ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Farrer is an inner-city suburb of Canberra, Australia, with a population of approximately 3,787, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 11 km from the Canberra CBD, Farrer is a inner city area in Australian Capital Territory. The median household income is $132,080 per year.
Farrer benefits from a high-income resident base, supporting premium property pricing. Its proximity to the CBD adds a strong location premium.
Official Australia Post postcode for Farrer. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Weekly median rent for occupied homes. Live rental data integration coming soon.
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Estimated 1 school within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Farrer on My School →Estimated 2 parks and green spaces near this suburb.
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
3,787 residents places Farrer squarely in the middle of the Australian Capital Territory suburb size distribution (state median 3,808), with market depth comparable to most ACT localities. Households here earn $132,080/year on average — 7% above the ACT suburb median of $123,916 — a modest premium that supports resilient owner-occupier demand. Rent of $450/week (75% coverage of the $2,600/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $650/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. 11 km from Canberra places Farrer in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs.
Inner-city investors should model strata costs and rate rises carefully, since gross yields here are often compressed by higher entry prices. Local rents consume roughly 18% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Farrer stacks up against the median of all Australian Capital Territory suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Farrer sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Farrer | ACT median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,787 | 3,808 | -1% |
| Median household income | $132,080/yr | $123,916/yr | +7% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $450 | $450 | 0% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,600 | $2,144 | +21% |
| Distance to CBD | 11 km | 10 km | +10% |
| Separate houses | 69% | 71% | -2pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Farrer — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Moderate buy-and-hold potential: Farrer's 3,787-person market and $132,080 median household income work for investors who are selective on street location and property quality rather than counting on a suburb-wide rerating.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $450/week covers 75% of a $2,600/month mortgage, leaving a $650/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
With 69% houses in a 3,787-person market, renovation margins depend on individual street and aspect rather than any suburb-wide story — do comparable-sales analysis before committing capital.
Run the numbers on a Farrer property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Farrer are modest for 2026 — incomes 7% above the ACT median of $123,916 and a population of 3,787 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~75% of the typical mortgage ($1,950/month rent vs $2,600/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. The EquitySight investment score of 85/100 places Farrer in the top tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is constructive heading into the second half of 2026.
Lived in Farrer? Help other investors with an honest 100-word review. Sign-in required; all reviews are manually moderated before they appear.
Farrer scores 85/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a strong rating. That score is driven by a population of 3,787, median household income of $132,080/year and median weekly rent of $450. Whether it fits your portfolio depends on whether you are targeting cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — all three are scored with suburb-specific numbers elsewhere on this page.
The main demand drivers in Farrer are proximity to Canberra (11 km), an above-state-median household income of $132,080/year, a dwelling mix that is 69% separate houses, roughly 1 schools and 2 parks within the catchment. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand and are the factors we weight most heavily in the suburb's investment score.
Farrer has a usual resident population of approximately 3,787, compared with a Australian Capital Territory suburb median of 3,808 — placing it in the lower half of the state's suburbs by size. Population is the clearest proxy for market depth: more residents mean more transactions and typically a shorter average days-on-market on resale.
Farrer sits 11 km straight-line from the Canberra CBD. This is comfortable commuter territory, with reasonable rail and road access to the city.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $450 in Farrer, equating to approximately $23,400/year in gross rental income (state median $450/week). Market rents have typically drifted above the recorded figure — verify against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Farrer is $2,600, or approximately $31,200/year (vs $2,144/month state median). Stress-test your own borrowing at rates 1–2 percentage points above today's to make sure you can still service the loan through an RBA tightening cycle.
A median weekly rent of $450 works out to $1,950/month, covering 75% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,600/month. That leaves a $650/month shortfall (around $7,800/year before tax benefits), so a typical owner-occupier-priced property here is negatively geared. Actual cash flow depends on your deposit, loan terms, ownership costs and marginal tax rate — run the full numbers in our rental yield calculator.
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (3,787 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,600 median mortgage, the broader Australian Capital Territory market cycle. Each of these is covered in the Risk Factors section above with suburb-specific numbers rather than generic warnings.
Every number on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census of Population and Housing, Australia Post postcode reference data, and OpenStreetMap amenity tiles. The investment score, strategy verdicts, and comparison table are computed deterministically from those inputs — no opinion, no estimation. See our full methodology and the data sources and licences for the formulas we use.