Temporary housing in Canberra
January 5, 2016 4:19 PM   Subscribe

My sister-in-law and her family (hubby and 2 kids < 3 years old) are going to be in Canberra on sabbatical this year. Help us find somewhere to live!

(Yes, I looked at the previous thread that discussed this back in 2010. We're hoping for a little more info five years after the fact.)

He'll be working at ANU. She'll be looking after the kids. The older son is going to attend preschool in Red Hill. They're hoping to find a furnished home or apartment for February - April. Allhomes, AirBnB, and Craigslist have not yielded much yet.

Any suggestions on (1) neighbourhoods in which to look for housing that are convenient to ANU and the preschool and (2) where to find places for rent other than the above?

Thanks in advance!
posted by greatgefilte to Travel & Transportation around Canberra, Australia (6 answers total)
 
Try the rental listings such as RealEstate.com.au and Domain.com.au. Most will want a 12month lease, but some others will be ok with a 3 month lease. Also contact the university itself as there may be academics leaving Canberra for sabbaticals who want a house-sitter.
posted by Thella at 4:22 PM on January 5, 2016


Allhomes is still almost universally the go-to source for accommodation in Canberra. If you can't find it there, it probably doesn't exist, save for very temporary options like airbnb.

The locations of the preschool vs ANU aren't particularly conducive to suiting both options, however Red Hill is a pricey "old money" area and is fairly quiet and boring, and as such I wouldn't recommend there to actually live.

I'd be looking at the inner north (suburbs like O'Connor, Turner or Braddon) as they are at least relatively convenient to ANU, and are close to nice cafes and bars. If you're inclined to want to be closer to the preschool, Manuka/Griffith/Kingston are some options.

Assuming you'll have a car, I wouldn't worry too much about the commute - any vehicle commute between those areas will be easy, no more than ten minutes even in peak hour.

Source: Lived in Canberra all my life.
posted by ryanbryan at 7:28 PM on January 5, 2016


Ask the school secretary at the ANU school they are going to, to put a request for house sitting or short term rental on the internal email list(s). There are always lots of internal mailing lists for uni schools and faculties.

In cities like Darwin & Canberra with high turnover in government & university employees, you can often pick up temporary accommodation like this.
posted by Stephanie_Says at 9:45 PM on January 5, 2016


There are some websites that have sabbatical housing as their thing, e.g. Sabbatical Homes (link is a search on Canberra), with options for rentals, house sitting or house swapping. I have heard of this site before but not used it.

If you google search for 'sabbatical homes', there are other similar sites that you might explore.
posted by AnnaRat at 11:53 PM on January 5, 2016


And have they investigated the options available through the university? E.g. there are 'staging' apartments specifically for academic visitors and at the same website, there is also information about self-service apartments. Given the temporary nature of the stay, this might be one of the more straightforward options, although not especially convenient for pre-school.
posted by AnnaRat at 12:11 AM on January 6, 2016


ANU has accommodation listings which might be worth a look, and Gumtree is a classified site that's more casual than Allhomes.
posted by quercus23 at 4:24 AM on January 6, 2016


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