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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/78464/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
Rather than propping up failing industries, what if government instead provided incentives like tax breaks for expanding firms to locate in regional centres? This would help policymakers avoid a retreat to protectionism while also going some of the way to addressing rising inequality in Australia.
So far in response to failing industries, policymakers have often tried to prop those industries up. They have also spent some money on retraining, provided some small subsidies for relocation, and tried to make education of young people a little more suited to the globalised economy. In short, that’s not enough.
It has led to a bigger economic pie — to be sure. But is has also led to rising inequality. Those with with in-demand skills have seen rising wages. Some of those without such skills have adapted or retrained. But many have never recovered from the advent of globalisation. And it has led to the political arrival of Brexit, Trump and Le Pen. So far.
A retreat to old-style protectionism and industry policy would be a disaster. It would be the economic equivalent of stopping a speeding freight train dead in its tracks. Yet the current approach is not working, and the anti-globalist forces it fuels might be just as bad.
Protect my job
Twelve years ago, Thomas Friedman’s worldwide best seller The World is Flat was published. Friedman emphasised the inevitability of globalisation, while acknowledging that there were winners and losers. 
Yet he argued that the best way to combat the downsides of globalisation was to make the workforce more adaptable though reskilling, more mobile through portability of healthcare and retirement benefits, and more prepared though an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math disciplines.
That same year Friedman’s book came out, he co-taught a freshman class at Harvard College with economist and university President Larry Summers, and philosopher Michael Sandel. We were PhD students then and the other day we dug out the final exam. The first question on was: 
“From an economic point of view, the case for open immigration is as strong as the case for free trade and capital flows.” Do you agree or disagree? Whether you agree or disagree, would you say that non-economic considerations strengthen or weaken the case for open immigration, free trade, and capital flows?
Twelve years, it turns out, is a long time in globalisation.
Today, in the age of Trump, we live in a world of walls, rising inequality, and protectionism. Forget open immigration, free trade is very much up for grabs.
Last month, President Trump issued an executive order titled Buy American and Hire American, Bill Shorten has been quoted saying “We will buy Australian, build Australian, make in Australia and employ Australians”. The Coalition government — when not closing our borders to foreign talent — is busy impersonating Willie Sutton and taxing banks “because that’s where the money is”.
To be fair, economists shoulder some of the blame for this anti-globalisation turn. The mantra has always been that free trade maximises the size of the economic pie, allowing society to slice it up in a way that makes everyone better off.
If only it were that easy. In practice, jobs disappear. Sometimes whole industries, and towns. 
Re-slicing the pie through cash handouts are problematic. It requires vast amounts of money, doesn’t solve the geographic problems of dying towns, and most importantly it doesn’t provide people with the dignity and sense of purpose that a job does.
Similarly, retraining and reskilling a 55 year-old steel worker to prepare for the gig economy is, well, really hard. But there is an alternative.
A focus on towns not industries
Rather than prop-up failing industries, we should provide incentives, like tax breaks, for expanding firms to locate in regional centres. These could involve lower corporate tax rates, abolishing payroll tax, and immediate deductibility of capital investment. Sometimes it might involve loan guarantees.
The money should go to towns instead because they are a point of coordination in a way that industries are not. If a good size business locates in a town then people locate there. 
Those paychecks drive other local jobs, which drive more people. This, in turn drives more local businesses, local vibrancy, and so on. Towns can be the centrepiece of a virtuous circle of coordination. Industries are important but they are, well, just industries.
At one level, policymakers can’t get away from the “towns problem”. The workers in rural and regional areas who are affected by globalisation aren’t easily moved for numerous reasons, yet not every town can be saved. Figuring out which ones can, through the infusion of new commercial activity, is the key to providing hope for the victims of globalisation.
This approach is not entirely without precedent. China, has made development of new cities a centrepiece of its economic development planning, with numerous very large cities built and infrastructure fully established before residents ever arrive. For instance, the Chinese government recently announced the Xiongan New Area, a city three times the city of New York, to be built near Beijing.
Now, China does this because of population growth, urbanisation pressures, and environmental concerns. Yet it demonstrates the merits, and feasibility, of making the town the centre of policy. Government should be focusing on what it takes to make a town succeed, rather than what it takes to make an industry survive a little longer. 
Adding to these imperatives, Australia is beset by a housing affordability crisis driven by absurd tax breaks like negative gearing that artificially fuel demand, but also by serious supply constraints. Barnaby Joyce’s admonition to move out of capital cities would be made much more compelling by the influx of new businesses and new capital to regional towns. A “picking towns” policy could make housing more affordable across the board.
The side effects of globalisation that have led to our current populist politics will not be successfully addressed by old-style industry policy. But focusing on the aggregate benefits of globalisation is also not working. We need to redistribute those benefits by focusing on regions that can succeed, and breathing new economic life into them.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/richard-holden-118107" target="_blank">Richard Holden</a> is professor of Economics and PLuS Alliance Fellow, UNSW.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rosalind-dixon-178450" target="_blank">Rosalind Dixon</a> is professor of Law, UNSW.
Both are authors for The Conversation.
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

