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Games 
While we’re passionate about property we do need to take a break now and then. We relish a bit of fun just as much as the next property nut. True to this spirit we found games with a property spin.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-town-2/id442345455?mt=8" target="_blank">MyTown</a> is a game that turns the real world in a monopoly board. Using the iPhone check-in system you can check-in into properties and decide if you want to buy them. Collect rent as more and more people visit the property. It’s really addictive. You can even make overseas investments as you build your digital empire. Plus it’s free. 
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/real-estate-rumble/id469054082?mt=8" target="_blank">Real Estate Rumble</a> was created as a marketing tool for First National but it’s a fun little game. It’s simple but a good way to kill time waiting for the agent to turn up.
CommBank’s <a href="https://investorville.com.au" target="_blank">Investorville</a> is a real estate investment simulator where potential property investors can get a feel for what the market is like without risking their own money. It takes real world information and brings it into the game to create a realistic investment environment. With each round of the game there are changes to both the market and your personal circumstances that you must take into account. Thankfully the game doesn’t run in real time and the years skip forward in seconds. Good fun and an easy way to get your head around property if you’re a first time investor.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/millionaire-tycoon/id332424440?mt=8" target="_blank">Millionaire Tycoon</a> is a popular game for iPhone users. Inspired by Monopoly this game takes the idea a whole lot further. It’s good fun if you don’t mind the super-kitsch graphics but it does get progressively harder.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tiny-tower/id422667065?mt=8" target="_blank">Tiny Tower</a> is a popular game where you build and manage a city tower. The 8-bit game lets you manage every aspect of your new building as you try and tempt new tenants and balanace the needs of everyone in the building.
Forget Angry Birds, <a href="https://in-deed.net/angry_buyers/" target="_blank">Angry Buyers</a> is essentially the same game but you get to load an estate agent, a property lawyer and a mortgage broker into a canon and fire them at shoddily built houses. Brilliant.
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House hunting
After looking at 16 houses on a home hunt they all start to blend into one another. One starts to forget just what exactly they were looking for and whether that Johnston Street property had two bathrooms, or was one just a toilet? You’re not alone in this frustration and a number of developers have stepped forward with various solutions for this problem.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/home-tracker/id311585587?mt=8" target="_blank">Home Tracker</a> is designed for people looking at multiple properties. It allows you to document each property in detail as you visit it as well as take photos, map properties and E-mail property information. It’s also useful for agents keeping track of multiple new properties. It has a niche and it serves it well. It costs $3.99 through the iTunes app store. 
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/crumbtracks/id393477924?mt=8" target="_blank">CrumbTracks</a> is a similar offering to Home Tracker and is a perfect tool for people looking so many homes they lose track of them all. The app allows you to take photos and videos of properties you’re interested in.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/house-hunter/id445304335?mt=8" target="_blank">House Hunter</a> app helps keep track of properties viewed on a house hunt. It allows you to rate homes on various scales then filter them later through various features. Homes are rated for various attributes which you can prioritise based on your requirements and these are displayed on a scorecard. If your needs are so unique that are not included in their 80 options you can add them yourself. This gives you a quantitative data and keeps you true to your original goals in a house search. It comes with camera and GPS support.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/property-checklist/id446041813?mt=8" target="_blank">Property Checklist</a> – This is a similar idea to House Hunter with a somewhat simpler implementation. While it might not have the range of features available it is a little bit more intuitive to use, offering a simple yes/no checkbox system.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/360-panorama/id377342622?mt=8" target="_blank">360 Panorama</a> is an app for taking 360 degree panoramic photos of whatever you choose. This is ideal for agents showing properties to clients or for buyers capturing the whole detail of houses for later viewing. It’s not perfect and you’ll never get the results of a professional photographer but it does a very good job for a small cost of $0.99.
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Interior Design 
You’ve bought that old crumbling warehouse and it’s time to renovate, but what look do you go for? Interior design takes a huge amount of creativity and there are tools out there to help get your creativity flowing.
<a href="https://www.houzz.com/" target="_blank">Houzz</a> – The days of ripping pages out of magazines to make an interior design ideas scrapbook are over. This app has thousands of photos of any aspect of interior design one can imagine. This may sound like a nightmare to navigate but the developers have made it incredibly easy to bring up photos of exactly what you are after. Design ideas are arranged by keywords and categories and allow you to quickly and easily view hundreds of interior design ideas to inspire the design of your own house.
<a href="https://remodelista.com/" target="_blank">Remodelista</a> is a website of design ideas. There is post after post after post of beautiful content to get you thinking aesthetically. There are some really great ideas here, interspersed with a few naff ones.
<a href="https://www.dulux.com.au/colour/mycolour.aspx" target="_blank">Dulux My Colour</a> app – Take a photo of any colour and find out what the Dulux paint code is. If you want to paint your house the exact same shade of beige as North Richmond train station, just take a photo of it with this app and it’ll tell you what tin of paint to get. It works pretty well, depending on the lighting.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/handy-man-diy/id392541102?mt=8" target="_blank">Handy Man DIY</a> – This app makes DIY projects much simpler. It helps you keep track of projects around a property, provides guides on how to do certain ventures and helps you calculate materials and costs for various the projects. It’s a simple interface, it makes perfect sense and it makes DIY projects that much easier.
This <a href="https://dickson.ljhooker.com.au/selling/selling-checklist" target="_blank">guide from LJ Hooker</a> is a great way to get a quick overview to improve the look of your house and maximise selling price. 
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Juwai
Juwai is an international property listing site that caters exclusively to Mandarin speakers. It’s just recently launched and has more than 1 million property listings from more than 80,000 agents and developers in the USA, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan. It also features guides on living and investing in Australia. It’s entirely in Mandarin and prices are displayed in local currency and Chinese Yuan.
Now it’s not the most beautiful website but the <a href="https://www.firb.gov.au/content/default.asp" target="_blank">foreign investment review board site</a> is required reading for foreign investors in Australia. It includes useful information and application forms for foreign investors.
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Know your agencies
It can be difficult to know which agency to go with when you’re looking to sell or rent your property. They all say they offer great deals and have the most experience in an area. It would be nice to be able to hear how other people found agents and perhaps read a couple of reviews.
<a href="https://ratethatagent.com.au" target="_blank">Rate That Agent</a> is a nice idea but it really lacks the user-base to make it a useful resource. The idea is that once you’ve dealt with a real estate agent, you log on to this website and give them a rating out of five plus a short review. These ratings are then used to rate agents and give sellers some sort of advice on which agents are worth their salt. It’s a nice idea but Property Observer struggled to find any reviews for any agents. It’s a catch-22 – to attract more users it needs a larger user-base.
<a href="https://hometruth.com.au/" target="_blank">Home Truth</a> is another real estate agent rating site but it’s more focussed on renters. Again it suffers from the same problems - there is simply a dearth of reviews. Interestingly it does allow users to review rental properties as well. So on the odd chance someone has reviewed a house or an agent before you move in you can get some warning as to what to expect.
<a href="https://www.productreview.com.au" target="_blank">Product Review</a> is a general review site that has a real estate section. Users reviewing agencies as opposed to individual agents which probably makes the website less prone to defamation law suits as well as a less aggressive atmosphere.
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Landlords and property managers
Landlords often wish to manage properties without the help of an agent. This requires keeping check on rent payments, managing multiple properties, recording communications, finding new tenants and possibly even writing your own contracts.  It’s hard work and not necessarily advised but there are sites and apps out there to help.
<a href="https://www.happyinspector.com/" target="_blank">Happy Inspector</a> - This Australian made app is a simple way to do property inspections very quickly. It takes minimal set-up and allows you to run through properties and generate reports with ease. The software allows you to take photos of damage and keep notes on each property as well as track upcoming and previous inspections.
<a href="https://inventory-pro.co.uk/index.php" target="_blank">Inventory Pro</a> is a similar offering that allows you to take inventories of entire apartment blocks if need be. It has a similar feature set but allows you to take videos as well.
<a href="https://rentmonkey.com.au/" target="_blank">Rent Monkey</a> is a website that automatically creates rental agreements from a series of questions. It works for every state in Australia and is exceptionally simple to use. You should really get the documents sighted by a lawyer just to be on the safe side but it does make renting your own place out much easier. The packs they provide come with all the documents required for your state. So long as your needs aren’t too complicated this is a great website. The site also has an in-depth guide for each state on renting your house out with some solid advice.
<a href="https://gumtree.com.au" target="_blank">Gumtree</a> is a global online classified ad website with localised subsites. If you wish to eschew the whole real estate agency system you can list your own rental property. If you’re looking for a cheap rental property it’s worth having a look on Gumtree. It’s also a great tool for finding house-mates. Anyone can list for free so there’s plenty of options – some better than others. They’ve released an app with a strong function-set.
<a href="https://rentpost.com" target="_blank">RentPost</a> is an innovative piece of property management software. It’s a very easy way to keep track of rent payments, tenant history and property issues. The software works on iPads and iPhones so you can keep track of properties as you go. The cheapest license costs US$9 a month and allows you to track up to 10 properties. The online payment system is currently limited to the USA but there are plans to expand internationally in the second half of 2012.
<a href="https://www.rentingsmart.com/" target="_blank">RentingSmart</a> looks like an exceptionally powerful tool geared towards self-managing landlords. RentingSmart will allow automatic rent payments with full integration with BPAY and bank transfers. They tell us it will help connect landlords with tenants and tradesmen, provide leases, keep track of maintenance issues, expense tracking, condition reports and all this will incorporated into an iPhone application. This could be the be all and end all for self-managing landlords.
<a href="https://pocketrent.com/" target="_blank">Pocket Rent</a> has the same idea but with more of a focus on recording communications with tenants. If you’re running multiple properties it can be a helpful tool to keep track of what issues have been raised which tenants.
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Mortgages 
Visiting a mortgage broker office is a thing of the past with this range of mortgage tools. You can compare mortgage offerings from different banks, calculate loan repayments and see what you can afford.
<a href="https://ratecity.com.au" target="_blank">Rate City</a> allows you to compare home-loans. It stacks banks rates up against each other so you can choose the best value. The site also includes comparisons of savings accounts, credit cards and more so you don’t spend all your money before you even take a loan out.
<a href="https://www.infochoice.com.au" target="_blank">Info Choice</a> is have a similar tool that can compare different loan offerings online.
The <a href="https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/tools-and-resources/calculators-and-tools/mortgage-calculator" target="_blank">ATO has a great tool</a> for calculating how much you can afford to borrow It takes into account your financial situation and possible purchases to give you a realistic amount.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/tapmortgage-australia-mortgage/id402187202?mt=8" target="_blank">tapMortage</a> is a simple app that allows you to calculate mortgage repayments, stamp duty and transfer fees within seconds. It’s perfect for showing clients how much a property will cost them or for working out if a property is within your budget. While not ground-breaking it is a genuinely useful tool. 
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Neighbourhood 
Moving to a new neighbourhood can be an exciting experience but it can take a long time to find out where things are. Where are the good cafes, where are the restaurants, where are the parks, what goes on around here and what’s the arts scene like? There’s no Lonely Planet for <a href="/news">Doncaster East</a> but we do have these multitude of resources to answer these questions.
You should never go to the supermarket on an empty stomach so why should property be any different. You can track down nearby eateries and read reviews to get a solid meal while you’re on the prowl or to work out what’s nearby a possible new home. Having no Thai joint within 2 kilometres could be a deal-breaker.
<a href="https://www.aroundyou.com.au/" target="_blank">Around You</a> is a good website for seeing what sort of events go on in areas. It really thrives with quite suburban suburbs with listings that inner-city publications just seem to miss.
<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/views/home?hl=en-AU&amp;gl=au" target="_blank">Google Streetview</a> is great if you can’t make it to the inspection and just want to have a sticky-beak online. Drive through the suburbs and see if it really is as leafy as the listing makes it sounds. It’s already on the iPhone accessible through the Maps application.
<a href="https://www.urbanspoon.com/c/71/Melbourne-restaurants" target="_blank">Urbanspoon.com</a> is one of our favourite websites and apps we’ve used. It makes discovering places to eat incredibly easy. The user reviews are (usually) quite informative and their price guides are quite accurate. Their app is perfect and we love the idea of shaking the phone and being shown a random selection of nearby restaurants.
<a href="https://www.broadsheet.com.au" target="_blank">Broadsheet</a> is a trendy website which covers the food, drinks and arts scene in Sydney and Melbourne. If you need a place to wine and dine someone or simply a place to eat lunch on the road this website is a treasure trove. They even run an app but it’s currently limited to Melbourne.
<a href="https://thethousands.com.au/" target="_blank">The Thousands</a> are one of the main listings in various cities in Australia. They keep tabs of what’s happening in the arts scenes but we’re including it for its food directory. The app is a good resource for hip local eateries. It works in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
<a href="is.http:/itunes.apple.com/au/app/art-guide-australia/id433116687?mt=8&amp;affToken=56102" target="_blank">Art Guide Australia</a> takes your current location and tells you what exhibitions are on around you. Great if you’re moving into an area with lots of galleries or if you want to see how artsy a new neighbourhood.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/wikihood/id317776221?mt=8&amp;affToken=56102" target="_blank">Wikihood</a> takes your current location and draws a bunch of information from Wikipedia to create a little guide. It’s a great way to learn about a new city and see what’s what.
You can also read The A-Z of property apps: Part one.
             
