Tom Willis is an award-winning marketing leader and Co-founder of Lawpath. Tom’s journey journey includes steering several entrepreneurial projects and addressing the unique challenges faced by small businesses. As the Chief Marketing Officer at Lawpath, Tom has been pivotal in shaping the company’s marketing strategy and business growth.
The best places to start a business in the ACT in FY26, ranked by growth in new business registrations, are Belconnen, Gungahlin, Tuggeranong, Woden Valley and Molonglo Valley. Every one of them grew registrations by at least 32% in a single year, and light rail, town centre master plans and a wave of new land release are the common thread.
Canberra does not work like other capitals when you are picking a location. There is no inner city versus outer suburbs contest here, just five town centres competing for the same growing population. The Lawpath New Business Index shows exactly which ones are pulling ahead, and by how much.
- Belconnen led the ACT, with new registrations up 42.1%. They rose from 3,023 in FY25 to 4,295 in FY26 on the Lawpath New Business Index.
- Every one of the top five districts grew by at least 32% in a year. Gungahlin and Tuggeranong both grew around 35%, Woden Valley 32.9% and Molonglo Valley 32.1%.
- ACT registrations climbed roughly 34% in FY26 alone. They rose from about 16,200 in FY25 to 21,700, and have more than tripled over five years.
- Tuggeranong recorded the most new businesses of the top five, 4,522. Yet North Canberra and South Canberra, the territory’s established federal and CBD precincts, still grew a more modest 30.0% and 25.4%.
- Professional services and construction dominate ACT business counts. Together they account for more than a third of all active ACT businesses, reflecting the territory’s federal public service base and its housing boom.
How we ranked the top 5 places to start a business in the ACT
Two datasets sit behind this list. The first is the Lawpath New Business Index, which tracks new business registrations by postcode across Australia. The second is the Australian Bureau of Statistics Counts of Australian Businesses, released in December 2025, which counts every operating business by industry, staff numbers and turnover.
The ranking method used for the states does not translate directly to the ACT. Every other state has dozens of local government areas to rank. The ACT has one: Unincorporated ACT, run directly by the territory government rather than a council. Ranking a single LGA against itself is not a list, so this article ranks Canberra’s five official town-centre districts instead, built by grouping the Index’s postcodes into Belconnen, Gungahlin, Tuggeranong, Woden Valley and Molonglo Valley, then ranking those by year-on-year growth in new registrations, the same method used for every other state.
One limitation is worth naming upfront. The ABS count of active businesses, turnover and industry mix is published for the whole ACT, not broken down by district. Where the state articles show a turnover and industry chart for each city, this article shows those figures once, for the whole territory, in the section below on why the ACT is growing. Each district card instead shows its own registration trend and its own Active ABNs count from the Lawpath data, which is available at the postcode level.
A second limitation affects Molonglo Valley specifically. Its postcode, 2611, also covers the established suburbs of Weston Creek. The Index cannot separate the two at postcode level, and that same postcode is mislabelled as a New South Wales postcode in parts of the underlying workbook. We have corrected the state tag and reported the figures under Molonglo Valley, since the district’s explosive land release is almost certainly what is driving the growth, and footnoted it in the table and chart below.
The 5 fastest-growing places to start a business in the ACT (FY26)
| # | District | New businesses FY26 | YoY growth | 5-yr growth | Active ABNs (Lawpath) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belconnen | 4,295 | +42.1% | +285% | 9,851 |
| 2 | Gungahlin | 4,480 | +35.1% | +231% | 9,220 |
| 3 | Tuggeranong | 4,522 | +35.1% | +232% | 14,182 |
| 4 | Woden Valley | 1,767 | +32.9% | +222% | 6,019 |
| 5 | Molonglo Valley* | 1,739 | +32.1% | +262% | 4,034 |
Wherever you land on this list, getting started is quick. You can register an ABN in about a day, or register a company and have your ACN in minutes.
The 5 fastest-growing places to start a business in the ACT, in detail
1. 1. Belconnen: a town centre being rebuilt around you
Belconnen grew fastest in the ACT, with new registrations up 42.1% to 4,295. Around a quarter of the territory’s population already lives here, and the district is projected to add close to 75,000 more residents by 2065, much of it through the cross-border Ginninderry estate in West Belconnen, which sits partly in NSW.
