The slump in apartment sales may have saved some of Sydney’s older apartment blocks from demolition and replacement by something shiny and new – and apartment owners are calling it a game-changer.

That’s because, instead of speculative developers scouring the streets looking for signs of imminent collapse or just buildings in need of a little TLC, owners are using the same laws that allow for the “forced sale” of old blocks to renovate and renew at little or no cost.