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ACT · Units

Unit depreciation schedules in the ACT

A unit in a low-rise block of flats, the three-storey walk-up most suburbs have. The block's structure is shared, so the unit's capital works are its share of the whole building, priced at a rate per square metre of its own, set by the kind of building it is in. A block whose construction began before 16 September 1987 has no building deduction left, but each renovation begun after 15 September 1987 has its own 40 years.

Rate per m², ACT 2015
$1,677
Unit built 2015
$143,096
Deduction a year
$3,577

What a unit cost to build in the Australian Capital Territory

For a 90 m² unit in a low-rise walk-up block, at ACT rates, excluding the plant listed separately. The capital works deduction is 2.5% of this cost a year for 40 years from completion, and a buyer claims what is left.

Indicative construction cost of a 90 m² unit in a low-rise walk-up block by year built, ACT
Year builtRate per m²Construction cost2.5% a yearYears left
1990$727
$58,724
$1,4684
1995$914
$74,867
$1,8729
2000$941
$77,934
$1,94814
2005$1,334
$112,539
$2,81319
2010$1,580
$134,317
$3,35824
2015$1,677
$143,096
$3,57729
2020$1,885
$161,227
$4,03134
2025$2,005
$172,110
$4,30339

Indicative, from the Ezy Depreciation cost database ledger-catalogue-2026-11-02. Years left are full income years from the current one, taking completion as 30 June of the year built.

A unit built in 2021, a year the table leaves out, cost about $162,097 at ACT rates ($1,898 per m²), so about $4,052 a year at 2.5% for the 35 years left of its 40: see depreciation on a property built in 2021 for a standard house that year in every state. The table ends with 2025, the latest year our national series rests on a published figure for, so a unit built since, in 2026, is shown here at 2025's rates until its own year's are published: about $172,110 at ACT rates, so about $4,303 a year at 2.5% over its 40 years.

How the Australian Capital Territory compares

In our cost database, the Australian Capital Territory is the fourth cheapest of Australia's states and territories to build a unit in. Built in 2025, a 90 m² unit in a low-rise walk-up block cost about $172,110 at ACT rates ($2,005 per m²), $595 less than it would at the national benchmark rate of $2,012 per m², so its capital works deduction is about $15 a year lower.

The next dearer is New South Wales at $2,030 per m², and the next cheaper Western Australia at $1,904 per m². The same unit would have cost $32,782 more in Tasmania, the dearest, and $17,371 less in Queensland, the cheapest.

Between 2015 and 2025 the cost of building the same unit in the Australian Capital Territory rose from $143,096 to $172,110, 20% more, so the deduction for one completed in 2025 is about $726 a year more than for one completed in 2015, with 10 more years of its 40 to run.

Capital works in a unit

Division 43, at 2.5% a year for 40 years

  1. 1The unit's own fit-out: kitchen and bathroom joinery, tiling, internal doors, built-in robes, the balcony's balustrade
  2. 2Its share of the block's structure: foundations, frame, roof, stairs, corridors, the car park and the laundry
  3. 3Its share of the common plant: fire extinguishers and hose reels, common area lighting, letterboxes, the intercom, the shared laundry's machines
  4. 4Renovations inside the unit: a new kitchen or bathroom is capital works from the date it was finished, at 2.5% for 40 years if it was begun after 15 September 1987. What a renovation does to the plant and works it replaces

Plant typically found in a unit

Division 40, each at its effective life; new at today's prices

Deductible if bought new for the property while it is let; if it came with a second-hand property acquired since 9 May 2017, or was used while the property was the owner's home, generally not for an individual, though still valued for the capital gain. In a holiday unit its owner also stays in, even plant bought new since 9 May 2017 is generally not deductible once that private use is not occasional, from the income year it begins (section 40-27). Common plant is shared by unit entitlement.

A unit's block and the owners corporation in the Australian Capital Territory

A unit in the Australian Capital Territory is a lot in a strata scheme whose owners corporation manages the block, under the Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011. The unit's own fit-out is its owner's; the block's structure, stairs, roof and car park, and the services the block shares, are generally common property, each owner claiming the share their entitlement gives.

In a walk-up of a dozen or so units, a lot with 80 of 1,000 entitlements carries 8% of each common item. The shared laundry's washing machine and dryer, the entry intercom, the pressure pump and the extinguishers come to about $215 for that share, and almost every share is small enough to be deducted at once or pooled, where the owner of a house in the Australian Capital Territory depreciates the same items whole over their lives. Against that, the unit's own fit-out and its share of the block's structure, built in 2025 at ACT rates, cost about $172,110, about $4,303 a year: the structure, not the common plant, is most of what a unit's owner claims.

In an older block, what an owner can claim lies mostly in later works. When the owners corporation replaces the roof, the balustrades or the car park's surface, each is capital works from its completion at 2.5% for 40 years, claimed in the owner's share. A special levy raised for such a work is not an expense, and its share is the cost the owner claims; a work paid for from levies the owner has already deducted as expenses is not deducted a second time.

An 8% share of a walk-up block's common plant, one of each, priced new
ItemCostLifeThe shareDeducted
Washing machine$4908 yrs$39deducted at once, generally
Clothes dryer$6707 yrs$54deducted at once, generally
Video intercom$59210 yrs$47deducted at once, generally
Pressure pump$8978 yrs$72deducted at once, generally
Fire extinguisher$3615 yrs$3deducted at once, generally

Indicative, at our cost database's installed prices. Whether a block has a shared laundry or a pump, and each lot's entitlement, is on its plan and asset register.

Common questions

What does a unit built in 2015 in the Australian Capital Territory claim in capital works?

For a 90 m² unit in a low-rise walk-up block, about $143,096 of construction cost at ACT rates ($1,677 per m²), so about $3,577 a year at 2.5% for the 29 years left of its 40. A larger or better-finished unit costs more: the guide to build quality and storeys sets each tier's cost side by side, state by state.

My block was built in the 1970s. Is there anything to claim?

The original building is outside Division 43, since its construction began before 18 July 1985. What can be claimed is every improvement begun after 15 September 1987: the block's new roof, a re-tiled bathroom, a replaced kitchen, each at 2.5% for 40 years from completion, in the share that is yours. One begun earlier has run out, or, begun before 18 July 1985, was never deductible. Plant you buy new for the unit while it is let is deductible from the day it is installed.

Who claims the common property?

Each owner, in proportion to their unit entitlement. The body corporate does not lodge a return for it; the schedule works out your share and lists it beside the unit's own items.

Is the rate different for units in ACT?

The rate is federal: 2.5% a year for residential construction begun after 15 September 1987, everywhere in Australia. What differs is the cost it applies to. Construction in ACT runs about 1% above the national benchmark, and a unit's structure costs 1.43× a single-storey house's per square metre.

Units elsewhere

Other dwellings in ACT

General information only, not advice about your circumstances. Speak to a registered tax agent before relying on it.