The government should pick towns, not industries, to fund

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/78190/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">GUEST OBSERVER
The light rail project pushed up property values within 800 metres of the stations by over 30 percent from 1996 to 2016. Gains on this scale offer a potential source of finance for public transport.
Gold Coast’s light rail scheme has attracted great interest since the streets of Surfers Paradise were torn up and stations and track were built. Was it worth spending A$1.5 billion on 13km of light rail and more than $40 million a year in subsidies?
Are we right to be spending another $420 million on an extension to Helensvale in time for the Commonwealth Games? Should we be taking it all the way down to Gold Coast Airport?
Another question is whether gains in property values served by the project could be “captured” to fund such infrastructure.
Previous studies of property values in areas serviced by the light rail showed only modest gains after it opened. Our research cast a wider net back to when we first started planning the system in 1996 through to the latest data we could get in 2016.
The results were intriguing. We found that prices in the catchment areas started to increase in the earliest planning phases. The effects of the light rail were to push up property values within 800 metres of the stations by more than 30% in total from 1996 to 2016.
This is well above most previous estimates of a light rail system’s effects. This is mainly because we looked earlier for the property value gains and used a carefully designed control to make the comparison.
<h2>Impact after opening seemed modest</h2>
These findings cast a different light on the apparently modest impact of the light rail after it opened.
When the first stage from Broadbeach to our university at Parkwood opened it was well received. But the behaviour change we all hoped for was rather modest at first. After opening in 2014, patronage did not surge compared to bus ridership on the route in earlier years.
New passengers got on board, but it was an uphill climb for the new system. Fare increases of almost 50% from 2010 to 2014 pushed passengers off public transport across southeast Queensland, especially on rail.
Not all passengers enjoyed improved service for their particular journeys either. Those who used to travel through the corridor in a bus now had to break their journey at the light rail terminus and transfer, adding travel time and annoyance.
In the second year of operation, however, patronage jumped 16% and our contacts suggest third-year patronage is tracking well. Subsidies per passenger are falling. The decision to add the connection to Helensvale looks a sound one.
But, seemingly, other changes everyone expected weren’t there. The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics analysed property values in the corridor from 2000 to 2013 using a coarse geography and didn’t find much evidence of any uplift. This gave many cause for concern.
Reassuringly, Cameron Murray used valuation data for a similar period using a different geographical scale and found a 10% increase for properties within 400 metres of the new stations. But there was still uncertainty.
Our new research backs up and expands on Murray’s findings, suggesting there was substantial positive impact.
<h2>What did our research look at?</h2>
Our research team in the Funding on the Line Australian Research Council Linkage Project took a different approach.
In a peer-reviewed paper, which will shortly be presented at the World Symposium on Transport and Land Use Research, led by Barbara Yen, we used sales data for residential properties along the corridor. Our study compared areas within 800 metres of the stations with a control area containing locations a little further away but still in the same vicinity.
We used a longitudinal methodology to see when the value uplift occurred from back in 1996, when planning of the system first started, through to the latest 2016 data. Property prices in the catchment areas started to increase very early in the planning phase. The property value uplift was highest in the locations between 100 and 400 metres from the stations.
Values went up 11.9% in these locations compared to our control areas between 1996 and the feasibility study’s announcement in 2002. They increased a further 26.3% from 2002 to 2006 over the control areas when the feasibility study was completed. Prices rose only 2.3% from 2006 to 2011 when the formal funding commitment was made and construction began, and then by another 5.4% after the line opened to the end of the study period in 2016.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/05/29/file-20170524-5749-1f04vgx.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/05/29/file-20170524-5749-1f04vgx.png" width="700" height="263">
The areas less than 100 metres from the stations, and between 400 and 800 metres also recorded strong increases compared to the control areas, though not quite as much.
This is to be expected. Sites closest to the stations received some nuisance from the light rail and road corridor; sites further away obtain fewer advantages in travel time savings for passengers.
<h2>What are the funding implications?</h2>
The property value gains attributable to the project from 1996 to 2016 of more than 30% are very significant. Yet it’s pretty much only the landowners who benefit.
The City of Gold Coast recoups some of its $120 million investment in the light rail through its rates and its public transport levy on urban residents. The Queensland government may end up getting a little slice via stamp duty as properties are sold. The few pieces of government-owned land likely rose in value.
But the state and federal governments generally have no other mechanisms to take a small sliver of the increased property value their investment generated to help pay for the light rail system or reinvest in public transport elsewhere. We’ve written about this previously in The Conversation and suggested ways we could change the system.
A recent federal parliamentary inquiry and moves to set up “value sharing” units in the Queensland and New South Wales governments suggest we are now getting serious about generating alternative funding for public transport.
Our study’s results only add more support to these initiatives. Get it right and we should be able to deliver more metros, busways and light rail to serve our growing population and its increasingly urban way of life.
 Matthew Burke is an Associate Professor, Cities Research Institute, Griffith University and author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-burke-1677" target="_blank">here</a>.
 
