Gungahlin and Molonglo Valley among the top picks for Canberra home buyers in 2022, according to real estate agents

Upside Realty sales agent Catherine Halloran is expecting home buyers, particular first-timers, to have their eyes set on Canberra's northern suburbs this year.

"Places like Franklin and Forde continue to outperform most suburbs in that [Gungahlin] area, so people are now sort of pushing into places like Taylor, Casey, Moncrieff, the newer area of Ngunnawal," she said.

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Where there's new development, first-home buyers will go, Ms Halloran suspects.

"I think Molonglo Valley is going to continue to be strong, particularly as Denman Prospect comes to fruition and with Whitlam joining the market as well," she said.

John McGrath, founder of McGrath Estate Agents, agrees Denman Prospect and Gungahlin will be highly sought-after among first home buyers in 2022.

Nicholls, in the Gungahlin district, was tipped as one of the top picks for buyers in McGrath's 2022 report.

"[Gungahlin] has got a great momentum about it," Mr McGrath said.

"It's a great community ... it's gathering great momentum with young families and a lot of good quality development [is] taking place."

Duncan Macdonald, principal of Canberra's Bastion Property Group, expects anywhere with a large volume of units and townhouses will be in high demand for first home buyers.

"In every [Canberra] suburb now, the entry point for a standalone property, whether it's deep south or far north or west, is at a similar price point," he said.

"So I think we're starting to see townhouses and units coming up a bit in value because that price gap up to an entry-level house has gone so far."

As for where we can expect to see more suburb records and major gains in 2022, Mr McGrath has tipped Red Hill and Griffith among the top performers.

"We've definitely seen during COVID a flight to quality where people have been looking to upgrade in anticipation of more inflation and where people's homes have become often not just their home, but their office now," he said.

Mr Macdonald predicts high quality properties that require little to no renovation will also be highly sought after.

"There's such a shortage of availability of builders and architects ... so anything that is walk-in ready, Canberra-wide, I think will continue to set suburb records this year," he said.

Ms Halloran said the sub-$600,000 price range will be the most competitive in 2022, as first home buyers try to get a foot in the door.

"Unfortunately, it's still very competitive in that price point, which has been very disappointing for first home buyers," she said.

Units and townhouses located in bigger complexes are a good place for buyers to start, Ms Halloran said.

"Properties that are traditionally lower in price are ones that are in larger complexes because they've got far more competition in the complex, so they don't see the sort of growth that properties in smaller complexes would have," she said.

First home buyers should consider fringe suburbs where a slowdown in market activity may be more likely, Ms Halloran said. Already she has seen less competition in some areas of Canberra.

"Dunlop, Macgregor, Banks, Bonython - those sorts of fringe suburbs typically is where we see [a slowdown] first, but it's been quite scattered so it's hard to forecast," she said.

"I guess if COVID has taught us anything it's that anything can happen."

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