The town centre itself is mid-renewal: ten additional apartment precincts are approved or under construction, adding at least 22 high-rise buildings within five years, and the Belconnen Town Centre Master Plan is steering new development toward the Emu Bank foreshore and Lathlain Street, both slated for mixed retail, office and residential space. For anyone selling to new residents or new office tenants, the construction pipeline alone is a multi-year runway.
2. 2. Gungahlin: light rail’s proof of concept
Gungahlin grew 35.1% to 4,480 new registrations. The district has absorbed close to a quarter of all ACT residential land releases over the past five years, and an ACT Government prospectus estimates 10,000 public servants already live locally, a ready-made customer base for anyone building near the town centre.
Government analysis of the first light rail line found business numbers along the Gungahlin corridor rose 31% between 2019 and 2022, and the town centre’s planning refresh now allows towers up to 14 storeys near the tram stops. A new Gungahlin Community Centre opened in July 2026, adding another anchor for local services and events businesses.
3. 3. Tuggeranong: the comeback nobody forecast
Tuggeranong grew 35.1% to 4,522 new registrations, the highest volume of any district in the top five. That is notable because earlier ACT Government population modelling expected this established southern district to grow only marginally or even shrink. Housing-led renewal appears to be rewriting that forecast.
The Tuggeranong Town Centre Master Plan now targets up to 7,800 new dwellings, mostly apartments and shop-top housing, expected to add around 14,000 residents. The ACT Government has also committed $4.75 million to revitalise the Lake Tuggeranong foreshore, and a new South Tuggeranong Health Centre is due to open in Conder in late 2026. The district’s Hume industrial estate remains the territory’s main freight and logistics base, a solid bet for trade and transport businesses.
4. 4. Woden Valley: business is arriving ahead of the tram
Woden Valley grew 32.9% to 1,767 new registrations. The catalyst is Light Rail Stage 2B, extending the network from the City through the Parliamentary Triangle to Woden with nine new stops, its final alignment confirmed only in May 2026.
The ACT Government’s Southern Gateway Corridor framework proposes mid-rise, ‘gentle densification’ housing along Adelaide Avenue, Yarra Glen Drive and Athllon Drive, and a North Woden urban renewal precinct has already been through a developer expression-of-interest round. Getting established in Woden now means being in place before the tram, and the housing, arrives.
5. 5. Molonglo Valley: Canberra’s newest suburb, still being built
Molonglo Valley grew 32.1% to 1,739 new registrations. It is the ACT’s biggest single land release, with 7,043 new dwellings planned across Molonglo, Whitlam and Coombs over the next five years, more than any other district in the territory, aimed at a district population approaching 70,000 by 2050.
The new Molonglo Town Centre had its first land release scheduled for June 2026, and thousands of homes in Whitlam, Coombs, Wright and Denman Prospect are already built or under construction. One caveat: the postcode covering these new suburbs, 2611, also covers the older, established suburbs of Weston Creek, and the Index cannot separate the two. Given how much of the district is still greenfield, the growth here is almost certainly coming from the new estates rather than established Weston Creek, but treat the figure as covering both.
Two notable mentions: big volume, steadier growth
Growth rate rewards the fast movers, but the ACT’s two established federal precincts still register plenty of new businesses of their own. They grew more slowly than the top five, yet both remain deep, high-value markets to launch into.
North Canberra (City)
North Canberra, covering Civic, Braddon, Dickson and Reid, recorded 3,203 new registrations, up 30.0%. The City Renewal Authority is remaking the precinct block by block: a $66 million City Hill site sale to Capital Property Group alone will deliver around 800 construction jobs and more than 500 new dwellings over five years. Retail, hospitality and professional services all benefit as Civic keeps adding residents on top of its existing office and government workforce.
South Canberra
South Canberra, home to Barton, the Parliamentary Triangle and the Fyshwick industrial estate, grew 25.4% to 1,732 new registrations. The federal government is expanding its footprint here by around 450,000 square metres, including a $2 billion National Security Office Precinct under construction for 5,000 staff, and A-grade office vacancy in the Triangle sits at just 1.7%. Fyshwick continues to do the ACT’s heavy lifting in trade, wholesale and light industrial work.
Why the ACT is a strong territory for new businesses
The ACT added new businesses at a faster rate than the national average in FY26, with registrations across the territory up around 34% in a single year and more than tripled over five years, from roughly 6,600 in FY21 to about 21,700 in FY26. (Note: the workbook behind the Lawpath New Business Index labels the ACT total slightly lower, at 20,029, because of the Molonglo Valley postcode mislabelling described above; either figure tells the same growth story.)