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Why Gold Coast light rail was worth it: Matthew Burke

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GUEST OBSERVER
Thanks in part to the gender pay gap, the gender wealth gap more than doubled between 2002 and 2014. But our research shows Australian women don’t just trail men in total wealth, they also have less diverse asset portfolios. 
Women are more likely than men to have their assets tied up in a family home. This means their finances are more precarious, and they have less saved for retirement.
The latest data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey show the family home accounts for close to half of the total assets held by single women, and only 39% of the total assets held by single men. Other property, superannuation, business assets and financial investments, on average, play a much larger role in the asset portfolios of men than women.
Gender differences in the level and composition of wealth are especially important as society ages. Wealth has particular ramifications for the economic wellbeing of older people, given their limited access to other forms of income, such as wages.
This gender gap compounds over time, with many women facing a shortfall in savings by retirement age. And with the state shifting the responsibilities for retirement, aged care and health care onto individuals, the gender wealth gap will increasingly translate into a gap in the lifestyles that Australian men and women can achieve in old age. 
 
All of this is evidence of a “care penalty”, which means that taking paid leave or moving into part-time jobs to cater for the care needs of children or other family members has negative impacts on women’s retirement savings and career trajectories. But it is also the result of policy, such as the recent tax concessions for superannuation, which have done more for the wealth of men than women. 
Exacerbating this problem, women are dramatically over-represented in the oldest age groups. The over-65 age group has 14.5% more women than men, and the oldest population groups have three times as many women as men. 
Furthermore, women are less likely than men to have access to the support of a spouse in their old age. Only 15.2% of women, compared to 54.5% of men, have a surviving spouse when they die. This means they are more likely to need external aged care services.
<h2>The home takes centre stage</h2>
In the absence of significant savings, superannuation or other assets, the family home has become the key form of wealth for many Australian women.
In fact, without the home, the age pension and superannuation balances are unlikely to meet the day-to-day living needs of many retirees. 
The importance of the home has in part been driven by the family courts. Prior to 2000 superannuation was not treated as an asset for distribution in divorce proceedings. The family home also tends to be retained by the primary carers of the children after separation – women. 
But as an asset to build wealth around, the family home has some drawbacks. Housing assets are, by nature, both hard and costly to buy and sell. While the family home can be a key form of savings for many Australians, relying on this form of wealth comes with relatively high costs. 
Research also shows that older women are more prone to selling up their family home than older men, with these sales often triggered by the loss of a spouse or ill-health. 
The centrality of the family home in their portfolios also means women are particularly vulnerable to the way housing is treated in the age pension asset test. Including the family home in this test would force many retirees to draw down their home equity to fund their retirement at earlier life stages. 
This creates a range of risks, given the fundamental uncertainty of future price and interest rate movements, and because the risks associated with future house price movements cannot be defended against. 
The gender impacts of policies are commonly overlooked but should never be neglected. This is especially true in an ageing society where the majority of older people are women and gender gaps in economic status are large.
Gender statements in federal and state budgets, as well as a fully resourced Office for Women with full ministerial backing, are needed to ensure the level of commitment and accountability to older women that they deserve.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rachel-ong-113482" target="_blank">Rachel Ong</a> is deputy director, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Curtin University.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/siobhan-austen-106020" target="_blank">Siobhan Austen</a> is associate professor, School of Economics &amp; Finance, Curtin University.
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Women rely on the family home to support them in old age

