Phillip, ACT 2606Home loan and property guide

Phillip location and character

Phillip occupies 2.6 square kilometres in Woden Valley and contains the Woden Town Centre, the district's primary commercial hub. The suburb name was gazetted on 12 May 1966, the same day the district was gazetted, and the suburb was established that year.

It is named after Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales. Note that the source spelling is sometimes given as Philip with one L; the gazetted suburb name carries two.

The Woden Town Centre features the Westfield Woden shopping centre, a bus interchange and Lovett Tower, the tallest commercial office building in Canberra. Beyond the town centre, Phillip has its own commercial area along Botany, Townshend and Parramatta Streets.

Transport and amenity in Phillip

The Woden bus interchange within the town centre is the public transport hub for the entire Woden Valley district, so Phillip has the best bus access in the valley by a wide margin. Canberra's light rail does not yet serve Woden.

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.

Alongside Westfield Woden, the suburb contains Eddison Park, which includes the Woden Skate Park and a disc golf course, the Woden Cemetery, the Phillip Swimming and Ice Skating Centre, home to the CBR Brave ice hockey team, the Phillip Enclosed Oval and Canberra College. This guide does not describe school catchments, which the ACT Education Directorate can confirm.

Housing stock in Phillip

Phillip is a town centre suburb, and its housing reflects that almost completely. Apartments account for two-thirds of occupied homes and townhouses for most of the remainder, with detached housing effectively absent.

At the 2021 Census, 1,757 of the 2,623 occupied private dwellings were flats or apartments, 860 were semi-detached or townhouse dwellings and just 3 were separate houses, so apartments made up 67.0 per cent of occupied homes against 14.2 per cent nationally, while separate houses accounted for 0.1 per cent against 72.3 per cent. Two-bedroom dwellings numbered 1,286 and one-bedroom 831, with only 16 having four bedrooms.

The Census also recorded 277 unoccupied private dwellings out of 2,897 on Census night, close to 10 per cent. Additional apartment buildings have been at various stages of planning or construction since. Due diligence here is almost entirely strata work: levies, sinking fund adequacy, insurance, common property condition and any building defect history.

Who lives and buys in Phillip

The 2021 Census counted 5,197 residents in Phillip, with a median age of 32 against 38 for Australia and an average household size of 1.9 people compared with 2.5 nationally. Adults aged 25 to 34 were overwhelmingly the largest group at 1,875, followed by 898 aged 35 to 44 and 463 aged 20 to 24.

Renting dominates. The Census recorded 1,297 rented dwellings, 914 owned with a mortgage and only 365 owned outright, so 49.9 per cent of households with a stated tenure rented, 35.2 per cent held a mortgage and just 14.1 per cent owned outright, against 30.6, 35.0 and 31.0 per cent nationally.

Median weekly household income was $2,075 against $1,746, median monthly mortgage repayments were $1,608 against $1,863 and median weekly rent was $440 against $375. For a buyer, this is a town centre apartment market where investors and young single and couple households predominate.

Leasehold title and planning in Phillip

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 an apartment building 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, most commonly to permit higher density, requires permission from the Territory Planning Authority and attracts the Lease Variation Charge on the resulting uplift. In a town centre suburb where further apartment buildings are in planning or under construction, that mechanism is the reason redevelopment proceeds as it does.

For a buyer relying on an outlook or aspect, it is worth establishing what is approved or proposed nearby rather than assuming the present position will hold. Development is otherwise controlled by the Territory Plan.

Buying in Phillip 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. For a unit 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, the Crown lease and the units plan.

The owners corporation records, levies, insurance, minutes and any proposed or recent works deserve close review alongside those documents, particularly in newer buildings where defect rectification may be in progress. 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 Phillip property

This suburb concentrates the restrictive strata policies in one place. Many lenders limit their total exposure to any single development, commonly to a set percentage of the units in a building. In a town centre built of large apartment buildings, that limit can be reached, and a buyer may find a particular lender unwilling to lend in a particular building regardless of their own position.

Minimum internal floor areas are the second constraint. With 831 one-bedroom dwellings and 1,286 two-bedroom, a substantial share of stock sits near or below the thresholds some lenders apply, and small units commonly attract lower maximum loan-to-value ratios. Body corporate levies are counted in serviceability assessments, and special levies for defect rectification can arise in newer buildings.

With renting at 49.9 per cent, most purchases here are investment lending, which is assessed on different terms, with most lenders discounting rental income. A buyer should confirm a specific lender's position on the specific building before relying on an indicative approval.

Lending considerations for Phillip

• Single-development exposure limits bind readily in a town centre of large apartment buildings.
• One and two bedroom dwellings can fall below lenders' minimum internal floor areas.
• Body corporate levies are counted in serviceability assessments and reduce borrowing power.
• Renting at 49.9 per cent means many purchases are assessed as investment lending.
• Further apartment buildings in planning or construction can change outlook and aspect.

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.