 
 
 
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The A to Z of property apps: Part two

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There was once a time when the start of a house-hunt was signalled by the quiet chime of the bell over a real estate agent’s door. Things have changed.
Searches that once took weeks can now be done on the train to work. Processes that didn’t seem possible are now every day events.
Progress marches on and almost every aspect of the property market now has an online presence. There is now a website, app or tool for every imaginable facet of real estate.
These make dealing with property easier, faster, more efficient and can help save money. There is so much more to working online than posting ads on big property portals.
There are a multitude of websites, apps and tools to help people buy, sell, market, discover and manage properties – so many that it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the deluge.
The vast legion of online tools available allow one to snoop on property prices, go on holiday, make money, spend money, get price estimates, make plans, break plans, play, hunt and stay up to date.
So many aspects of property have been covered online that Property Observer made this A-Z of online property sites and apps. Here is part one of Property Observer’s favourite online websites and apps, to help you with all aspects of property.
Alerts 
There’s no excuse for missing that perfect property now. Websites will alert you every time a property that fits your criteria pops up. With alerts, you can be the first to know about a new listing before it gets snatched up. The various real estate portals all offer their different flavours of alerts.
<a href="https://domain.com.au" target="_blank">Domain.com.au</a> allows some very specific alerts to be sent. If you have a problem with cemeteries, you can specify homes at least 5km away from them, but within 1km of a park. You can choose to be close to the train station, but away from gaols and power stations. You can search for a home within those constraints, but also make sure you’re only sent three-bedroom properties that have a balcony and a shed within the inner city region. A daily or weekly alert with all these properties is easily set up through their search function. 
<a href="https://realestate.com.au" target="_blank">Realestate.com.au</a> has a similar offering, but it’s not quite as powerful. While Realestate.com.au does have more properties listed, we found the filters on Domain to be more refined. We welcome the environmentally friendly search options such as solar panel and energy efficiency filters, but these are not enough to set it apart from Domain. The email alerts are quite useful however, and you can set up multiple searches to the same address.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/Realestateview.com.au" target="_blank">Realestateview.com.au</a> can also send property alerts. The search feature can’t discriminate properties quite as well as Domain or RealEstate.com.au but the filters are tolerable. However, to save a search listing you must create an account or sign in with Facebook.
Alongside these portal websites, most individual real estate agency websites have the ability to send alerts on specific searches. If there are just two or three agencies active in your area it might be better to subscribe to their individual alerts.
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Augmented Reality
It can often be quite hard to visualise the vast reams of data available online. You can easily access 20 pages of hard data on a suburb and come away without a clear idea of what things are worth in an area. This is where augmented reality comes into play.
Augmented reality is a relatively recent development where real world information is overlayed over a camera’s output. It pulls information from the web based on your location and superimposes it over whatever you point the camera at.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/commbank-property-guide/id375054462?mt=8" target="_blank">CommBank Property Guide</a> uses this free technology to overlay past sales history, current property listings and recent sales over a real world view through the iPhone’s camera. They say it works on more than 95 per cent of residential properties in Australia but Property Observer has found some of their data lacking. It takes its information from RP Data and realestate.com.au.
If you don’t have any luck with Commbank’s app try the free <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/anz-property-tracker/id393053333?mt=8" target="_blank">ANZ Property Tracker</a>. It has a similar feature-set but pulls its data from Fairfax’s domain.com.au and Australian Property Monitors. Again, it’s a great idea, but we found it to be a little less than perfect.
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Banks
If you’re buying property, you’re going to have to deal with a bank at some point. It’s just how these things work. The banks all have their various online offerings and some have some quite nifty apps.
<a href="https://www.anz.com" target="_blank">ANZ</a> have been lauded for their latest mobile banking effort. The ANZ goMoney app is a simple to use but quite powerful app. It has a great new development where you can pay someone just with their phone number, which ANZ markets as an easy way to split bills. If you’re torn between ANZ and another offering, this app might be a deciding factor. Their website isn’t quite as slick but it’s a solid offering.
The <a href="https://commbank.com.au/" target="_blank">Commonwealth Bank</a> website has all the usual features, with quite an intuitive front page. Their website has the usual features. The page isn’t too cluttered but still has quick access to quite a few useful tools.
They’ve just launched a new mobile banking app that’s got a few people excited. Its claim to fame? It makes paying people incredibly easy. The app even lets you pay for drinks at a bar simply by waving your phone over a Mastercard PayPass terminal, which are gradually being rolled out across Australian businesses. Take note, this option does require buying an iCarte iPhone case. This latest app is a huge improvement over their earlier efforts.
<a href="https://www.stgeorge.com.au/" target="_blank">St Georges Bank</a>’s mobile banking app has a good reputation. It was frequently regarded as the best mobile banking offering until ANZ released goMoney and Commonwealth released their new app. The website is strictly utilitarian and doesn’t have too many flashy banners to divert your attention.
<a href="https://www.westpac.com.au/" target="_blank">Westpac</a>’s website does have quite a lot of information online. If you feel like a bit of light reading, they do regularly release economic updates, including information on the property market. Their mobile banking app is a well made piece of software and is regularly updated.
<a href="https://www.nab.com.au/" target="_blank">NAB</a>'s website has quite easily accessible information on their home loan offerings. In fact most of their website is quite intuitive. Their app is a standard issue banking app that does that job reasonably well.
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Calculators
Real estate is all about money, and money needs maths – sometimes, quite complicated maths. Thankfully, there are some kind souls out there that make these things easier, with a range of intuitive calculators for smart phones.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/tapmortgage-australia-mortgage/id402187202?mt=8" target="_blank">tapMortgage</a> is an Australian made app to calculate stamp duty, transfer fees, first home concessions and more. It hasn’t been updated since August 2011, but it's a great tool to calculate mortgage costs.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/real-estate-master-iiix/id398247923?mt=8" target="_blank">Real Estate Master IIIx</a> is a calculator for estate agents. It allows you to calculate mortgage insurance, amortization, FHA, ARMs, rent/buy comparisons and more. It can do just about any calculation a real estate agent might need to do. There are videos on Youtube to help with the more complicated sums one can do with the app.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/property-evaluator-real-estate/id335518202?mt=8" target="_blank">Property Evaluator</a> is an iPad app that gives comprehensive estimates on property costs and returns for investors. It allows you to input every imaginable piece of financial data about a property and then crunch the numbers to give estimated returns over the next 30 years. It’s a useful tool and might be instrumental in demonstrating the real value of a property.  This comprehensive app allows you to graph and table all the generated information and email this on. It’s not designed purely for the Australian audience so there may be a couple of hiccups along the way, but for basic projections the app works well.
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Depreciation
