Reid, ACT 2612Home loan and property guide

Reid location and character

Reid lies immediately east of the Canberra city centre, below Mount Ainslie and adjoining Campbell and Braddon. It is one of the oldest parts of Canberra and one of the smallest suburbs covered in these guides.

In 1927 the provisional suburbs of the Australian Capital Territory were renamed to honour the leaders of Federation, and the new names were gazetted in 1928. In that renaming, South Ainslie became Reid, the suburb then called Ainslie became Braddon, and North Ainslie became Ainslie. Anyone researching older records should be aware that Reid was previously South Ainslie.

The suburb was named in 1928 after Sir George Reid, Australia's fourth Prime Minister. Its early housing and street layout are characteristic of Canberra's first decade of construction.

Transport and amenity in Reid

Reid is not on the light rail line, but the city centre terminus at Alinga Street is a short walk west, so light rail Stage 1, which commenced services on 20 April 2019, is readily accessible. Transport Canberra buses serve the suburb and the adjoining city interchange.

Road access is direct, with the city centre immediately west and Anzac Parade running south-east past the Australian War Memorial. At this distance, almost everything in central Canberra is walkable.

The Canberra Centre, the city bus interchange and the Australian National University are all close, and the Australian War Memorial and Mount Ainslie are to the east. This guide does not describe school catchments, which the ACT Education Directorate can confirm.

Housing stock in Reid

Reid has an unusually balanced housing profile for an inner suburb, with apartments, detached houses and townhouses each accounting for a meaningful share. Its early houses sit alongside later infill.

At the 2021 Census, 288 of the 697 occupied private dwellings were flats or apartments, 252 were separate houses and 153 were semi-detached or townhouse dwellings, so apartments made up 41.3 per cent of occupied homes against 14.2 per cent nationally, separate houses 36.2 per cent against 72.3 per cent, and attached dwellings 22.0 per cent against 12.6 per cent. Two-bedroom dwellings numbered 214, three-bedroom 178 and one-bedroom 142.

The Census also recorded 161 unoccupied private dwellings out of 859 on Census night, close to 19 per cent, which is high and among the larger shares in these guides. Due diligence divides between strata work for the attached stock and, for the early houses, structural condition, original services, insulation performance and asbestos-containing materials.

Who lives and buys in Reid

The 2021 Census counted 1,544 residents in Reid, with a median age of 40 against 38 for Australia and an average household size of 2.0 people compared with 2.5 nationally. Adults aged 25 to 34 were the largest group at 306, followed by 230 aged 55 to 64 and 185 aged 20 to 24, an unusually broad spread for a suburb this small.

Renting leads. The Census recorded 320 rented dwellings, 210 owned outright and 152 owned with a mortgage, so 46.4 per cent of households with a stated tenure rented, 30.4 per cent owned outright and 22.0 per cent held a mortgage, against 30.6, 31.0 and 35.0 per cent nationally.

Median weekly household income was $2,272 against $1,746, median monthly mortgage repayments were $2,300 against $1,863 and median weekly rent was $430 against $375. For a buyer, this is a small, tightly held inner suburb where listings of any particular kind are infrequent.

Leasehold title and planning in Reid

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

Reid contains early Canberra housing, and parts of the inner north fall within urban conservation areas. Heritage listing can constrain demolition and external alterations, so the position for a specific address should be confirmed before any work is planned or priced.

Buying in Reid 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 therefore receives a building report before making an offer, which matters particularly for early 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 Reid property

The suburb's small size is the most distinctive lending factor. At 697 occupied dwellings spread across three quite different housing types, comparable sales evidence is thin for any one of them, which can make a valuation less predictable than in a large uniform suburb. A valuer may look to Braddon, Campbell or the city centre.

Single-development exposure limits bind readily for the same reason: 288 apartments across a handful of buildings means a single complex can represent a large share of the suburb's attached stock. Body corporate levies are counted in serviceability assessments, and the 142 one-bedroom dwellings can fall below some lenders' minimum internal floor areas.

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 Reid

• At 697 occupied dwellings across three housing types, comparable evidence is thin.
• Single-development exposure limits bind readily where one complex is a large share of stock.
• Heritage listing can constrain demolition and external alterations on early housing.
• One-bedroom dwellings can fall below lenders' minimum internal floor areas.
• 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.