Campbell, ACT 2612Home loan and property guide

Campbell location and character

Campbell sits at the base of Mount Ainslie approximately three kilometres east of the Canberra city centre, bounded to the south-east by the Mount Pleasant Nature Reserve. It encompasses 6.4 square kilometres.

The suburb was established in 1928 and takes its name from Robert Campbell, an early Australian landowner who owned Duntroon station, the land on which Campbell now sits.

Two significant defence facilities occupy substantial portions of the suburb: the Royal Military College Duntroon, which incorporates the historic Duntroon House built by Robert Campbell, and the Australian Defence Force Academy. The Australian War Memorial is also located within the suburb's boundaries.

Transport and amenity in Campbell

Campbell is not on the light rail line. Transport Canberra buses serve the suburb and connect it to the city interchange, where light rail Stage 1, which commenced services on 20 April 2019, runs north to Gungahlin.

Road access is by Anzac Parade, which runs north-west from the Australian War Memorial toward the Parliamentary Triangle, and by Fairbairn Avenue to the east. At three kilometres from the centre, journeys are short.

Educational facilities include Campbell High School, Campbell Primary School and Saint Thomas More's Primary School. Daley Park provides recreational space with native trees and playground facilities, and Mount Ainslie offers walking trails and lookouts. This guide does not describe school catchments, which the ACT Education Directorate can confirm.

Housing stock in Campbell

Campbell divides between established detached housing and a substantial apartment component, much of the latter from more recent development. The former CSIRO corporate headquarters building in the suburb awaits demolition and redevelopment.

At the 2021 Census, 1,010 of the 1,981 occupied private dwellings were separate houses, 755 were flats or apartments and 218 were semi-detached or townhouse dwellings, so houses made up 51.0 per cent of occupied homes against 72.3 per cent nationally, while apartments accounted for 38.1 per cent against 14.2 per cent. Three-bedroom homes numbered 624 and four-bedroom homes 525, with 265 one-bedroom dwellings.

The Census also recorded 474 unoccupied private dwellings out of 2,453 on Census night, more than 19 per cent. That figure should be read alongside the defence institutions in the suburb, whose resident populations turn over on a posting and training cycle rather than a conventional residential one.

Who lives and buys in Campbell

The 2021 Census counted 6,564 residents in Campbell, with a median age of 28 against 38 for Australia and an average household size of 2.3 people compared with 2.5 nationally. The age profile is unlike any other suburb in these guides: residents aged 20 to 24 were the largest group at 1,426, followed by 1,065 aged 25 to 34 and 706 aged 15 to 19, which reflects the officer cadets and trainees at the Royal Military College Duntroon and the Australian Defence Force Academy.

Tenure divides fairly evenly, with renting ahead. The Census recorded 759 rented dwellings, 594 owned outright and 588 owned with a mortgage, so 38.4 per cent of households with a stated tenure rented, 30.0 per cent owned outright and 29.7 per cent held a mortgage, against 30.6, 31.0 and 35.0 per cent nationally.

Median weekly household income was $3,052 against $1,746, median monthly mortgage repayments were $2,400 against $1,863 and median weekly rent was $500 against $375. For a buyer, the residential market here is smaller than the population figure suggests, because a large share of residents live in institutional accommodation.

Leasehold title and planning in Campbell

Land in the ACT is not freehold. It is granted under a Crown lease, and most residential Crown leases run for 99 years, with a buyer taking on the remaining term. Every Crown lease contains a purpose clause specifying the permitted use of the land.

Varying that purpose clause requires permission from the Territory Planning Authority and attracts the Lease Variation Charge on the resulting uplift in value. The former CSIRO headquarters site awaiting demolition and redevelopment is an example of how significant sites in the suburb change use.

Large parts of Campbell are occupied by Commonwealth defence and memorial land rather than residential blocks, so the residential area is considerably smaller than the suburb's 6.4 square kilometres suggests. A buyer should also note that the Mount Pleasant Nature Reserve bounds the suburb to the south-east.

Buying in Campbell under ACT contract law

Under the Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003, a seller must attach a required set of documents to the contract before the property is advertised. Those include building and compliance inspection reports, from an inspection carried out not earlier than three months before the property was first advertised, building conveyancing inquiry documents, an energy efficiency rating statement, copies of all interests and encumbrances, an extract of the title, and the Crown lease with either the deposited plan or, for a unit, the units plan.

A buyer is entitled to a cooling-off period of five business days, ending at 5pm on the fifth working day after it begins, and forfeits 0.25 per cent of the purchase price to withdraw during that period.

Home loan considerations for Campbell property

The residential market here is smaller than the suburb's population implies, because a large share of residents live in institutional accommodation at Duntroon and the Defence Force Academy. At 1,981 occupied dwellings split between houses and apartments, comparable evidence for either type is more limited than the headline figures suggest.

For the apartment stock, ordinary strata policies apply. Body corporate levies are counted in serviceability assessments, the 265 one-bedroom dwellings can fall below some lenders' minimum internal floor areas, and single-development exposure limits can bind where one complex represents a large share of local attached stock.

Loose-fill asbestos insulation was installed in Canberra roof spaces between 1968 and 1978, and in 2015 the ACT Government released a list of 1,022 affected properties across the Territory. Buyers of an older house should check the Affected Residential Premises Register for a specific address and read the asbestos information in the contract documents.

Lending considerations for Campbell

• A large share of residents live in institutional accommodation, so the buyable market is smaller.
• At 1,981 occupied dwellings split between two housing types, comparable evidence is limited.
• One-bedroom dwellings can fall below lenders' minimum internal floor areas.
• Body corporate levies on the apartment stock are counted in serviceability assessments.
• Older houses warrant a check of the loose-fill asbestos register.

Lender policy differs between institutions and changes over time. The guide to Australian lenders explains how credit policy varies, and the home loan guide sets out the main loan structures.