Depreciation is an easy way to claim some money come tax time but it’s often regarded as a bit of a mystery area with property – but no longer.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/wb-dep-calc/id448589647?mt=8" target="_blank">Washington Brown Tax Depreciation Calculator</a> calculates the tax depreciation of a property. Under Australian tax rules, investors can claim the depreciation of their investment properties against their taxable income. If it’s something you find yourself doing quite often, this app might come in handy.
<a href="https://www.aiqs.com.au" target="_blank">The Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors</a> is the national professional standards organisation for quantity surveyors. It’s a good resource for finding a local professional to help you with all your quantity surveying needs including depreciation.
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Environmental Concerns
Houses are designed to take the occupiers out of the elements and put them into a safe place, but you can’t just ignore the environment. Real estate affects the environment, and conversely, the environment affects real estate. There are tools out there to help make homes more sustainable and liveable. A big part of living in Australia, especially in rural areas, is the threat of natural disasters. So we’ve included a series of tools that inform users about risks associated with the Australian environment.
<a href="https://www.ecoeasy.com/index" target="_blank">Eco Easy Home </a>is a new Australian app that grades the environmental credentials of a property. It allows users to rate their home on a number of factors through its clean interface. The app allows users to work out the orientation of a home and the future sun paths around a property. The app is full of drawings, diagrams and helpful information to assess a home. The rating system is based on a system used by architect Gareth Cole and NSW councils. The app is useful for vendors hoping to spruik the environmental credentials of a home and buyers looking to discriminate between various choices. Overall, its a very comprehensive app aimed at Australian usage. There is an iPad edition coming somewhere down the line.
<a href="https://www.liveability.com.au/" target="_blank">Liveability.com.au</a> is an online resource for owners, renters and landlords on living sustainably. The site publishes advice on how to make property more environmentally friendly.
Our country is prone to disasters. Sometimes nature decides to shake things up a bit. When investing in a new area, especially in more remote or rural areas, it’s important to know what to expect.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/disasterwatch/id484402725?mt=8" target="_blank">Disasterwatch</a> is the ultimate app for the perpetually nervous. Created by the Australian Emergency Management Institute, this app gives real time updates and warnings on all possible disasters in Australia. You can check fire safety warnings before deciding on buying that nice house in the bush.
<a href="https://home.iprimus.com.au/foo7/menu" target="_blank">Romsey Australia</a> is well worth a read. It catalogues the history, threats and nature of areas all around Australia. It’s the work of an independent organisation who disseminate freely available information in an easily digestible form. It’s not the most beautiful site but it’s a favourite of ours.
Queensland really copped a beating in 2011. People died and many homes suffered severe flood damage especially around Brisbane. It was a tragic time but what happens now? How do you know if a home for sale suffered flood damage. It might look fine but there could be rot lurking beneath. Or if it was rebuilt, how can do you know if it’s in a flood prone area. These tools will help.
<a href="https://flood.brisbane.qld.gov.au/floodwise_property_report/" target="_blank">FloodWise Property Report</a>: If you’re buying in Brisbane this government run website has flood history of all Brisbane areas. Sometimes agents don’t volunteer flood information so it’s best to check this website first. Given the recent floods this really is a sensible idea when buying in Brisbane.
<a href="https://pdonline.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/masterview/modules/propertymaster/default.aspx?page=home" target="_blank">Planning and Development Online</a>: This is a similar tool for the Cold Coast. You can search by property address and check for flood reports. Without this tool it might not be immediately apparent that a property is prone to flooding.
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Floor Plans
We have no time for people who post online real estate listings without floor-plans. Impress people and make friends by producing your own floor plans with one of these great tools. Your clients will love you.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/magicplan/id427424432?mt=8" target="_blank">MagicPlan</a> allows you to automatically create a floor plan of a house within minutes just by taking photos. Walk around a property with your phone and take photos of every corner in the house and it will automatically create a floor plan. One of the few genuinely ground-breaking apps, and free, this is great news for agents or buyers when there are no floor plans available.
<a href="https://floorplanner.com/" target="_blank">FloorPlanner</a> is a powerful online tool for creating easy floor plans and furniture placement. You can add floorplans from possible purchases and see how your furniture fits in. Brilliant. As of May 7, they have added an iPad app.
<a href="mailto:news@propertyobserver.com.au" target="_blank">news@propertyobserver.com.au</a>
 
 
 
 
 
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The A to Z of property apps: Part one

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Apartment building approvals in South Brisbane increased three-fold over the past year as it pushed ahead as the fastest growing suburbs in Brisbane following intense urban renewal investment.
Residential building approvals increased from 151 in 2010/11 financial year to 744 in 2012/13,1 according to research firm Urbis.
Its projected growth rate is 5.6% with almost 10,000 people predicted to move in by 2031.
The suburb has been the site of massive public spending with $4.1 billion of infrastructure spending over the past years, including the Southbank Activity Precinct, the Queensland Cultural Centre, the Southbank Institute of Technology, the Queensland Children’s Hospital, the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre and an expanding Business and Office Precinct.
There is another $1.2 billion planned for the near future.
Urbis says loose planning controls have contributed to the explosion in apartment building.
“The Brisbane City Council recognised the area’s unique attributes and introduced a Neighbourhood Plan in 2011 that loosened the previously restrictive planning controls and in doing so gave industry what it requires for major investment decisions – an increased yield potential and certainty through code assessable development that is quarantined from competitor or public appeals,” Urbis director Stephen Buhmann writes.
He says the population growth forecasts suggest the building boom will continue in the 2020s.
“This implies that the recent burst in approvals is not just a one-off.  Rather, it is the start of a continuing phase of development that is expected to run for well over a decade.”
Aria Property Group is one of the developers taking advantage of the building explosion with the June completion of its Russell apartment building which just achieved full rental occupancy.
The 56-unit development sold mostly to local investors and local owner-occupiers, three weeks after coming to market.
{yoogallery src=[images/stories/2013/12/16/south]}
The Rothelowman White designed building won the Urban Development Institute of Australia Queensland’s 2013 prize in the urban renewal category.
“Urban renewal is important because it reduces the need for urban sprawl and cleans up parts of the city which have previously been used for industrial and commercial activities,” says Aria’s Michael Hurley.
“It is vital that these projects are designed to be complimentary to surrounding environments, to be consistent with existing infrastructure and to still be relevant in 10 or 15 years time.”
“When we started on Vine, South Brisbane had not seen any significant residential development from 2008 to 2012. There had been 10,000 office workers that moved into South Brisbane during that five year period.
“And with little or no residential units having been delivered in that same time period, an undersupply of housing occurred. Vacancy rates were the lowest in Brisbane at 1.4%, which was driving rental yields up. Well located, quality residential units have been long overdue in the market.”
<a target="_blank" href="mailto:awalsh@propertyobserver.com.au">awalsh@propertyobserver.com.au</a>
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South Brisbane's apartment explosion comes with urban renewal

