The Gungahlin suburb of Franklin has grown by over 40% in the past five years, featuring a population of predominantly young families where almost 10% of residents are below the age of five.
These are the findings of the latest Census, which also reflect a building boom to accommodate the rising population.
So let’s take a look at how Franklin is another of the suburbs driving Gungahlin’s rapid growth.
Who lives in Franklin
Between 2011 and 2016 Franklin’s resident population increased from 3804 to 6419, according to the 2016 Census data, which also notes over 1000 private dwellings were constructed during this period to accommodate the boom.
And that population is relatively young. The median age for Franklin is five years below the Territory median, sitting at 30-years-old and comprising 50.4% female residents and 49.6% males.
With almost 40% of residents aged between 25 and 35, this is also a population where 51.9% are married. Over 70% of households within the suburb are classed as family homes containing couples, and the likelihood is these couples have children (53.6%), with an average of 1.8 children per household.
There’s a further probability their children are young. Almost 22% of the population is aged below 15, including 9.4% below 5, and 8.1% aged 5-9.
This shows a few minor changes since 2011 when the median age for the suburb was 28, 23.4% of the population was children under 15, and 11.3% were aged under 5.
Meanwhile, 2016 data shows a further 35.2% of family households are couples without children and 9.1% are single parent families. Just over 20% of households are home to people living on their own, while 7.6% are share situations.
How Franklin fares financially
Like most of Gungahlin, Franklin fares just fine on the financial front. A little over 28% of households have a weekly income of more than $3000, while the median household income is $2114, and the individual median income is $1002.
While that’s significantly above the national statistics, it is a little beneath the general Gungahlin figures. The Gungahlin region sees 31% of households with $3000 or more, and a median of $2247. Nationally 16.4% of households have a weekly income of $3000 or more, and the median household income is $1438.
It’s also a drop on the household finances that Franklin residents enjoyed five years ago when the median income was $2292 each week.
But chances are they may not feel the slight decrease, with median weekly rents and median monthly mortgage payments also falling. In 2011 Franklin residents paid a median monthly mortgage of $2600 and median weekly rents of $428. In 2016 those figures reduced to $2000 each month on mortgages and $373 each week on rent.
What this may reflect, however, is a rise in smaller residences like units being constructed for ownership and rent.
How Franklin residents live
In 2011, 82.3% of Franklin comprised separate houses, with only 10.4% semi-detached dwellings, and 7.3% of the housing stock being units or flats. That’s altered markedly in recent years.
A building boom which saw the construction of 1000 new dwellings sees 50.5% of the region being separate houses, 18.9% semi-detached and 30.5% units and flats.
Since 2011, 587 units and apartments have been built in Franklin, and due to the rise in strata living, naturally the average home size is smaller. In 2011, 57.2% of houses had four bedrooms or more, while 30% were three-bedroom homes. Now 38% of homes feature more than four bedrooms, 27.8% are three-bedroom homes, 17.7% are two-bedroom properties, and 14.3% are one-bedroom units.
In a statistic that’s vastly different to 2011, 46.8% of residents are paying a mortgage on their property while 42.1% rent. This shows a significant increase in renting which has risen from 29.1% five years ago, and a drop in home ownership with 63.3% owning their home with a mortgage in 2011.
Franklin also has a higher rental population than Gungahlin (31.9%), or the national average (29.6%).
Meanwhile 8.8% of Franklin residents own their property outright.
Where Franklin residents come from
Over half (50.8%) of Franklin residents were born overseas, with the countries of origin including China (11.1%), India (7.2%), Korea (2.9%), Sri Lanka (2.2%), and Vietnam (2.2%).
This reflects a rise in multicultural origins of 4.4%, which is much in line with Gangahlin’s increasing multiculturalism of the past five years.
When it comes to language less than half the homes (46%) speak only English. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin (11.5%), Korean (3.3%), Vietnamese (3.0%), Hindi (2.7%) and Cantonese (2.7%).
The final word
Like much of Gungahlin, Franklin is a suburb experiencing rapid growth with a population that’s well off and family focussed. It’s also a suburb experiencing change, with a rise in unit accommodation where the occupant is more likely to rent than they were five years ago.
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