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Michael Bleby

Today

Go slow: Developer Pace’s 313-unit project in Melbourne’s Coburg had 72 unsold apartments when it completed in September. 

Why new apartments don’t sell and old ones do

A combination of high interest rates and weaker prices make established housing stock more attractive to buyers than apartments built as costs soared.

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Yesterday

Patricia Curtis-Kline inside her 20th floor apartment at Melbourne’s Royal Domain Tower.

Metricon widow puts $5m luxury pad on market

Patricia Curtis-Kline, whose husband George founded what became Australia’s largest home-builder, is preparing to leave her adopted home.

This Month

More households making ‘difficult’ decision to sell homes, RBA warns

Real estate agents say financial stress – and divorce – are prompting a surge in distressed listings, particularly in Victoria and parts of regional NSW.

The five-bedroom house in Melbourne’s Toorak sold below the guide of $20 million to $22 million.

Buyer of $19m mansion delays – then loses deal to faster rival

Consumers are right to be cautious about newly built properties. But the thoroughness of one potential purchaser was unnecessary for another.

Gold Coast, where sands are shifting in the apartment development market.

Risks rise in Gold Coast apartment development

As banks focus on smaller and more secure projects, developers of bigger projects are turning to riskier and more expensive sources of credit.

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An auction in Melbourne on Saturday. Sales have been more difficult recently, agents say.

Listings soar in Sydney and Melbourne as homeowners run down savings

Spring is the traditional selling season. But a flood of properties hitting the market is being driven by persistently high interest rates, economists warn.

Premier Chris Minns announced further reforms of the planning system, including new approval pathways that will bypass councils.

NSW to fast track approval of large housing plans

The country’s two biggest states are taking steps to speed up the housing approval processes that developers say are holding back new projects.

Hailing shareholders: Lendlease’s outgoing chairman Michael Ullmer, left, CEO Tony Lombardo and incoming chairman John Gillam, right, at the start of the company’s AGM on Friday.

Lendlease avoids ‘second strike’ in crucial AGM showdown

The embattled company averted a vote on a potential board spill by convincing shareholders it was on the right track. Some want more evidence, however.

  • Updated
On the edge: It’s cheaper and quicker to build detached homes on the urban periphery, but that does little to help longer-term affordability or sustainability.

Developers aren’t building apartments – and it’s getting worse

The mix of housing projects coming on stream in the next few years has changed. Apartment construction now looks weaker than even six months ago.

Office property, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, could benefit from the coming boom in AI-related jobs.

AI job growth to fuel demand for 480,000sq m of office space: report

JLL research suggests that by 2030, artificial intelligence will become the second-largest sector in the Australian economy, offering opportunities for office landlords.

Simonds executive chairman Rhett Simonds.

ASX-listed builder slammed over ‘no divvy’ in clash with rival

Simonds’ biggest external shareholder, NEX, lodged a protest vote at the group’s AGM, setting the scene for the rivals to compete head-to-head.

Jamie Crookes.

Student caps threaten accommodation work, builder Richard Crookes says

The family-owned builder reported a deeper loss of $21 million and said the owners gave it a $30 million injection earlier this year.

With a 236-square-metre footprint, the average size of an Australian house in 2020, this country has the biggest houses in the world.

How much does that big house really cost you?

A new exhibition challenges thinking about houses at a time when Australia’s homes are the biggest in the world.

Just 10 metres wide: The Ferrars & York apartment building occupies a 610-square-metre site between a  tram line and a main road in South Melbourne.

How to build housing on urban wasteland

An apartment building sandwiched between a road and railway line has set a new standard for what can be done with once-derelict sites.

Leigh Jasper.

Meet the Australians making money from US real estate

As the dust of the American presidential election settles, a weaker currency and falling prices make luxury property attractive for wealthy foreigners.

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Melbourne house prices have risen by more than two-thirds in a decade.

RBA rate call kicks delayed spring market into next year

The east coast-dominated housing markets have been holding out hope for relief on borrowing costs. None came on Wednesday.

David Di Pilla.

David Di Pilla’s HMC buys into Lifestyle Communities

The company says it’s ‘early days’, and could increase its stake by a further 4.5 per cent in the developer and landlord of affordable housing for downsizers.

The two-bedroom, ground-floor  apartment with no car parking at 2/1 Brookfield Court in Melbourne’s Hawthorn East sold by private treaty for $523,000.

TikTok video sells $523,000 unit, avoiding fees for official listing

A social media walk-through gave potential buyers a real feel for this apartment, without the gloss – or cost to vendor – of advertising on a property portal.

First out of the blocks: Villawood is marketing 12 boutique standalone homes at its Morphettville Racecourse development in Adelaide but says costs need to stabilise before it can sell more moderately priced apartments. 

Rising costs, longer lead times stymie unit sales

Higher construction costs – and longer build times – are holding back the development of cheaper flats, in another blow to housing affordability.

Nathan Dal Bon

Housing Australia’s Dal Bon goes from funding homes to building them

The inaugural head of Australia’s housing funding body has taken a new job with the ACT’s largest community housing provider.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/by/michael-bleby-j67se