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Consolidating multiple debts into a mortgage is not necessarily the ideal way to manage your finances, according to mortgage broker firm Smartline.
“It’s very uncommon for someone with a home loan to get into financial trouble,” Smartline Director Joe Sirianni says. “Unless they get sick and can’t work or they lose their job, it’s unusual for that to happen. “It’s when people have a home loan, two credit cards, an interest free loan and a car loan – that’s when they start getting into real financial trouble as having to service all these debts proves increasingly expensive and stressful.”
Consolidating that debt into your mortgage is an option only if there’s enough equity in the property, says Smartline adviser Shawn French.
 “It’s not something you can keep on doing – your house isn’t a limitless ATM, particularly in light of the flat property prices experienced in recent years,” French says.
 “This isn’t a problem faced just by people on certain levels of income. It’s a problem for anyone who consistently spends more money than they earn and it’s something that most mortgage brokers regularly see.”
They advise people to set goals and priorities to avoid the temptations of spending too much money; to have a budget; to work out the true cost of things like making your own lunch; to save for things rather than pay on credit card; to pay for things with cash and to structure your finances.
Someone with a $350,000 mortgage at 5.25% for 30 years could shave more than seven years off their loan by buying a $15 lunch and coffee just once a week instead of five and diverting the savings to their mortgage.
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Consolidation of debt is not necessarily ideal: Smartline

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How do you build a house in 30 seconds? Just order a house from JAYZ Building Solutions, press a button on the included remote and up your house goes.
The Australian firm is selling transportable homes that it claims can be erected in just 30 seconds.
It’s marketing its Instaslide series of homes which fit inside a standard shipping container and can be unfurled at the flick of a switch.
{qtube vid:=YOpBI3qRi74} 
“These products are amazing,” says JAYZ’s Jackson Yin.
“At a touch of the button on the remote control these units can be installed in 30 seconds absolutely labor free.”
There is:
<ul>
<li>a 50 square metre, four-bedroom, four-bathroom option;</li>
<li>a 25 square metre one-bedroom, one-bathroom, one-kitchen option;</li>
<li>and a 50 square metre office option;</li>
</ul>
They have a 6-Star energy rating and are able to withstand earthquakes up to a magnitude of 7.6 and D2 cyclones – winds of 270 kilometres per hour.
They can delivered on a normal truck and unloaded with a forklift.
The company supplies mining companies around Australia with transportable accommodation.
They also supply the Butterfly range of fold out homes which take four hours to assemble but are easy to stack together.
{yoogallery src=[images/stories/2013/12/10/30sec]}
This year JAYZ was able to quickly build a supermarket in an Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory by joining multiple Butterfly units together.
In the Butterfly series a 40-foot container expands to 82 square metres of living space - to triple its normal size, while a 20-foot container expands to 42 square metres.
They come with exterior lighting, laminated bamboo flooring, taps and sinks, smoke detectors, a toilet, bathrooms and kitchens and optional air-conditioning. They are fully plumbed and wired.
Jackson Yin says they hope to market the homes to the general public in the near future.
“We look forward to some larger order but eventually we hope to do retail orders. I hope it’s coming in very soon.”
Yin says they could be priced at substantially less than $1,500 per square metre.
<img alt="30-second-home" height="294" width="470" src="/images/stories/2013/12/10/30-second-home.png">
Other things you can do in 30 seconds
? Swim 50 metres backwards, if you're an Olympic athlete
? Drive from standing to 300mph, if you're in the Acabion GTBO (below)
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/DAyp6vk.jpg" width="470">
? Have your car stolen, if you left it unlocked. Lock it or lose it.
? Make Nachos in the microwave, courtesy of the South Australia based company Mexican Express (below)
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/OAC4vkW.jpg" width="470">
? Pull the tops off 65 pinapples, if you're this bloke (below)
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/CXrHqno.jpg" width="470">
? Flush your outboard motor out with revolutionary product, Salt-Away.
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/lrftVjw.jpg">
<a target="_blank" href="mailto:awalsh@propertyobserver.com.au">awalsh@propertyobserver.com.au</a>
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How to build a home in 30 seconds

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Auctioneers have a very public role – every Saturday they’re out trying to sell as much property as possible. It takes a lot of confidence and a lot of preparation.

Property Observer spent one Saturday with Steve Burke and Nicholas Goold from Hocking Stuart Glen Iris to get a behind-the-scenes look at the life of an auctioneer. We were able to see how auctioneers coax people in to bidding higher and, if an auction passes in, how they negotiate with vendors and buyers to secure the highest price possible.

In this episode of Day in the life we follow Steve Burke to the auction of <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-townhouse-vic-camberwell-115340459">1B Cooloongatta Road Camberwell</a> (pictured below the video), a three-bedroom townhouse.

A similar property next door sold for $871,000 last month and Burke is hoping to beat that. But he has to contend with a limited number of interested bidders and a potentially unrealistic vendor.

The negotiations get quite tense and there are lessons to be learned on how to act in such circumstances.

Burke and Goold remind us it’s a complex job that’s not suited for everyone but a job that can do vendors wonders.
{qtube vid:=wt6PdCNBPmU&amp;feature=youtu.be}
 
{yoogallery src=[images/stories/2013/12/05/cam]}
Photos: 1B Cooloongatta Road Camberwell


(Satur)Day in the life

9:00: Arrive at office and start preparation for the days auctions

9:30 Call around to make sure all interested parties will be at the auction

10:00 Leave for the auction and meet the clients

10:45 Auction starts

11:00 Auction ends and negotiations start

12:00 Negotiations finish and time to celebrate then finalise paperwork

13:00 Head to the next auction to repeat the process



Transcript

It’s a November Saturday in Glen Iris and potential property buyers are out in force, attending and bidding at auction. It’s the modern day battlefield for today’s property buyers. I’m speaking with auctioneers Steve Burke and Nick Goold as they take a number of properties to auction. 

I’m Steve Burke from Hocking Stuart Glen Iris, the director here at the company and I’m very excited to have a chat today. We have got a busy day ahead, we have five auctions scheduled today. I’m looking forward out there today in a very strong market and getting some bidding and some very good results for our clients.

My name is Nicholas Goold. I’m a sales exectuve and auctioneer here at Glen Iris as well.

I think it’s seen very much as a glamorous industry. People just see the public side when people are handing out brochues, people are bidding and it’s all very exciting. People drive up in flashy cars. But there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes and that is a lot of administration work, a lot telephone calls, a lot of prospecting. Before you actually get to auction day it can be a two or three year journey.

It certainly takes a specific set of skills and a personality type. Not everyone wants to do it, not everyone is comfortable doing it because you’re a big advertisement for the agency and for the company itself. 

We’re driving out to 1B Coolangatta Road Camberwell. It’s a three bedroom townhouse which has been on the market for four weeks with 55 groups coming through. Two or three of those have come back for a second look and Steve’s hoping they’ll be bidding today.

Real estate is all about comparing apples with apples and recently next door sold for $871,000 with another agent so that’s our agent and wer’e certainly hoping to achieve a better result than that today.

There’s a lot of people here today but not many serious bidders. Steve has to try his best to coax bids out of a reluctant crowd. The vendor’s reserve is $908,000. Slightly unrealistic given next door sold for just $871,000.

*Auction*

After a few minutes and another vendor bid of $850,000, it passes in to the young couple for $860,000, well below the vendor’s reserve. Steve must now work to get the two to meet in the middle. The vendor is upstairs in the second bedroom as Steve negotiates at the kitchen table. 

This is where the skills of an auctioneer really come into play. It’s a tense situation for the vendor. Steve knows these were one of the few genuinely interested bidders at the auction. Next door sold not that long ago, but that price was pushed up by a bidding war between this couple and the eventual buyer. With their competition out of the way the couple know they’re in a strong position.

We’re just giving the purchasers a few minutes chance – breathing space to work out what they’re prepared to pay and the vendor the same. And we’re looking to see if we can bring the two parties together. We’re being summoned inside.

*Negotiations*

It’s a very emotional decision for our vendors. We’ve now got an offer of $875,000 and our vendor has come to $880,000 in price. So we’re $5000 away. This is the job of the agent to bring the parties together. And let’s hope we can get a sale sticker up very shortly. 

