Property Valuations in Canberra

Canberra homes are held on Crown leases

Land in the ACT is leasehold. A home sits on a Crown lease, a residential lease is usually granted for 99 years, and the lease’s purpose clause sets out what the land may be used for. Holding a Crown lease is, in practice, owning the property, and homes are bought and sold with the lease.

Across Canberra, from Gungahlin and Belconnen in the north to Woden, Weston Creek, Tuggeranong and the newer suburbs of the Molonglo Valley, a valuer values the lease and the home on it from sales of comparable properties nearby. The valuer also reads the purpose clause, because it limits what the land can be used for.

When a lease variation charge involves a valuation

Changing a Crown lease to allow more, such as extra dwellings or a new use, can attract a lease variation charge. Some variations have a set charge. Others, such as adding a use to the purpose clause or adding dwellings in a suburb without a set amount, are charged at 75 per cent of the increase in the lease’s value, worked out from valuations before and after the change and leaving out existing improvements. The development application must be supported by a full valuation report.

The ACT Government says you can ask an accredited valuer to help with this, and the valuer gives you a valuation certificate showing the values before and after the change. We do not currently offer lease variation charge valuations.

Rates come from the ACT Revenue Office

In the ACT, rates notices are issued by the ACT Revenue Office. Rates are based on the average unimproved value of the land over five years, so the figure on your notice is an averaged land value, not what your home would sell for today.

Conveyance duty and family transfers

Conveyance duty in the ACT is administered by the ACT Revenue Office. Since 2012 the ACT Government has been gradually reducing conveyance duty and replacing the revenue through general rates.

Duty is generally charged on the greater of the price paid and the property’s unencumbered value. A transfer to a family member or a family trust for less than market value is therefore generally assessed on market value, unless an exemption or concession applies.

The ACT Revenue Office says a valuation used as evidence of value must be a full property valuation report by a certified practising valuer accredited by a recognised professional valuation body, with demonstrable experience valuing that class of property. Stamp duty valuations are quoted individually: contact us with the details, and we tell you in writing, before anything is agreed, whether we can take the work on.

Other reasons to value Canberra property

• Capital gains tax: market value at a past date, such as the day a home you lived in was first rented out, or 30 June 2027 under the new CGT rules once that date has passed. See CGT valuations.
• SMSF: market value for the fund’s annual accounts and audit. See SMSF valuations.
• Estates: probate is granted by the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory. See date of death valuations.
• Separation: family law property matters are heard by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, which has a registry in Canberra. See family law valuations.