When plans were first mooted more than four years ago there was huge community opposition to the proposed closure of the Braddon Club and the mixed use development that was set to be built in its place.

The club could only finally progress plans when in March the North Canberra Community Council opted to drop its appeal against the ACT government's original approval of the project.

The decision to re-work the development can therefore not be taken as a bow down to the needs and wishes of the surrounding community.

For at the time the club was pushing the proposal against a tide of negative community sentiment it even reached out to its Canberra Raiders membership base in the inner north for support.

As chief executive Simon Hawkins said this week "a fair bit's changed in four years" in the Canberra market and the proposal no longer stacked up.

It would take a lot for the club that's fought so hard to get the project off the ground for it to go back to the drawing board.

This is a worrying sign in a part of Canberra that is seeing an explosion in apartment blocks just a few streets away in the now well rejuvenated Braddon precinct.

Recent figures by the Housing Industry Association show unit construction is set to plummet this financial year and CoreLogic data indicates one in five apartments in the ACT sold at a loss in March.

Economists say the market has been flat for units in Canberra for the past few years and will take some time to rebalance.

While it is expected the market will correct itself in the coming years it is still of concern that the apartment market is over supplied at the present time.

The decision by the Canberra Raiders is one some in the community will be happy with but others will question the wider ramifications for the territory.