The talks go back and forth for some time, But it seems Steve has pushed the couple as far as he can and they’re standing up to leave the table. This is Steve’s last chance to secure a sale today. He speaks to the vendor one last time with a final offer of $877,500.

*Deal accepted*

It took a lot of back and forth but Steve was able to secure a deal that’s kept both parties more than happy.

The vendor and her recently graduated son will move out after settlement and this young couple can start their new life in Camberwell. For everyone involved it’s time to celebrate.

*Toast*

Basically we’ve got an opportunity to sell her property for her today. A cash unconditional contract which means there’s no cooling off or it’s not subject to finance or any such means. As a result we were able to bring the parties together. It was very close, in percentage terms, to what she actually wants. She had a bit of council from her friends and common sense prevailed. Well done.
<a href="mailto:awalsh@propertyobserver.com.au" target="_blank">awalsh@propertyobserver.com.au</a>
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Day in the life of an auctioneer - Walking the negotiation tightrope

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Sydney’s online property listings increased 12.8% over November to 27,840 properties as the spring selling season hits late.
But Sydney property listings are still 13.4% down from the same time last year.
In Melbourne listings are up 10.7% for the month, down just 0.2% for the year and in Canberra listings are 11.5% up for the month, down 4.2% for the year.
“The spring selling season has hit later in the year than usual, with a market uptick in sales listings – especially in Sydney,” SQM says.
It stands by its September forecast that Sydney would lead the way in terms of a house price recovery but that this would not necessarily be the case for all capital cities, particularly Canberra.
“No doubt, the disruption of the election in September created a lag effect in listings which is coming through now so it is no surprise listings had a large jump in November,” SQM’s Louis Christopher says.
“Plus, we also had five weekends during the month which added to our monthly counts. Seasonally, listing activity is very strong in the later spring months and is the prime reason why there has been a dip in auction clearance rates in recent weeks. So for now I am not concerned about any new slowdown in the market.”
Meanwhile Sydney property services providers are reporting continuing eagerness among Sydney property buyers.
Ramon Mitchell from Intelligent Property Services says two recent sales demonstrate just how strong the Sydney market is.
“To point out the level of growth and eagerness of some buyers to secure their ideal property we can look at the recent sales of two adjoining semi-detached homes in Marrickville,” Mitchell says.
The properties <a href="https://www.domain.com.au/Property/Sold/House/NSW/Marrickville/?adid=2010796046">54 Frampton Avenue</a> (a 287 square metre block) and <a href="https://www.domain.com.au/Property/Sold/House/NSW/Marrickville/?adid=2010667756">56 Frampton Avenue</a> (a 292 square metre block)  are both very nicely presented Victorian Semis with two bedrooms, single bathroom and parking for two cars each via rear lane access.
According to Mitchell, 56 Frampton Avenue sold for $900,000 on the 21st of September and just two months later, the adjoining 54 Frampton Avenue sold for $1 million.
“On as close to an ‘apples with apples’ comparison, dare we suggest that this represents a market movement of 11% in just two months?  While this may seem dramatic, in areas such as Sydney’s inner west, it is, much to the chagrin of many buyers, closer to reality than many might like,” Mitchell says.
“Across the city, and with the Christmas break approaching, buyers are becoming increasingly eager to wrap up their long and exhaustive property search and wind down for the holiday period.
“With the prevailing low interest rates we are seeing buyers paying a premium just to get their foot in the door and we expect the frenetic buying activity to carry right the way up to the Christmas break. We’re seeing agents catering to this by way of auctions scheduled for as late as 21th December whereas, traditionally, most agents would aim to finalise campaigns no later than the first or second weekend of December.”
<a href="mailto:awalsh@propertyobserver.com.au" target="_blank"> </a>
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Sydney listings surge in pre-Christmas rush

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With economists predicting official interest rate rises next year and banks starting raise their fixed rates, we spoke to mortgage experts to ask if now is the right time to moved your mortgage to a fixed rate.
 
Shane Oliver – Head of investment strategy and chief economist, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ampcapital.com.au/?">AMP Capital</a> <img style="float: right;" alt="shane-oliver-profile" src="/images/stories/2013/10/25/shane-oliver-profile.jpg" height="150" width="125">
FIX FOR THREE YEARS
The best thing to do is fix when interest rates are at a low level. Some people make the mistake of only fixing after interest rates have been up for a while and they find they are locked in at the top. Right now we’re either at or close to the bottom of the interest rate cycle so it does make sense to start to lock in a relatively low interest rate.
Soon the cycle will start to go back up again and it will get more expensive to lock in as interest rates go up. In fact some banks have already increased interest rates – a month ago a few of them raised interest rates. They’re still at relatively low levels, and given the fixed rates at the moment are fairly close to the variable rates, you’re looking somewhere in the 5% to 5.5% zone depending on the sort of deal you get in that range. It makes sense to lock in now because the question a borrower needs to ask is what they think the variable rate will average over the rate they might fix. At the moment you can lock in for three years somewhere at 5 and 5.5%, depending on the bank. The likelihood is the rates will average above that over the next three years so you might end up paying a little bit more initially but over the course of three years you’ll probably find the variable rate will go up again and average more than they are at the moment.
I think the best deals are around two to three years. I’d probably lock in around there rather than the five year rates as they tend to be somewhat more expensive. What we have seen in the economy this year is longer term borrowing costs start to rise. We’re still quite low but as those longer term borrowing costs start to rise as evidenced by rising government bond deals it will eventually start to put upwards pressure on fixed mortgage rates. And there’s also signs that the interest rate cycle will turn up more generally and the reserve bank will follow that. It does make sense to lock in. But it’s always the case not to do the whole lot. If you fix the lot you’re locked in if you want to pay some of it off in a hurry it’s often a bit harder and can work against you. And if you fix a portion of it then in the off-chance interest rates fall then you can lock the rest in. It’s probably best to do it on a partial basis rather than fix the whole lot.
 
Lisa Montgomery - Chief executive officer,  <a target="_blank" href="https://www.resi.com.au/">Resi </a><img style="float: right;" alt="Lisa-Montgomery-profile" height="150" width="125" src="/images/stories/2013/11/15/Lisa-Montgomery-profile.png">
FIX A PORTION FOR ONE TO THREE YEARS
That downward trend of rates in the fixed space looks like it’s hit its bottom and it probably did that around six to eight weeks ago. Since then we’ve seen an increase in mainly the three and five year rates of about 20 to 30 basis points. For those people who have been looking for the lowest point in the market I’d suggest they may have missed that. However there are still some excellent rates out there in the fixed space and a lot of people are still looking to do that given there have been a few murmurings about rates increasing next year. Probably not in the first quarter of next year but there’s the potential of that trend changing and rates rising into 2014 is a real prospect and so fixed rates are still appealing to borrowers.
So there are some great deals out there in the one, three and five year spaces. But five years is a really long time to fix your rate in. If you’re looking to fix in then maybe you’re looking at that one and three year period. But only if you’re looking for the certainty and you’re really looking for that stability because there are still some really good rates in the variable space and those rates have gone downwards since November 2011 and we saw some great rates in the variable space. But of course fixed rates have been very popular as we’ve seen many folks taking up these opportunities.
Fixing in some and leaving the rest variable is a good option. That means you’re not placing the entire loan amount into a fixed arrangement and you’re keeping a bit more flexibility in the variable portion of the loan and hedging your bets along the way. That option has been very popular with borrowers and will probably remain to be until next year.
Article continues on next page. Please click below.
 
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Alex Parsons - Chief executive officer, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ratecity.com.au">RateCity</a> <img style="float: right;" alt="alex-parsons-profiel" height="150" width="125" src="/images/stories/2013/11/15/alex-parsons-profiel.png">
FIX A PORTION OF THE LOAN
The banks’ three, four and five year fixed rates are moving up. Their perspective is interest rates are going to increase over time. On that basis after the last couple of years of a downward cycle we are bottoming out. And we are at the start of an upward cycle. The RBA put out another .25 drop in August, I don’t think they’re be a change early next year downwards. We’re at historic lows, the historic average for variable is around the 7% mark, we’re at least two percentage points below that.
One year fixed rates are still really competitive, there’s no doubt about that. I guess the average property buyer overlooks the fact they don’t need to have all their eggs in one basket. They can fix a portion of their loan and have a portion of it variable. It’s up to them. I do that myself. On the basis of that you have your feet in both camps. If one moves wildly you can only be half wrong.
The only risk is if there’s another quarter percent drop today or in February. Risk is not binary there’s a spectrum of risk and the spectrum of risk for fixing is relatively low. You’re not going to fix today on 5% for example and then have rates drop another 100 basis points. The risk is lower now than it has been in the past or will be in the future.
The banks all employ serious economists and they adjust their rates on the basis of internal analysis. When you start to see longer term fixed rates go up, you’ve got to think that’s their perspective. You look at their record and they make massive amounts of profits. Three, four and five year fixed rates have been moving up over the past few months.
 
