Garran, ACT 2605Home loan and property guide

Garran location and character

Garran lies in the northern part of Woden Valley, the first satellite district built separately from Canberra Central, which the National Capital Development Commission planned as ten suburbs for approximately 55,000 residents. Garran was developed in 1966, and the district was officially gazetted on 12 May 1966.

The suburb is named after Sir Robert Garran, who made numerous contributions to the development of higher education in Canberra.

The Canberra Hospital is located in the suburb, at the northern end of the Woden Valley district. A major hospital within a residential suburb shapes its character considerably, drawing staff and visitors and supporting a rental market that other Woden suburbs do not have.

Transport and amenity in Garran

Canberra's light rail does not serve Woden Valley, so public transport is the Transport Canberra bus network, with frequent services to the Canberra Hospital as well as to the Woden Town Centre interchange and the city.

Road access is by the district arterials. Hindmarsh Drive opened in December 1966, connecting Woden with Fyshwick and South Canberra, and Yarra Glen opened in November 1967, linking Woden to central Canberra. Hospital traffic concentrates on the roads serving that site, which is worth considering when comparing streets.

The Woden Town Centre with Westfield Woden is a short distance south, and a local shopping centre serves daily needs. This guide does not describe school catchments, which the ACT Education Directorate can confirm.

Housing stock in Garran

Garran has a more mixed housing profile than most of Woden Valley. Detached houses from the 1966 development dominate, but townhouses and apartments together account for nearly two-fifths of occupied homes, a higher share than in the neighbouring suburbs.

At the 2021 Census, 767 of the 1,257 occupied private dwellings were separate houses, 283 were semi-detached or townhouse dwellings and 208 were flats or apartments, so houses made up 61.0 per cent of occupied homes against 72.3 per cent nationally, while attached dwellings accounted for 22.5 per cent against 12.6 per cent. Three-bedroom homes numbered 503 and four-bedroom homes 361, with 149 having five or more.

The Census also recorded 95 unoccupied private dwellings out of 1,352 on Census night. Inspections on 1960s Canberra housing commonly consider roof and ceiling condition, original wiring and plumbing, window and insulation performance, and asbestos-containing materials, which are addressed further below.

Who lives and buys in Garran

The 2021 Census counted 3,706 residents in Garran, with a median age of 41 against 38 for Australia and an average household size of 2.7 people compared with 2.5 nationally. Adults aged 35 to 44 were the largest group at 583, followed by 574 children aged 5 to 14 and 485 adults aged 45 to 54, a family profile.

Tenure is unusually evenly divided. The Census recorded 449 dwellings owned outright, 401 owned with a mortgage and 375 rented, so 36.0 per cent of households with a stated tenure owned outright, 32.2 per cent held a mortgage and 30.1 per cent rented, against 31.0, 35.0 and 30.6 per cent nationally.

Median weekly household income was $2,985 against $1,746, median monthly mortgage repayments were $2,600 against $1,863 and median weekly rent was $550 against $375. That rent is the highest in Woden Valley and reflects both the housing mix and demand from people working at the hospital.

Leasehold title and planning in Garran

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, which in practice defines what can be built on it.

Varying that purpose clause, most commonly to permit higher density, requires permission from the Territory Planning Authority and attracts the Lease Variation Charge on the resulting uplift in value. In a suburb with as much attached housing as Garran, it is worth confirming the purpose clause on any block being considered for redevelopment rather than inferring potential from what neighbours have built.

A further lease can be applied for at any time during the term, for an administrative fee rather than a payment for the land. Development is otherwise controlled by the Territory Plan.

Buying in Garran 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 and deposited plan.

For a unit or townhouse, the units plan takes the place of the deposited plan, and the body corporate position should be reviewed alongside it. A buyer therefore receives a building report before making an offer rather than commissioning one afterwards.

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 Garran property

Leasehold title is accepted by lenders as security in the ACT and is the normal position across the Territory. What matters is the purpose clause and the remaining term, both of which appear in the contract documents.

Loose-fill asbestos insulation deserves particular attention in Garran. Between 1968 and 1978 the Canberra company D. Jansen and Co, later trading as Asbestosfluf Insulations and known since the 1990s as Mr Fluffy, blew loose-fill amphibole asbestos into the roof spaces of Canberra homes. In 2015 the ACT Government released a list of 1,022 affected properties, and the contamination was concentrated in certain suburbs, Garran among them.

The 2014 eradication scheme bought back and demolished affected houses from July 2015, selling the cleared blocks for redevelopment, so a vacant or recently built block in these suburbs may have that history. Buyers should check the Affected Residential Premises Register for a specific address and read the asbestos information in the contract documents, because insurers and lenders treat a known affected property differently. For the attached stock, body corporate levies are counted in serviceability assessments.

Lending considerations for Garran

• Loose-fill asbestos insulation was concentrated in Garran, so the register should be checked for any address.
• A cleared or recently built block may have been part of the buyback and demolition scheme.
• Title is a Crown lease with a purpose clause, not freehold, so permitted use must be confirmed.
• Body corporate levies on the attached stock are counted in serviceability assessments.
• Hospital traffic concentrates on the roads serving that site.

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.