New Apartment Tower Approved for Braddon: What It Means for Canberra's Stretched Market

A 14-storey residential tower has been approved for a site on Lonsdale Street in Braddon, adding roughly 180 apartments to one of Canberra's most sought-after inner-north precincts. The ACT Planning Authority granted development approval late last month, with construction expected to begin in the first quarter of 2027. It is the largest single residential approval in Braddon since a mixed-use project was greenlit on Elouera Street in 2022.

The timing matters. The ACT's median house price sits around $835,000, and auction clearance rates have held near 65 per cent through the first half of 2026, steady figures that mask a chronic shortage of stock below the $700,000 mark. Rental vacancy across the territory remains well below 2 per cent, a figure that has kept downward pressure on tenants for the better part of three years. With federal public service headcount still growing under the ACT Government's co-location strategy, demand from buyers and renters shows no sign of easing on its own.

Why Braddon, and Why Now

Braddon is not an obvious choice for towers. The suburb has resisted the kind of wholesale rezoning that transformed sections of Belconnen's Cameron Avenue corridor and Gungahlin's Town Centre over the past decade. But the 2024 ACT Territory Plan, which replaced the older lease variation charge framework with a simplified zoning structure, created a new RZ5 high-density category that now covers a strip of blocks between Lonsdale and Mort streets. That policy change opened the door for this approval and at least two other projects currently in pre-DA consultation with the Planning Authority.

The Braddon Residents' Association has long pushed for height limits to protect the suburb's low-rise character around the Lonsdale Street retail strip and Haig Park. The new tower sits at the eastern edge of the newly zoned strip, around 400 metres from the park's northern boundary, a detail the developer's planning statement flags as a deliberate concession to community sensitivity. Whether that buffer satisfies locals is another matter; the association lodged a formal representation during the public consultation period, according to the ACT Planning Authority's online register.

What the Numbers Actually Mean for Buyers

One hundred and eighty apartments will not fix Canberra's supply problem, but the composition of the project matters as much as the count. The approved plans show a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom configurations, with roughly 40 per cent of units categorised as two-bedroom. If those two-bedders hit the market in 2028 or 2029, they will likely price somewhere between $620,000 and $780,000 based on comparable recently completed projects in Dickson and Civic, a range that intersects with what first-home buyers using the ACT Home Buyer Concession Scheme can access, provided the scheme's eligibility thresholds are adjusted in line with rising prices before then.

For renters, the pipeline matters too. The National Housing Accord target assigned to the ACT requires the territory to facilitate roughly 5,900 new dwellings by 2029. Projects like the Braddon tower contribute to that figure, but approvals and completions are different things, Canberra's construction sector is still absorbing labour and materials cost pressures that pushed several 2024-approved projects well past their original start dates.

Buyers tracking this development should register interest with the developer early, since off-the-plan contracts in comparable inner-north projects, including the Realm precinct near the old Northbourne corridor, have sold 60 to 70 per cent of stock before a slab is poured. Anyone watching the rental market should note that new supply in Braddon historically pushes vacancy in adjacent suburbs, Dickson, Turner, O'Connor, slightly higher in the six months after completion, creating a brief window of negotiating power for tenants. That window, if it comes at all, will most likely open in late 2028. Until then, the Lonsdale Street site is a construction hoarding and a long-term bet on Canberra's appetite for inner-city living.

This article is general information only and is not personal financial or investment advice. Consider your own circumstances and seek licensed professional advice before making financial decisions.