Ross Le Quesne - Mortgage broker,  <a style="font-size: 14px;" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.aussie.com.au/%E2%80%8E">Aussie Home Loans<img style="max-width: 480px; float: right;" width="113" height="150" alt="laquesne-profile" src="/images/stories/2013/11/01/laquesne-profile.jpg"></a>
FIX FOR THREE YEARS
Definitely fix. A lot of my investors are fixing now. A lot of them are getting fairly good yields right now, around 6-7%, so they’re looking at locking in that yield. Rates are the bottom of the cycle. Three year fixed year rates have moved up .2% so it looks like we’re at the bottom. A lot of my investors carry quite a bit of debt because they have a number of properties. For example if someone has 1.5 million in debt and rates rise 1.5% that’s an extra $22,500 of net income they have to come up with. It’s a risk minimisation to fix. Over the next two to three years you know where your cash flow sits and by doing that you’re going to be covered if rates were to rise.
It’s proven we’re at the bottom of the market seeing the three rates have just bounced off the bottom. If you look at the history of interest rates since the GFC, the lowest rates were around 4.99%. As Mark Twain said, history doesn’t repeat itself but it does rhyme. If you look where we are it’s rhyming at the moment. It’s just come off the low which means we are at the bottom of the market. If you’re looking to lock then there’s no better time than now, or even better two months ago.
I deal with a lot of investors; with owner occupier it’s different. For an owner occupier, I’d say part fixed part variable. For owner occupiers their goals are to pay their loan off as quickly as possible and have the flexibility of a variable rate. For investors I say fix 100%, for owner occupiers definitely partially fix, maybe at 70/30 or 50/50.
Article continues on next page. Please click below.
 
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Jessica Darnbrough - Spokesperson, <a href="https://www.mortgagechoice.com.au/%E2%80%8E" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" style="font-size: 14px;">Mortgage Choice</a><img src="/images/stories/2013/12/03/jessica-profile-small.png" alt="jessica-profile-small" height="150" width="125" style="max-width: 480px; float: right;">
SPEAK TO YOUR BROKER
Ultimately, I shouldn’t say one way or the other. Fixed rates are very competitive at the moment, if people are looking to fix in then now is a good time to do so. Interest rates are going up from here; it’s probably as low as it’s going to be.
Whatever they feel comfortable with is best at the end of the day. It’s very popular for both owner occupiers and investors right now, so have a chat to your broker and your advisor and see what situation you're most comfortable with.
We see that three year rates are most popular among fixed rates, that’s what people tend to go for – it’s not too long or too short. But before fixing really weigh up your options.
Rates are arguably going to rise from here at some point in the future. But our variable rates at the moment are so competitive, it might be the case you feel more comfortable in a variable rate. Do whatever you feel most comfortable with. If you do need so surety around your finances then now would be a good time to fix.
<a target="_blank" href="mailto:awlash@propertyobserver.com.au">awlash@propertyobserver.com.au</a>
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Should you fix your mortgage now? The experts have their say

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Investors should look for units in residential towers which have a sense of community about them, according to architects.
Hayball director Rob Stent says towers that build a sense of community retain their value better than other more bland developments.
One tower he designed six years ago now includes heavily booked communal facilities, multiple book reading clubs, dining clubs and networking meetings.
He describes it as a vertical neighbourhood where people have a sense of belonging and community which makes the building sought after.
“Being sought after retains the values and has a higher sense of owner pride. It's a self-perpetuating thing,” Stent told Property Observer.
“Having a building with the right settings you have the value retained. That's what developers that have a longer term perspective on brand and investors with a longer term eye to increased capital values should be having a look at.”
Australian apartment dwellers are more and more looking at shared spaces as a way to offset the space constraints of unit living.
Head of architecture at Monash, Diego Ramírez-Lovering, says Australian residents are becoming more and more used to communal living.
“In Australia it's not quite Sweden where 10 families will happily share a kitchen. It may get there one day,” Ramírez-Lovering says.
Also important is the concept of a 20-minute neighbourhood where people can walk to most places they need to go.
“This issue of the surroundings is an incredibly important issue; we see a lot of people moving out to the fringes buying a house and land package which is relatively affordable,” Ramírez-Lovering says.
“But they then spend a fortune on commuting all around town for employment and recreation and so on. I would say the key is to try and get these clusters of activity so you don't have to go too far.”
They were speaking to Property Observer from Synergy Property’s Nord development, in North Melbourne, a site with a Walk Score of 93.
Hayball has been working on the project for two years and marketing for the project is just underway.
The development includes units of three-bedroom configurations which Ramírez-Lovering says is an increasingly important part of new developments in Melbourne.
“There is a situation in Melbourne with higher density living that has resulted in sub-standard new apartments of impossible size up to 32 square metres and blind bedrooms,”  Ramírez-Lovering says.
“You can understand how the market gets to that point but it's interesting to understand that as we shift to a more intense and dense city and apartments become the norm and have much more diverse households living in them.
“Having apartments that are adequately sized that provide great amenity is so crucial.”
Stent says anecdotal evidence shows renters are less interested in lower quality unit stock now.
“Agents say they’ve never been so busy at painting and carpeting these old style apartments. They're no longer sought after. People are making the choice if they’re renting to go somewhere else that has more amenity or comfort or interior style and quality.”
{qtube vid:=C_G1HxDUK2M}
 
Transcript
I'm very interested as to how we're going to as architects really engage in a really meaningful way in terms of the challenges that are facing our community. We're going to be faced with enormous challenges - the aging population; the productivity commission news is alarming. That's been there for some time. People should be aware of it. How are we going to provide the housing and healthcare for an aging population which will be a significant part of the population with a diminished tax base. Look at the figures in terms of in Melbourne there's 2030 looking to be 6-7 million, recent ABS just released. Our increasingly diverse population is very different to what it was 15-20 years AGO. With not only our ethnic diversity but our demographic diversity in terms of also household configurations. Single households are the fastest growing households in Australia - what that means for housing. We're starting to see evidence the house and land package on the fringe is no longer appealing to many people. There’s still a lot of housing of that nature being build but there’s a need to provide alternative means of housing to satisfy diversity.
Developers that are in tune with those changes increasingly focus on providing a range of housing and not just sticking to the same old. The ones which will be adaptable and ready to meet the changes will be successful. Those that do the same old same old will be less successful because it's been a very simple process.
From investor’s point of view, if they're looking at a development they need to look at those sorts of developments through these eyes. Who’s out there that’s going be giving them the bigger market, that's a much broader market more diverse market than in Australia's history. It is a diverse population now. I n terms of where investors look they'll have to look at our society. That's having a number of attributes in the apartments. Whether there's flexibility in terms of apartments, spatially, what else it offers to provide an opportunity that you can't find in your apartment because of size constraints because of the commercial constraints that you would have augment. For example a playground or a playroom or spaces where you can have a party of have friends and family around.
We did the development some time ago with about 400 apartments, about six years old now. It’s born out in terms of what can emerge in terms in communities in a vertical scale. It has heavily booked communal facilities, there's 3-4 book reading clubs in the building, dining clubs, a whole series of networks and meetings in the building. It’s like a vertical neighbourhood. People do have the sense of belonging and community which makes buildings sought after. Being sought after retains there values and has a higher sense of owner pride. It's a self-perpetuating thing. Having a building with the right settings you have the value retained. That's what developers that have a longer term perspective brand and investors with a longer term eye to increased capital values should be having a look at.
In Australia it's not quite Sweden where 10 families will happily share a kitchen. It may get there one day but the interesting thing is to look at is what’s more successfully with sharing, or less successful. In one of your buildings I looked at, one of the key locations for sharing was the laundry. That makes so much sense because it's student housing. However this notion about rethinking our preconceptions about sharing are. There can be much more sharing than there is now on the other hand not all sharing works. Private open space is held dear dear by the population. That will shift over time. This issue of the surroundings is an incredibly important issue; we see a lot of people moving out to the fringes buying a house and land package which is relatively affordable. But they then spend a fortune on commuting all around town for employment and recreation and so on. I would say the key is to try and get these clusters of activity so you don't have to go too far. That is challenging because the housing usually comes first and services follows. I think that's a flawed model. There are different ways to think about it in alternative ways.  A notion that a house might not just be a house but it might be your office. It might not just be for your immediate family. It might be possible to sell or rent a portion of your house if circumstances change. So Thinking about housing because there is so much of it particularly in middle and outer suburbs, in ways which acknowledges all these changes function in much more flexible ways to accurate these things because the services very often take a long time to get there.
I live in Richmond. We’ve got a great deal of diversity just in our street. Our neighbours are three two-storey 60s built flats. There's leasing boards on them all the time. According to agents they say they’ve never been so busy at painting and carpeting these old style apartments. They're no longer sought after. People are making the choice if they’re renting to go somewhere else that has more amenity or comfort or interior style and quality. People need to be mindful that quality apartments are what people live in to purchase or rent. What we're seeing is some of the lower quality stock being hard to move. Some of the smaller apartments have resistance in terms of rental.
There is a situation in Melbourne with higher density living that has resulted in sub-standard new apartments of impossible size up to 32 square metres and blind bedrooms. You can understand how the market gets to that point but it's interesting to understand that as we shift to a more intense and dense city and apartments become the norm and have much more diverse households living in them. Having apartments that are adequately sized that provide great amenity is so crucial. It's great to see the inclusion of 3 bedroom apartments even though it seems like such a small detail the ability to have families in what was homogenous environment is a great idea.
<a href="mailto:awalsh@propertyobserver.com.au" target="_parent">awalsh@propertyobserver.com.au</a>
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Architects point investors towards residential towers with a community feel

