Aamira Residences will consist of 105 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, a tennis court and gym, and a mix of commercial tenants on the ground floor.

Company Taofei (Australia) International purchased the almost 8000-square metre site in an ACT government land auction two years ago for $3,850,000.

Building work on the project began on Monday and construction is expected to be complete in about 18 months.

Taofei assistant director Joyce Yu said the Flemington Road project was the largest the company, a Canberra subdivision of a China-based business, had taken on in the ACT.

She said the affordable housing development was targeted at first home buyers looking for larger-than-normal apartments.

The principal builder for the development is Project Coordination.

ACT construction manager and director Gavin Murphy said the project was good news for the industry as it showed there were still people willing to invest in the territory.

He said the Aamira Residences had sold enough apartments to allow construction to begin, which was not the case for other developments in the region.

''There's no other jobs on Flemington Road starting in the foreseeable future,'' he said.

Alex Eimerl, the McGrath Real Estate Gungahlin agent for the project, said nearly half of the apartments in the three-level development had been sold.

He said the buyers were evenly split between investors and live-in owners and the majority of the latter were first home buyers.