Gungahlin Tower Approval Adds 280 Apartments to a Market Running on Empty

A 14-storey apartment tower approved for a site on Gozzard Street in Gungahlin Town Centre will deliver 280 dwellings to one of the ACT's fastest-growing corridors, adding the most significant vertical residential footprint the suburb has seen since the Infinity complex was completed several years ago. The ACT Planning Directorate confirmed the development application cleared its final hurdles late last month, with construction expected to begin in the third quarter of 2026.

The timing matters. The ACT's rental vacancy rate has been grinding along well below 2 per cent for the better part of two years, and the territory's median house price sits at around $835,000, a figure that has effectively shut out a large cohort of public servants on mid-range Australian Public Service Band 4 and 5 salaries who make up a significant slice of Canberra's buyer pool. High-density approvals of this scale are the bluntest instrument available to shift that supply-demand equation, at least on paper.

Why Gungahlin, and Why Now

Gungahlin has absorbed more of the territory's population growth than any other district over the past decade. The suburb's town centre already hosts the Gungahlin Marketplace, the light rail terminus at Gungahlin Place, and a cluster of medium-density projects approved under the ACT Government's own Territory Plan refresh, which came into effect in October 2023 and loosened height limits along the Flemington Road corridor. That policy change is directly responsible for the latest approval, the site's previous zoning would not have accommodated a tower of this scale.

Belconnen is the other district where planners have been pushing height. The area around Westfield Belconnen and the lakeside precinct on Benjamin Way already has several towers under construction or in planning, including projects by developers targeting the downsizer and investor segments. The Gungahlin approval signals that the northern growth corridor is now genuinely competing with Belconnen for the attention of developers who had previously concentrated almost all their ACT activity closer to the city or in the inner south around Kingston Foreshore.

What Buyers and Investors Should Watch

Apartment prices in Gungahlin have historically traded at a discount to comparable stock in Braddon or New Acton, a gap that has attracted investors chasing yield. A two-bedroom unit in the suburb's existing towers has been selling in the $580,000 to $650,000 range through mid-2026, according to listings data on the major portals, meaningfully below the territory-wide median for houses and even below many townhouse offerings in Palmerston or Ngunnawal. Whether the new tower's pricing at launch tracks that range or pushes higher will depend on construction costs, which have not softened significantly despite some easing in national materials markets.

The ACT Government's Affordable Housing Strategy, which requires a proportion of dwellings in larger developments to be made available below market rate or transferred to community housing providers such as Community Housing Canberra, will apply to this project. The exact number of affordable units has not yet been made public as part of the approved documents. That detail will matter to first-home buyers watching the territory's Shared Equity Scheme, which has had a waiting list at various points since its relaunch.

For the broader market, 280 new apartments will not move the needle dramatically on their own. The ACT needs several thousand additional dwellings over the next five years just to keep pace with projected population growth driven by the federal public service and defence sector expansions around Russell and Brindabella Business Park. But a project of this size, in a suburb with established light rail access to the city, at least points in the right direction.

Buyers considering off-the-plan purchases in the tower should note that settlement is unlikely before late 2028 at the earliest given the construction timeline. That's a long exposure to construction risk in a market where builder insolvencies remain a live issue nationally. Independent legal advice on any contract, particularly sunset clause provisions, is not optional.

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.