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There has been a resurgence in risk appetite for property investors in the Pacific region, according to a new Colliers International survey.
Next year 72% of investors in the Pacific region plan to expand their property portfolios , up from 56% last year, according to the 2014 Colliers International Global Investor Sentiment Survey.
Just 2% of respondents indicated they were not at all likely to take on more risk. Last year that figure was 70%.
This year 64% specified that they planned to take on more risk over the next 12 months.
The survey queried major institutional and private investors who were asked for their outlook at the global and regional level for 2014 and beyond.
Colliers’ John Marasco says Australian-based investors are becoming far more active.
“In 2012, investment volumes for some property types, particularly core property, were dominated by offshore investors,” Marasco says.
“With local investors back in the market, it is unlikely we will see this same sort of dominance in 2013.”
The report finds that to access a wider range of opportunities, as well as higher yields, many local investors are looking to secondary properties.
“As an example, a number of major Australian institutions are believed to be creating funds to specifically target non-CBD office properties as they seek to diversify their portfolios and target higher yielding assets,” the report says.
Most investors, 85%, are looking to buy within the pacific – mostly locally. Colliers puts this down to an easing of monetary policy over the past 18 months.
Otherwise 39% of investors are looking at Asia, 25% are looking at Europe, the middle east and Africa and just 13% are looking at the US.
Investors in the Pacific overwhelmingly prefer to invest in eastern seaboard Australia – 55% in Sydney, 12% in Melbourne and 4% in Brisbane.
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Rising risk appetite for Pacific property investors

Perth’s new apartment market recorded its strongest quarter of sales since Q4 2021, with 412 apartments sold in Q1 2026 and a record quarterly sold value of $537 million, according to Urbis’ latest Apartment Essentials results.

Urbis said the March quarter result reflects strong, highly product‑specific demand across both ends of the market, from more attainable projects delivering at scale, through to premium stock being absorbed by equity‑rich downsizers.&nbsp;

David Cresp, Partner at Urbis, said the key story in Perth is not demand, it is the market’s ability to convert demand into delivered housing.&nbsp;

“This is the strongest sales quarter since Q4 2021, and it reinforces that demand in Perth is real and it’s local,” David Cresp said. “But the task now is delivery, turning that demand into projects that can actually be built and completed.”&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=110291 project_image_fid=302785]

<h2>Affordable product leads, premium demand remains resilient</h2>

Sales in Q1 were led by more affordable projects, with The Boulevard (SKS Group) recording 115 sales in the quarter, the presentation noting this is only the second time a single project has surpassed 100 quarterly sales. The project was able to offer more affordable housing product right next to a train station.&nbsp;

Palmyra West (Finbar) also delivered strong results with 28 sales in Q1, following 84 sales in Q4, with an average price of under $800,000, underscoring depth of demand for well‑located, attainable new stock.&nbsp;

At the premium end, Urbis said downsizer demand is continuing, with the results highlighting Romeo (Applecross, Finbar) recording 75 sales and reaching almost 50% sold in one quarter.

Jual (Shenton Park, Celsius Property) also posted a strong quarter with 28 sales, reaching 39% sold in one quarter.

Urbis noted that Perth apartment demand is not speculative, not investor‑led, and not uniform, describing it as localised, often equity‑driven and highly product‑specific, a pattern reflected in the polarisation between strong “attainable” performers and premium downsizer product.&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=148957 project_image_fid=364102]

<h2>Prices underpinned by costs, and the delivery risk is growing</h2>

Urbis said pricing pressure is cost not demand‑driven: construction costs and delivery risk are now a central constraint, with the results noting build costs remain elevated and volatile, and that energy, fuel and labour uncertainty weigh on feasibility.

David Cresp said a growing challenge for private Build‑to‑Sell developers is simply securing a builder in the current environment.

“Developers are really feeling the pressure from a building market that was operating at capacity and securing a builder is challenging,” David Cresp said, adding that even where a builder can be secured, “trying to get to the price that makes the development financially viable is incredibly challenging in the current market.”&nbsp;

Urbis’ broader WA commentary also notes that industry remains at or above capacity with lot and housing creation, and that many builders are limiting new sales to manage stretched workforces and fixed‑price contract pressures, conditions that flow directly into apartment feasibility and delivery timing.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=108869 project_image_fid=317905]

<h2>Supply: improving later, but still constrained, and Perth lags eastern benchmarks</h2>

While near‑term supply remains constrained, Urbis’ forecast shows completions lifting “Supply is forecast to be back above 1,500 apartments per annum for the first time since 2019”, with 1,775 completions forecast for 2026, and volumes remaining above that level over the following years.&nbsp;

Looking further ahead, completions are forecast to reach 2,500 in 2028, with the report noting 32% of that total is social/affordable, reflecting the role of government‑supported delivery in rebuilding the pipeline.&nbsp;

However, Urbis said Perth remains behind comparable markets on pipeline scale. In a national comparison of projects under construction, the report shows under construction Perth Build‑to‑Sell (BTS) at 3,446 apartments versus the Gold Coast at 7,922. Mr Cresp said “The challenge for Perth is how to we grow the delivery pipeline”.

Urbis’ conclusion is that Perth’s market is increasingly defined by product discipline and delivery certainty, with the research identifying “delivery certainty is key” and calling out builder risk and procurement models as core success factors, alongside “timing and staging”.&nbsp;

Joel Robinson

Perth apartment sales hit strongest pace since late 2021 as builder capacity tightens

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/sammut-developments">Sammut Group</a> has secured development approval for its latest Brisbane apartment project, marking the Sydney developer’s next step in expanding its Queensland pipeline following the success of its debut Gold Coast development, Coast.

The approved project at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/44-glen-road-toowong-qld-4066">44 Glen Road, </a><a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/toowong-qld-4066">Toowong</a> will deliver a 15-storey riverfront apartment building with 42 residences, significantly increasing the scale of the site’s previous approval for a smaller luxury scheme. Designed by Bureau^proberts, the development will comprise a mix of predominantly four-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments positioned to maximise Brisbane River and city views.

Sammut Director Julian Sammut said the group had been actively searching Brisbane for several years before identifying Toowong as the right fit.

“Brisbane was the right step for Sammut,” Sammut said.

“With the success of Coast we thought we should definitely look to do more in Queensland alone. We then pushed up to look at Brisbane. We've been looking for I'd say two to three years actually and it was hard to find the right location.”

<img alt="Sammut makes Brisbane apartment play" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/f_auto,c_limit,w_1440,q_75/https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/field/image/Screenshot%202025-12-23%20at%203.27.14%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=dYAVIL7qdcGA8ojvkslSrLjczXFejSSx" />

Sammut said suburbs including New Farm and Teneriffe were considered before the group ultimately focused on Toowong due to its strong downsizer demographic and limited supply of developable riverfront land.

The site was acquired off-market after what Sammut described as a lengthy negotiation and planning process, with the developer pursuing an uplift to the original approval.

“We are DA approved now which is very exciting,” Sammut said.

“We've had our change approval come through and we've obviously doubled the height, 15 storeys plus rooftop. We've got 42 amazing apartments that are going to be coming to market soon.”

<img alt="Sammut makes Brisbane apartment play" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,dpr_2.0,q_auto:good/https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202025-12-23%20at%203.27.26%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=ohkRkY0dIZlqdfME2EZePsCQavRiBadE" />

Bureau^proberts said the design responds to Toowong’s evolving urban character, balancing contemporary apartment living with the area’s established residential identity.

“A place where traditional Queensland living has taken place for centuries; Toowong is seeing a shift of contemporary influence, commercial and retail hubs mixed with well-considered residential offerings – all the while maintaining its character and charm,” the architect noted in planning documents submitted to Brisbane City Council.

