O'Malley, Ainslie and Fadden: Top held Canberra suburbs revealed by CoreLogic data

Data by CoreLogic shows the median hold period is at least 10 years for sold properties in the 12 months to November 2022 across 50 ACT suburbs. Details for each of those 50 suburbs are lower in this article.

The top three held suburbs were O'Malley, with a median hold period of 20 years, Ainslie at a bit over 17 years and Fadden with just under 17 years.

Nicholls was another one of the top held suburbs with a median hold period of almost 14 years.

Property owners based in this suburb, Nicole and Peter Maher, beat this median as they have been in their home for 22 years.

"I suppose over time we've just sort of built our community here, so we came in with a young family and now have been in Nicholls for 20 something years but in Gungahlin for longer than that," Mr Maher said.

"The amenities and facilities that are around here, it just makes it too good a place to leave I suppose ... we haven't really thought about putting our house on the market. We have really well settled in here."

MORE PROPERTY NEWS:

Mrs Maher said she always kept her eye on the property market and noticed properties up for sale in Nicholls were few and far between.

"We're not going anywhere ... it's a community where we've got everything we need here. Gungahlin is only like a seven or eight minute drive away so apart from going to my work in Belconnen, there's really not much you need to go out for," she said.

"We've got other people in our street who have been there for a long time as well, we think the community is good."

While Nicholls had a high median hold period, O'Malley took first place at 20 years, which sales consultant Alexander Smout from Belle Property said was "unique" as the area was "almost like a micro-market".

"There's no schools in O'Malley, there's really no shops, so it is a particular buyer. The houses can sit on the market for probably a little bit longer than they would in the inner south and other sought after places," he said.

"So it's not the standard suburb that people sort of look to, so it's almost like its own little world out there but for people that want that big home, stately living you know."

The suburb also holds a large number of embassies, which Mr Smout said was another reason why the area had a long holding period.

"There's almost no standard homes in O'Malley at all, they're either the large blocks or palatial homes," Mr Smout said.

"Once you get there, obviously you're spending exorbitant amounts of money to buy that asset, you know, there's no real reason to move outside of death, divorce or relocation probably, that's probably the crux of it."

Other suburbs that had high holding periods included Holder for almost 14 years, McKellar for 13-and-a-half years and Cook for more than 13 years.

Kaitlin Mahon recently bought a property in Cook and said she has no intention of leaving the area any time soon.

"There's so much green space which is really beautiful, I think that it's close enough to the city to be really convenient, I'm in Marcus Clarke and I'm like a 10 minutes drive from my office," she said.

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.