISPs that used the Transact network. Even Transact only supplied it on the understanding that the speed and reliability would not meet their normal standards (and it was bad: slow and many dropouts per day).

The next 10 or so houses dopwn the street couldn’t get ADSL at all.

There were no plans to improve the network as they were just waiting for the NBN to be rolled out.

Compared to Sydney, there really isn’t such a thing as “unsafe” areas of Canberra. These suburbs you are after however because they are the most established suburbs of ACT there are the old system of “housos blocks” which you might want to steer clear of. I personally feel more unsafe walking in Parramatta at night than in O’Connor or Lyneham.
Inner South tends to be more expensive because of the diplomatic families living there rising prices. but in terms of $ comparison it is just like comparing upper north shore to lower north shore. (ie different character but around the same price ranges)

Oh yeah, just noticed O’Connor and Lyneham are on your preliminary list. They’d be fine too, and you’ll be able to afford a pretty nice place there. Garran and Curtin would also be good, but I’m not sure what the schools there are like. Maybe someone else can help. Griffith would be great, but is ridiculously expensive unless you can find a townhouse or duplex.

The internet is fine everywhere in Canberra. I think most of the older suburbs don’t have NBN, but they cope fine without it.

Be careful – I think Curtin would see you at Curtin primary, not Garran. Garran is very hard to get into unless you live very close. Likewise you would go to Deakin High not Telopea by living in Curtin. the education dept has the school pea maps on their site – check them carefully if you are buying into a suburb based on school plans.

All of those suburbs would be fine to live in though. Just don’t live near any blocks of flats.

On that budget you could get a really nice place in upper Narrabundah (between Sturt/Jerrabomberra avenue and Red Hill/Griffith). Very safe and pleasant area, but slightly cheaper than the rest of the inner south. As mentioned below, Narrabundah College is one of the best schools in Canberra – if I had kids it’s where I’d send them. As a feeder school, Telopea is probably also good. However there would be a small minority of trouble-makers (unlike Narrabundah, by which time they’ve dropped out). The same goes for any high school in Canberra though, Grammar and co included.

If you opt for the inner North, Reid, Campbell, Turner and Ainslie would be the nicest suburbs. Prices are slightly cheaper because aside from Reid/Campbell it’s not quite as pleasant as the south, but there’s nothing wrong with the area at all.

Griffith/Red Hill/Narrabundah all fit the bill for what you want – but you will not get anything fancy for your money. The main thing is to avoid the large public housing complexes in those suburbs, i.e.Stuart Flats in Griffith and the complex near the Red Hill shops. While many of the residents are decent people, there is a hard core of junkies and crims who prowl nearby areas.

On your budget, you could get a nice apartment or a modest house which needs work in Griffith or Red Hill, or a better house in adjacent Narrabundah. Bundah has Narrabundah College, which is academically one of the top schools in the ACT, and is many thousands cheaper (free) than the local private schools.