The new fringe-dwellers: where the capital is growing the fastest (2024)

The centre of Canberra's population is continuing to edge further north and west as families flock to high-growth areas on the fringe of Gungahlin and the Molonglo Valley.

But fine-grained population data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows there are also substantial pockets of expansion in the territory's south and east, including around Woden, Greenway and Googong.

Fast-growing areas of the ACT include Denman Prospect, which gained 747 people (up 27 per cent), Throsby, which added 552 (23 per cent) and Taylor, which increased by 643 residents (14 per cent), ABS analysis reveals.

But the fastest-growing is Strathnairn. The emerging suburb, on the western fringe of Belconnen, increased almost 50 per cent in 2021-22, or 339 people, to reach more than 1030 residents.

By area, the fastest growing area in 2021-22 was North Canberra, which added 1396 people, followed by Molonglo (1229) and Gungahlin (760).

The analysis, based on revised estimates from the 2021 census, shows Canberra's population reached 456,844 in mid-2022, an increase of 4336 from the previous financial year.

The ACT had a natural increase of 3252 people (that is there were 3252 more births than deaths), and 3295 more people moved here from overseas than left, but 2211 more people left the ACT for elsewhere in Australia than moved from interstate.

Overall, the ACT has a younger age profile than the Australian average, including a bigger-than-average bulge in the 20- to 44-year age bracket because of younger adults moving here for employment or education.

Among them is talent manager Lauren Miller, who with her 11-year-old son moved to the capital in 2023, after her partner accepted a job as chief executive of Thoroughbred Park.

Ms Miller, who represents people like Grace Tame and Tara Moss, runs her business remotely.

"We wanted to buy a house in Canberra. It was definitely more affordable than where we were renting at the time in Sydney," she said.

They settled in Hackett - which has grown by 0.8 per cent - because it was close to the racecourse and an easier commute to Sydney.

"We live on a really big block. We absolutely love our house, you can hear the water features bubbling away in the background. There's chickens over the back fence and a mountain at the back door," Ms Miller said.

"I just love how easy the logistics of life are [in Canberra]. I was spending up to two hours a day in the car [in Sydney], driving my son to and from school.

"My son can catch the bus to and from school, he could ride his bike by himself to school if he wanted to; that's been such an amazing surprise."

Reflecting rising land costs and the drive for greater urban consolidation, several well-established suburbs in the inner south, inner north and around Belconnen and Gungahlin grew by more than 2 per cent, including Braddon, Reid, Kingston, Red Hill and Watson.

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The snapshot follows the release of the Intergenerational Report, which predicts the number of Australians to grow more slowly of the next 40 years because of less migration and a lower fertility rate as the population ages.

The report projects the population to expand at an annual rate of 1.1 per cent in the next four decades (down from 1.4 per cent in the past 40 years), reaching 40.5 million people in 2062-63.

Meanwhile, the end of long delays in the delivery of new cars and machinery has boosted business investment, particularly in the construction industry, but national spending on research and development is continuing to deteriorate.

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