Page, ACT 2614Home loan and property guide

Page location and character

Page lies in the western part of Belconnen, which was established in 1966 by the Commonwealth through the gazettal of the Districts Ordinance 1966. It sits approximately ten kilometres north-west of the Canberra city centre.

The suburb was gazetted in 1968 and is named in honour of Sir Earle Page, a Prime Minister of Australia.

Page's defining characteristic in the Census is its age profile. Of 3,054 residents, 304 were aged 75 to 84 and a further 246 were aged 85 and over, so 550 residents, about 18 per cent of the suburb, were aged 75 or older. That is far above any other suburb in these Canberra guides.

Transport and amenity in Page

Canberra's light rail does not serve Belconnen. Light rail Stage 1 commenced services on 20 April 2019 between Gungahlin and the city, and Stage 2A from Civic to Commonwealth Park is under construction and expected to be operational in early 2028. Transport Canberra buses serve Page and connect it to the Belconnen Town Centre and the city.

Road access is by Belconnen Way and Southern Cross Drive, the principal arterials through this part of the district.

The Belconnen Town Centre provides the district's main shopping and services, and the Hawker group centre is close by. This guide does not describe school catchments, which the ACT Education Directorate can confirm.

Housing stock in Page

Page combines detached houses from the late 1960s with a substantial townhouse component, and its two-bedroom stock is larger than most Belconnen suburbs, which is consistent with its older population.

At the 2021 Census, 830 of the 1,180 occupied private dwellings were separate houses, 306 were semi-detached or townhouse dwellings and 46 were flats or apartments, so houses made up 70.3 per cent of occupied homes against 72.3 per cent nationally, while attached dwellings accounted for 25.9 per cent against 12.6 per cent. Three-bedroom homes numbered 571, two-bedroom 293 and four-bedroom 212.

The Census also recorded 78 unoccupied private dwellings out of 1,254 on Census night. Due diligence divides between strata work for the townhouses and, for the houses, roof and ceiling condition, original services, insulation performance and asbestos-containing materials, addressed further below.

Who lives and buys in Page

The 2021 Census counted 3,054 residents in Page, with a median age of 40 against 38 for Australia and an average household size of 2.3 people compared with 2.5 nationally. Adults aged 25 to 34 were the largest single group at 517, followed by 403 aged 35 to 44, but the striking figures are at the other end: 304 residents aged 75 to 84 and 246 aged 85 and over.

Tenure is unusual. The Census recorded 404 dwellings owned outright, 380 rented and only 305 owned with a mortgage, so 34.8 per cent of households with a stated tenure owned outright, 32.7 per cent rented and just 26.3 per cent held a mortgage, against 31.0, 30.6 and 35.0 per cent nationally. That low mortgage share is consistent with a population many of whom have finished repaying.

Median weekly household income was $1,773 against $1,746, median monthly mortgage repayments were $2,000 against $1,863 and median weekly rent was $438 against $375. That income figure is the second lowest in these Canberra guides, which reflects the number of households no longer in paid work rather than the suburb's housing.

Leasehold title and planning in Page

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. In a townhouse the lease position sits alongside the units plan, and both form part of the contract documents.

Every Crown lease contains a purpose clause specifying the permitted use of the land. Varying it requires permission from the Territory Planning Authority and attracts the Lease Variation Charge on the resulting uplift in value.

Because the suburb has a large older population, some accommodation here may be retirement or aged care rather than ordinary residential. That distinction matters to the lease purpose clause and to lending, and is addressed below.

Buying in Page 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, 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.

Retirement village accommodation is governed separately under retirement villages legislation and works quite differently from an ordinary purchase, so establishing what is being bought comes before anything else. A buyer of an ordinary dwelling 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.

Home loan considerations for Page property

The suburb's age profile raises a lending issue that does not arise elsewhere in Belconnen. Retirement village accommodation is commonly held under a lease or licence rather than a conventional Crown lease and units plan. Many lenders will not accept that tenure as security at all, and those that do apply materially lower maximum loan-to-value ratios. Anyone considering such a dwelling should confirm the tenure and the lender's position before proceeding.

For ordinary strata dwellings, body corporate levies are counted in serviceability assessments, and the 293 two-bedroom and 47 one-bedroom dwellings are the sizes most likely to meet a lender's minimum internal floor area requirement. Complexes of this age warrant close review of sinking fund adequacy.

Loose-fill asbestos insulation is the principal caution for the detached stock. The suburb was gazetted in 1968, at the start of the 1968 to 1978 period when the product was installed in Canberra roof spaces, and in 2015 the ACT Government released a list of 1,022 affected properties across the Territory. Buyers should check the Affected Residential Premises Register for a specific address.

Lending considerations for Page

• Retirement village lease or licence tenure is specialised security many lenders will not accept.
• Establishing whether a dwelling is ordinary residential or retirement accommodation comes first.
• Two and one bedroom dwellings can meet a lender's minimum internal floor area requirement.
• Complexes of this age warrant close review of sinking fund adequacy.
• The 1968 gazettal falls at the start of the loose-fill asbestos period.

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.