The home-ownership profile in a suburb is not always what you might imagine. Sometimes the waist-high grass and the dead cars in the front yard turn out to be owner-occupiers not the rentals. In terms of the Ginninderra district, it was interesting to look at the 2021 Census data released by the ABS last year and see what has changed since the 2016 Census. On Census night in 2021, 30.7% of homes were paying rent in Canberra, which was practically identical to the 30.6% of homes in Australia which were paying rent. On the whole, Ginninderra still has a much lower proportion of renters and a much higher rate of home ownership than the Canberra and national averages. The only suburb in Ginninderra with more rentals than the national average was CHARNWOOD, where 31.3% of people were paying rent on Census night. Even though the rate of home ownership in CHARNWOOD between 2016 and 2021 apparently increased by about 1% over those 5 years, the rate of home ownership Australia-wide increased by about 4% over the same period. Although, that is not a story we are likely to hear about in the mainstream media. Because of its comparative affordability, CHARNWOOD seems especially attractive to first-time investors. At the other end of the spectrum, FRASER had the lowest number of rental properties in the district (10.4%). FRASER is the stand-out for home ownership in Ginninderra. With almost 89.6% owner-occupiers, FRASER stands in stark contrast to the Canberra-wide and Australia-wide average, which are both around 69% for home ownership. At the most recent Census, DUNLOP had the highest percentage of mortgages (60.6%) in the district, while HALL Village had the lowest percentage of mortgages (25.7%). HALL Village was the only place in Ginninderra to have more unencumbered properties (50.5%) than mortgages. Inversely, DUNLOP residents had the lowest rate of owning their home free and clear of the bank (20.3%). The relative newness of DUNLOP and the relative oldness of HALL Village are almost certainly the reason for those numbers. Interestingly, other suburbs with high rates of mortgage-free ownership were McKELLAR (42.3%) and NICHOLLS (41%). These suburbs are renowned for having a lot of builder’s homes. It is probably not hard to imagine several reasons why builders are less likely to have mortgages on their homes. If you are planning to get into or get out of Ginninderra, I would love to hear what your property goals are in case I can help you along the way.