As Australia’s housing crisis deepens, a stark and rather ironic truth has emerged from the nation’s capital.
The Australian Capital Territory, a jurisdiction often characterised by its high concentration of public servants, stands alone as the only state or territory on track to meet its housing targets. While the rest of the country grapples with a critical supply shortfall, Canberra – or more specifically one of its suburbs – is quietly, and rather pointedly, showing everyone how it’s done.
A recent report from OurTop10.com.au, compiled by Primara Research, highlights Whitlam as Australia’s fastest-growing suburb for the second consecutive year.
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The fast-growing Canberra locale recorded an astonishing 143 per cent population growth in 2024 and 83 per cent in 2025.
And yet, despite its population boom, the ACT is just nine dwellings short of its population-weighted target.
Source: Primara Research
Before Covid, just seven people lived in Whitlam.
By 2022 there were 56 residents; since then Whitlam’s population has surged to 366, then 891, then 1,632 – with each year adding more people than the last.
Critically, the pipeline suggests the boom isn’t close to finished.
Since 2022, Whitlam has banked approvals for 1,774 dwellings – capacity for roughly 3,289 residents at the national average household size.
With 1,632 people already in, the suburb can about double again before today’s pipeline clears.
Whitlam is home to almost 1700 residents and is the ACT’s fastest growing estate.
A large chunk of 2024 approvals were apartments with about 33‑month build times, meaning much of the supply hasn’t landed yet.
Nothing else nationally is close.
Parkes, also in the ACT, is the next‑nearest growth story at 55 per cent over the same two‑year period.
Unsurprisingly, property prices in Whitlam have mirrored this rapid expansion.
The average house now commands $1.3 million, a 10.2 per cent increase from this time last year, a staggering 115.8 per cent jump from 2023 prices, and a monumental 208.2 per cent surge over five years, when the average home fetched around $421,755.
The blueprint for the nation?
Whitlam’s trajectory matters because it shows what meeting targets looks like.
Primara Research’s modelling suggests Australia needs to lift housing completions immediately by 49 per cent to have any chance of reaching the government’s 1.2 million homes goal – with NSW alone responsible for about half the monthly shortfall.
Tellingly, the ACT is essentially on track nationally, falling just nine dwellings short of its target.
Despite the huge demand for new homes, the ACT is only nine houses short of its national target – unlike other states.
The people flocking to Whitlam are overwhelmingly domestic, with the ACT recording only 51 net overseas migrants in 2024.
This, OurTop10.com.au CEO Simon Ma said, suggests the growth is driven by relocators from other parts of Australia, most likely public servants and interstate movers establishing a new base in Canberra.
“Whitlam is a concentrated example of what deliberate, pipeline-driven development can produce,” he said.
“The ACT is one of the few jurisdictions tracking close to its housing target, and Whitlam is a big reason why. To close the national shortfall, Australia needs 172 more of them.”
David Littleproud is among a number of politicians who have declared owning investment properties in Canberra.
Politicians who have decaled homes in Canberra, include Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, Shadow Minister for Emergency Management and Tourism David Littleproud, Senator for New South Wales Deborah O’Neill, and Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek.
A name steeped in housing history
There’s a second twist in the name.
Gough Whitlam pulled the Commonwealth into urban and regional development during the seventies through the Department of Urban and Regional Development, quadrupling housing expenditure, funding welfare housing and backing heritage and urban renewal.
His government expanded public housing via the Commonwealth‑State Housing Agreement, dramatically increasing funding, prioritising low‑income households and acquiring and rehabilitating dwellings – a foundational expansion of direct public housing and federal responsibility.
So having a new housing development named in his honour seems appropriate.
Former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam addresses a crowds from the steps of Parliament House, Canberra, in 1975. Picture released by the National Archives.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese faces a sharper supply crunch with a 1.2 million‑home target.
Flagship programs – the Housing Australia Future Fund and the Social Housing Accelerator – aim to deliver tens of thousands of social and affordable rentals, while the expanded Home Guarantee and Help to Buy schemes, plus higher rent assistance, are designed to support buyers and renters.
Yet economists warn delivery is falling short – apparently in every state, bar the ACT – and critics argue some demand‑side supports risk lifting prices while supply lags, amid debate over the emphasis on community housing providers versus direct public housing.
Which leaves Canberra’s paradox in sharp relief: in the place best known for public servants and paperwork, a plan‑led pipeline is actually producing homes roughly on schedule.
If the rest of the country wants to catch up, the lesson from Whitlam is clear – line up approvals, stage infrastructure, lock in build times, and deliver.
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