Narrabundah, ACT 2604Home loan and property guide

Narrabundah location and character

Narrabundah lies in the eastern part of South Canberra, also called the Inner South, one of the oldest parts of Canberra and built in part in accordance with Walter Burley Griffin's designs.

The name Narrabundah is widely believed to be a Ngunnawal word meaning bird of prey, or the little hawk. It was gazetted as a division name on 20 September 1928, the same day as several other inner south suburbs, when the provisional suburb names were replaced following the 1927 decision to honour the leaders of Federation.

Narrabundah sits apart from the rest of the inner south in one important respect: its housing is more modest and its income figures lower, which makes it the entry point to the district for many buyers.

Transport and amenity in Narrabundah

Canberra's light rail does not serve South Canberra, so public transport is the Transport Canberra bus network, with services to the city, the Parliamentary Triangle and the Woden interchange.

Road access is by Canberra Avenue and Hindmarsh Drive, which opened in December 1966 connecting Woden with Fyshwick and South Canberra. The Fyshwick commercial and light industrial area lies immediately east.

Local shops serve daily needs, with Manuka and Kingston close by for a fuller range. This guide does not describe school catchments, which the ACT Education Directorate can confirm.

Housing stock in Narrabundah

Narrabundah is built predominantly of detached houses from the mid twentieth century, with a townhouse component and a meaningful number of apartments, giving it a broader range of price points than most of the inner south.

At the 2021 Census, 1,669 of the 2,446 occupied private dwellings were separate houses, 467 were flats or apartments and 311 were semi-detached or townhouse dwellings, so houses made up 68.2 per cent of occupied homes against 72.3 per cent nationally, while apartments accounted for 19.1 per cent. Three-bedroom homes numbered 1,042, two-bedroom 635 and four-bedroom 513.

The Census also recorded 233 unoccupied private dwellings out of 2,683 on Census night. Inspections on housing of this age commonly consider roof and ceiling condition, original wiring and plumbing, window and insulation performance given the cold winters, and asbestos-containing materials, addressed further below.

Who lives and buys in Narrabundah

The 2021 Census counted 6,455 residents in Narrabundah, with a median age of 40 against 38 for Australia and an average household size of 2.4 people compared with 2.5 nationally. Adults aged 35 to 44 were the largest group at 934, followed by 883 aged 45 to 54, 820 children aged 5 to 14 and 805 adults aged 25 to 34.

Renting leads. The Census recorded 886 rented dwellings, 805 owned with a mortgage and 644 owned outright, so 36.5 per cent of households with a stated tenure rented, 33.2 per cent held a mortgage and 26.5 per cent owned outright, against 30.6, 35.0 and 31.0 per cent nationally.

Median weekly household income was $2,353 against $1,746, median monthly mortgage repayments were $2,392 against $1,863 and median weekly rent was $440 against $375. Every one of those figures sits below the neighbouring inner south suburbs, which is what makes Narrabundah the accessible end of the district.

Leasehold title and planning in Narrabundah

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. A further lease can be applied for at any time during the term, for an administrative fee rather than a payment for the land.

The Fyshwick commercial and light industrial area lies immediately east, so properties near that boundary differ in amenity from the interior streets, and a valuer commonly notes proximity to industry.

Buying in Narrabundah 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.

A buyer therefore receives a building report before making an offer rather than commissioning one afterwards, which matters in a suburb of mid-century housing. 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 Narrabundah property

Loose-fill asbestos insulation deserves attention in any older Canberra suburb. 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, and in 2015 the ACT Government released a list of 1,022 affected properties across the Territory.

The 2014 eradication scheme bought back and demolished affected houses from July 2015, selling the cleared blocks for redevelopment. 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 and reduce borrowing power, and small units can fall below some lenders' minimum internal floor areas. With renting at 36.5 per cent, investment lending is common here and is assessed on different terms. Leasehold title itself is accepted by lenders and is the normal position across the Territory.

Lending considerations for Narrabundah

• Older houses warrant a check of the loose-fill asbestos register before an offer.
• 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.
• The Fyshwick commercial and light industrial area lies immediately east.
• Body corporate levies on the attached stock are counted in serviceability assessments.

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.