15 February 2021

Record price for house in Curtin as Canberra property bubble continues

| Michael Weaver
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The house at 11 Boucaut Place in Curtin sold for a record $2.7 million.

The house at 11 Boucaut Place in Curtin sold for a record $2.7 million. Photos: Supplied.

The $2.7 million price tag for a house that was knocked down and rebuilt one year ago has set a new record for house prices in Curtin.

Last week’s sale eclipsed the previous record in Curtin by $200,000 and was sold one day before it was scheduled to hit the market.

The property at 11 Boucaut Place, Curtin, was initially bought by Canberra building company Status Living as a knock-down and rebuild in February last year for $860,000.

Selling agent Josh Morrissey of Hive Property told Region Media a “perfect storm” created the conditions for the record-setter.

“Given the market, cheap cash rates from the banks and a buyer who was motivated to pay the price that he did, really helped to create a perfect storm for the sale of this property,” Mr Morrissey said.

“Even in a market where there is such a high demand, properties like this one are hard to find, and I had been talking with this buyer for at least six months beforehand.”

Curtin’s previous suburb record was $2.5 million when a five-bedroom, five-bathroom and four-garage residence at 83 Dunstan Street sold in October last year.

The Boucaut Place property includes four bedrooms, three bathrooms and two garage spaces, and was designed by Studio 187. It also boasts a functional floor plan, loads of natural light in the open-plan living and dining areas and a seamless flow of indoor and outdoor living.

The outdoor area of the property at Boucaut Place, Curtin

The outdoor area of the property at Boucaut Place was a big drawcard for the buyer.

Mr Morrissey has broken four suburb records in the last 12 months at Crace, Chifley, Gungahlin and Forde. He said he hadn’t expected the property to set another sale record.

“We were expecting this property would sell for between $2.35 million and $2.5 million,” he said. “This really is the result of a lack of supply and high demand.”

The lounge room of the property at 11 Boucaut Place in Curtin.

The lounge room of the property at 11 Boucaut Place in Curtin.

The record sales come as Canberra continues to experience robust demand for houses, propped up by stimulus measures such as the ACT Government’s temporary stamp duty waiver.

Compared with the rest of the country, Mr Morrissey said Canberra’s ‘bubble’ is helped by buyers who can purchase higher-priced properties without a dramatic effect on their mortgage repayments.

“Because the cash rate is so low, the level of confidence in consumers is probably the highest I’ve seen in five years,” he said.

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However, Master Builders ACT CEO Michael Hopkins and Housing Industry Association ACT and Southern NSW executive director Greg Weller both warned that stimulus measures won’t last forever.

Mr Hopkins said his main concern was that slowing population growth in Canberra “paints a concerning picture for the ACT economy”.

“We encourage the ACT Government to continue to work closely with the local industry to ensure policies are implemented which create jobs, drive economic growth and support Canberrans into careers in the construction industry,” he said.

Mr Morrissey said predicting the future of the real estate market in the current climate is like predicting the weather.

“This level of demand can’t sustain forever, and the market always has a way of levelling out, but we are fairly well propped up here in Canberra where vacancy rates are generally half that of the rest of the country,” he said. “But the growth we’ve seen in the market just in the last six to 12 months, that can’t be sustained.”

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