How do the ACT electorates of Canberra and Fenner fare in the property game?

They might not be among Australia’s richest federal electorates but the ACT seats of Fenner and Canberra have a strong foothold in the national property stakes.

The traditionally safe Labor seats are among the country’s more expensive based on the median value of homes in each electorate, a new data analysis from the Domain Group shows.

Australia’s five richest electorates are all safe Liberal seats scattered between Sydney and Melbourne, highlighting a link between blue-ribbon and blue voting.

Domain Group chief economist Andrew Wilson said there was no doubt the data showed higher-priced electorates followed conservative patterns.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s own seat of Wentworth boasts the highest median house prices in the country, where homes are worth about $2.5 million. 

The Liberals hold 18 of Australia’s richest property seats, while the ALP has 10, and the Greens and the Nationals each have one in the top 30.

The ACT’s northside electorate of Fenner and southside electorate of Canberra buck the trend in a territory inundated with public servants.

Fenner, formally Fraser, is one of the country’s safest Labor seats with a margin of 12.5 per cent, alongside a median home value of $580,000.

Held by sitting MP Andrew Leigh, it is the 57th richest electorate in a country divided into 150 voting zones.

The southside electorate of Canberra comes with a higher median value of $593,750, placing it just outside the top 50 at 53.

The seat has switched between Liberal and Labor hands over the past four decades but has been held by a Labor MP since 1996, including the incumbent Gai Brodtmann on a margin of 7.4 per cent.

Just across the ACT border, the Switzerland-sized Eden-Monaro is among the country’s least expensive electorates.

The bellwether seat, which is held by Liberal politician Peter Hendy by a tight margin of 2.9 per cent, has a median home value of $410,000.

The data places the NSW electorate in the lower third, based on property values, coming in at 106th place.

For more than four decades the party that has taken Eden-Monaro has taken government but a shift in electoral boundaries could swing the vote further in the Coalition’s favour, political analysts say.

Property has shaped up to be one of the battlegrounds in this year’s campaign, with negative gearing a top issue.

– with Kirsten Robb and Jennifer Duke