Scullin, ACT 2614Home loan and property guide

Scullin location and character

Scullin 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 eleven kilometres north-west of the Canberra city centre.

The suburb was gazetted in 1968 and is named after James Scullin, Prime Minister of Australia.

Scullin has a noticeably younger profile than neighbouring Page and Hawker, with a median age of 35 against 40 and 42, and a correspondingly higher mortgage share.

Transport and amenity in Scullin

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 Scullin and connect it to the Belconnen Town Centre and the city.

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

The Belconnen Town Centre provides the district's main shopping and services, and Scullin has local shops with the Hawker group centre nearby. This guide does not describe school catchments, which the ACT Education Directorate can confirm.

Housing stock in Scullin

Scullin is built predominantly of detached houses from the late 1960s, with a townhouse component and a small number of apartments.

At the 2021 Census, 917 of the 1,147 occupied private dwellings were separate houses, 162 were semi-detached or townhouse dwellings and 68 were flats or apartments, so houses made up 79.9 per cent of occupied homes against 72.3 per cent nationally. Three-bedroom homes numbered 598 and four-bedroom homes 269, with 149 two-bedroom dwellings.

The Census also recorded 87 unoccupied private dwellings out of 1,238 on Census night. Inspections on late 1960s Canberra housing commonly consider roof and ceiling condition, original wiring and plumbing, insulation performance given the cold winters, and asbestos-containing materials, addressed further below.

Who lives and buys in Scullin

The 2021 Census counted 3,069 residents in Scullin, with a median age of 35 against 38 for Australia and an average household size of 2.6 people compared with 2.5 nationally. Adults aged 35 to 44 were the largest group at 513, followed by 512 aged 25 to 34 and 403 children aged 5 to 14, a younger profile than its neighbours.

Mortgaged ownership leads. The Census recorded 455 dwellings owned with a mortgage, 373 rented and 311 owned outright, so 39.8 per cent of households with a stated tenure held a mortgage, 32.6 per cent rented and 27.2 per cent owned outright, against 35.0, 30.6 and 31.0 per cent nationally.

Median weekly household income was $2,025 against $1,746, median monthly mortgage repayments were $1,950 against $1,863 and median weekly rent was $390 against $375. Those figures place Scullin among the more accessible parts of southern and western Belconnen.

Leasehold title and planning in Scullin

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 requires permission from the Territory Planning Authority and attracts the Lease Variation Charge on the resulting uplift in value. With 162 townhouse dwellings and 68 flats, Scullin has seen limited higher density development.

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

Buying in Scullin 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 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 Scullin property

Detached houses on standard Crown leases are the most widely accepted security, and with 917 of them the suburb offers a valuer reasonable comparable evidence, though at 1,147 occupied dwellings sales volume in any period is modest.

For the attached stock, body corporate levies are counted in serviceability assessments, and complexes of this age warrant close review of sinking fund adequacy and common property condition.

Loose-fill asbestos insulation is the principal caution. 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 and read the asbestos information in the contract documents.

Lending considerations for Scullin

• The 1968 gazettal falls at the start of the loose-fill asbestos period.
• At 1,147 occupied dwellings, sales volume in any period is modest.
• Complexes of this age warrant close review of sinking fund adequacy.
• Body corporate levies on the attached stock are counted in serviceability assessments.
• Density potential should be confirmed given limited redevelopment to date.

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.