Managing publicly owned land in Canberra : Rural to urban change of use

All land in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is government owned. Prior to 1989, when the ACT became self-governing, the government developed land for urban use and auctioned leases for parcels of land for specified uses. Since then, leases for raw land have been auctioned for private development, to be completed within a specified time. A case study of a development where the ACT Government aimed to increase urban densities shows that the result was a reduction in quality. In addition, the financial returns to the ACT Government were much lower than if it had undertaken the development itself.