Population is the underlying driver. The ACT is projected to grow by around 8,000 people a year, adding roughly 319,000 residents over the next 40 years from a base of 482,000 in December 2024, according to ACT Treasury’s own population projections. Almost all of that growth is migration-led, and it is landing across every district, not just the newest ones.
The other force is Canberra’s unusual economic base. Around a third of the local workforce works in public administration, and professional, scientific and technical services is the single biggest industry by active business count territory-wide. Federal investment, from new departmental leases in Barton to the Gungahlin Town Centre’s pitch for APS office space, keeps flowing into whichever district can offer land, transport and floor space at the right time.
What the index shows about where new businesses are going in the ACT
Because the index tracks registrations as they happen, it shows growth spreading across Canberra rather than concentrating in one corner. Fringe growth suburbs like Molonglo Valley and Gungahlin are registering new businesses fast, exactly as you would expect from greenfield land release. What is less expected is that Tuggeranong, an established district that government population modelling once expected to plateau, now records the highest raw volume of new businesses in the top five.
The common factor across all five districts is a town centre master plan or a transport project landing at the same time, whether that is light rail reaching Woden, apartment approvals stacking up in Belconnen, or a foreshore rebuild in Tuggeranong. If you want an early read on where Canberra’s next wave of local demand will land, watch which district’s town centre plan or transport project is furthest along.
How to actually start your business once you have picked a place
Choosing the location is the strategic bit. Setting up is the admin bit, and it is quicker than most people expect.
Start with your structure. Most people begin as a sole trader for its simplicity, then move to a company once income or risk grows. Our guide on sole trader versus company walks through the trade-offs. The short version: a company caps your personal liability but adds reporting.
From there the steps are straightforward. Get an ABN, then register a business name if you are trading under anything other than your own name. If you are setting up a company, you can register a company online and receive your ACN in minutes, with the ASIC registration fee sitting at $611 for FY26. You will also need to register for GST once your turnover reaches $75,000. It does not usually matter which state or territory you register a company in, because a company operates nationally, a point we cover in choosing where to register.
If you would rather have a person check your setup, you can hire a lawyer for a quick consult before you commit.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best place to start a business in the ACT in FY26?
On growth in new registrations, Belconnen led at 42.1% year on year, followed by Gungahlin and Tuggeranong at around 35%. The right district for you depends on your customers, but all five in the top list grew by at least 32%.
Why does this list rank Canberra districts instead of local government areas?
The ACT has only one local government area, Unincorporated ACT, so the LGA-based method used for the states does not apply. This list ranks Canberra’s five official town-centre districts instead, using the same postcode-level registration data.
Which ACT district has the most new businesses?
By volume, Tuggeranong led the top five with 4,522 new registrations in FY26, narrowly ahead of Gungahlin’s 4,480 and Belconnen’s 4,295.
What is driving growth in Molonglo Valley?
Land release. It is the ACT’s largest current residential development, with more than 7,000 new dwellings planned across Molonglo, Whitlam and Coombs, aimed at a district population near 70,000 by 2050.
How much does it cost to register a company in the ACT?
The ASIC fee to register a proprietary company is $611 for the year to 30 June 2026, the same fee nationally. Registering a business name costs $44 for one year or $102 for three years through ASIC.
Do I need to register my company in the ACT specifically to trade there?
No. A company registered with ASIC operates Australia-wide, so the territory you register in does not restrict where you trade. What matters more is where your customers, premises and staff actually are.
What industries are growing fastest in the ACT?
Professional, scientific and technical services is the largest industry by active business count territory-wide, followed closely by construction, reflecting both the federal public service and the current wave of housing and infrastructure projects.
Is now a good time to start a business in Canberra?
The data suggests so. Every one of the ACT’s five main districts grew new business registrations by at least 32% in FY26, backed by population growth of around 8,000 people a year and a heavy pipeline of transport and town centre investment.
Where to from here
You do not need to pick the perfect district to succeed, and no ranking replaces knowing your own customers. What the FY26 data gives you is a head start: a clear view of where people, homes and money are moving across Canberra, so you can plant your business in front of the demand instead of chasing it.
When you are ready to make it official, register your company with Lawpath and get your ACN in minutes.