The architecture practice said the project’s form was shaped by its riverfront setting, flood considerations, neighbouring building scales, and view corridors.

“They said the mix of four and two-bedroom apartments capture the ‘fundamental qualities of Queenslander living,’ translated into the context of a contemporary subtropical building.”

The development sits just off Coronation Drive within walking distance of Toowong’s retail precinct and the upgraded Regatta ferry terminal, while also benefiting from proximity to the incoming green bridge connection to West End. Sammut said the accessibility and amenity offering were central to the site’s appeal.

The approval adds to growing residential activity along the Toowong riverfront, joining nearby projects including Consolidated Properties’ Monarch Residences and Spyre Group’s ARC Residences.

Sammut secures approval for debut Brisbane apartment development in Toowong

Developer Lanevick is heading back into Sydney’s apartment market after focusing more heavily on the luxury townhouse and terrace sector in recent years.

Lanevick, founded and directed by Steve Maroun, is expecting to receive approval in the coming months for a new apartment development in Gladesville, with the aim to launch it to the market later this year.

The 51-apartment project, designed by Studio Johnston, will comprise a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments positioned toward the Hunters Hill downsizer market.

“Traditionally it’s been difficult for people in that market to downsize because there just hasn’t been the right product available,” Maroun said.

“We’re targeting buyers who might have 30 to 40 per cent of their house value sitting in the bank after downsizing.

“They still want good spacious entertaining areas, they still want quality design, but they also want flexibility and the ability to enjoy life a bit more after working hard for a long time.”

The project sits near Boronia Park and within close proximity to the Parramatta River foreshore, an area Maroun says offers more of a Hunters Hill lifestyle than a traditional apartment precinct.

“From a lifestyle perspective, it’s really more Hunters Hill than Gladesville,” Maroun said. “You’re close to the foreshore, close to parklands, and still connected back into the village precinct.”

From level four and above, apartments will capture water views&nbsp;toward Sydney Harbour. Communal amenity will include rooftop entertaining areas, wellness spaces, and a gym tailored toward owner-occupier buyers.

“We’ve really designed these apartments around that buyer coming from the Hunters Hill LGA and what they’re actually looking for in their next chapter.”

The proposed development has also been designed to respond to the changing character of the broader Gladesville town centre, where a growing number of mixed-use and residential proposals are expected to emerge over the coming years.

“Gladesville presented a rare opportunity to deliver a genuinely design-led residential project within an evolving lifestyle precinct, just moments from the growing Gladesville town centre, and we’ve approached the project with a strong focus on architecture, liveability and long-term community value,” Maroun said.

Maroun said Lanevick saw a first-mover advantage within the precinct as planning controls continue to evolve to accommodate greater housing density.

“We think there’s a real opportunity there that hasn’t really been serviced properly yet,” he said.

“There’s going to be a broader evolution of the whole Gladesville village precinct over time, particularly with more activation and mixed-use outcomes.”

The Venus Street proposal will include a commercial and retail component at ground level designed to contribute to that evolving streetscape activation.

“A big part of the thinking was how do you activate that area properly and create more vibrancy and amenity, which is what Hunters Hill has been looking for,” Maroun said.

Lanevick’s focus since 2020 has largely been on smaller-scale luxury townhouse and terrace developments. The developer recently completed Royale Randwick, also designed by Studio Johnston, where prices reached $3.65 million. The project was featured in the UDIA NSW 2026 Professional Development Prospectus and was also named a finalist for Development of the Year.

&nbsp;

Lanevick to cater for Hunters Hill downsizers with new Gladesville apartment development

Property developer One Living, backed by former Macquarie banker turned investment manager Chris Green’s investment firm, has unveiled plans to bring more institutional capital into housing to help address the national supply crisis.

The New York-based investor has focused his firm, GreenPoint Partners, on addressing the supply shortage hitting middle market housing in Australia.

It is backing the new One Living business to develop more than 1000 units along the eastern seaboard. The new firm is starting with a development on Mona Vale Road, on the border of Mona Vale and Pymble, in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, with around 140 apartments planned. They are eyeing off more sites across the city.

With cost pressures rising in the industry, One Living’s model is to be a vertically integrated developer-builder, so it can respond directly to the housing gap by removing the cost inefficiencies embedded in traditional residential delivery.

“We are building a platform designed to operate at scale and starting in a market where there’s a clear need for quality, attainable housing,” One Living joint managing director Joseph Scuderi said.

“It’s that missing middle – it’s that attainable end of housing… that’s what most Australians invest into and what Australians can actually afford.”

<img alt="Mona Vale" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="798dfa93-4941-4db6-a696-31e9dc18e81c" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-28%20at%202.31.50%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=mKBqi5C_DmeiXS.AtJkcR8LQIxqCqmFi" />

GreenPoint Partners brings years of experience assembling and scaling real estate operating businesses across major markets. And Green sees a big opportunity in Australia.

“For its size, sophistication and importance to the community, Australia’s living sector has remained largely under-institutionalised, which represents significant opportunity,” Green said. “GreenPoint identified that gap, assembled the right team, and is backing One Living to build a platform that is aligned to market needs.”

Green said being a builder-developer would give the company the capacity and flexibility it required to deliver reasonably-priced homes.

“We want it to be at that attainable level; not super high end luxury but at that attainable level,” he said.

<img alt="Mona Vale" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="74a5344a-4b26-4d4a-ada3-056b1220be77" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-28%20at%202.32.15%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=vY8hXHO4reBMdO8ZXMWCNtGZJofUPQ3j" />

&nbsp;

One Living will undertake a component of affordable housing in its schemes, which it will own and operate, and it could also run build-to-rent on some sites.

Green praised local policy settings.

“The NSW government is being very supportive, strategic and pragmatic in terms of how do we generate more supply of housing,” he said. “We think it’s actually positive for development and the bit that’s been lacking at that attainable level is that it’s lots of relatively small private developers, whereas we want to create an institutional platform.”

One Living is also&nbsp;looking at high-density projects and could take on more institutional funding in the future.

“The way we will be able to achieve economies of scale is through size,” Green added.

One Living enters Sydney's new apartment market with Northern Beaches site acquisition

It's been several years since there's been an opportunity to buy a brand new townhome in Melbourne's coastal suburb of Mordialloc. Even apartment developments in recent times have been few and far between in the area.

Local developer LDS Property identified the gap in new housing, securing a site on White Street, directly opposite&nbsp;Woodlands Golf Club Mordialloc. They've recently launched&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-townhouses/wm-residences-mordialloc-102-white-street-mordialloc-vic-3195">WM Residences</a>, just 13 townhouses which they have already started building.

Projects by Buxton Director Heath Thompson, who is selling WM Residences, says the townhouses x that perfect middle ground be

"Mordialloc residents have had limited options to downsize within the suburb, often forcing them to look elsewhere despite long-standing ties to the area," Thompson says.

"With very little comparable new supply coming to market, projects like WM Residences are well placed, particularly as buyers look to capitalise on current conditions amid constrained supply."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134646 project_image_fid=6109]

The development, designed by regarded architecture firm&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/ewert-leaf">Ewert Leaf</a>,&nbsp;adopts a deliberately restrained architectural approach, focusing on simplicity, durability and liveability rather than overt design gestures.

The boutique scale is central to the offering. With only 13 three-bedroom residences, each home is configured to prioritise functional layouts and everyday use, supported by private terraces and secure two-car garages.

Ewert Leaf’s design response leans into a calm, neutral material palette. Interiors are defined by oak flooring, white walls and soft finishes, creating a consistent and understated backdrop. The approach avoids trend-driven detailing in favour of longevity, with an emphasis on natural light and spatial clarity.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134646 project_image_fid=6110]

Beyond aesthetics, the homes are designed to meet contemporary performance expectations. Each residence targets a minimum 6-star energy rating, incorporating double glazing, comprehensive insulation and all-electric Bosch appliances.

The project’s location supports a walkable coastal lifestyle, sitting within close proximity to Mordialloc’s foreshore, Main Street retail strip and the train station. Local cafés and dining venues, including Suburbia Deli and Hendriks Café, are within a short walk, reinforcing the area’s established neighbourhood character.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134646 project_image_fid=6116]

While <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/mordialloc-vic-3195">Mordialloc</a> is often defined by its beach and pier, the project taps into other areas of day to day living, offering easy access to local food, casual dining and transport, rather than positioning itself purely as a lifestyle retreat.

WM Residences reflects a continued trend across Melbourne’s coastal suburbs towards smaller-scale, design-led townhouse developments, particularly on infill sites where proximity to amenity is already established.

With construction commenced prior to its market entry, the project aligns with a growing preference among buyers for developments with visible progress and defined delivery timeframes.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=134646]

Alistair Walsh

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