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Nowhere more than in Sydney, the city with the most valuable real estate of the nation, does the suburb you live in define you so much.
At Melbourne parties, they ask: "Where did you go to school?" followed by "What footy team do you barrack for?"
In Sydney we want to know "Where do you live?" and then "How much did you pay?"
Residents in Mount Gilead, set to be one of our newest suburbs, will become as aware of the neighbourhood pecking order as are the last few dames of the upper north shore.
It is not so much about class these days, as about perception, about how smart we see ourselves and others in the pursuit of the property prize.
Sydneysiders know their place, wherever it is, from the mountains to the harbour and coastline.
We define ourselves by the suburbs we look up to and look down on.
I was thinking about this last weekend after the sale of the Fairfax publishing dynasty's $70 million plus harbourfront home, Elaine.
For 123 years of its ownership it sat proudly in Double Bay, but for the past three years during its sales marketing campaign it has been inaccurately described as Point Piper.
Granted it sits on Seven Shillings Beach which takes in both suburbs - and doesn't have a demarkation line in the sand.
I rechecked the official Elaine lands title document and it does say Double Bay. Ok probably Point Piper holds aspirational top spot, but is Double Bay that down at heel to be disowned? 
As Sydneysiders we tend not to actually envy too many of the 650 other suburbs, but rather keep the tribal snobbery to the nearest.
There's the infamous split between the Woollahra and Paddington side of Jersey Road. 
Social death can lie on the wrong side of divides such as Old Windsor Road separating The Hills from Blacktown, while Burwood Heights sits on the wrong side of Liverpool Road for most Burwood residents.
Adjoining suburbs such as Palm Beach and Whale Beach, Woolwich and Hunters Hill look down on each other.
East Balmain and East Redfern are more desirable than Balmain or Redfern. 
On the train line east is always better than west on the Upper North Shore.
Tastes do change over time so the eastern suburbs beaches long lagged behind the harbourside suburbs, though in recent years the likes of North Bondi attracted a happening crowd.
There can be snobbery in reverse as when BrickX secured their recent apartment they were happy to rightly embrace it being in Darlinghurst, while most other occupants in the McLachlan Avenue block claim it's Rushcutters Bay.
Of course as we all live in Sydney, we collectively can look down on every other city in Australia.
 
This article was first published in the Saturday Telegraph
 
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How snobbery shows in Sydney's property pecking order

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LJ Hooker’s intended DIY property selling platform Settl, while launching the 88-year-old company into a new tech era, is already having a disruptive internal impact before it starts, with fears there will be undercutting of the commissions of its loyal sales agents.
The yet to be launched online <a href="https://settl.com.au" target="_blank">Settl </a>platform, which had been timed to commence in the second quarter of 2017, but seems delayed, or even on the back burner, will encourage vendors to sell their homes by themselves for a low fixed fee, in an response to property disruptors such as Purplebricks and buyMyplace.com.au.
Property Observer gleans it will on launch adopt the logo "Pay less, Settle for more."
Purplebricks, buyMyplace and forsalebyowner are all slowly growing their share of the Australian property market due to their low-cost, fixed-fee model.
Settl will include the pricing option of assistance of a Settl estate agent if the vendor wishes to have assistance with open-for-inspections and auctions. 
LJ Hooker’s Settl will be run as a stand-alone entity although seemingly directed by the network's current leadership team who have faced franchisees who've threatened to depart.
Settl has been in research and development by LJX-Lab for the past 20 months.
Settl is led by an expert tech-startup team including players from pioneering tech-giants Uber, Atlassian, Freelancer and Airtasker.
Headhunters Mitchelake have closed applications to find its chief executive who has been tasked with leading "an aggressive business/market development strategy in Australia."
A landing page, while unconfirmed, suggests it is a "smart, nimbler real estate service."
The hybrid model will be scaled up in partnership with LJ Hooker’s own network to cater to the new consumer.
Settl is part of LJ Hooker’s $100 million digital transformation. 
The real estate agency, founded by Sir Leslie Hooker in 1928 and still part owned by grandson Janusz Hooker, is in the midst of a transformation. Earlier this year LJ Hooker's CEO Grant Harrod unexpectedly resigned after the company scrapped plans to list on the ASX.
The most recent development has been that of former Aussie Home Loans CEO Stephen Porges joining in an advisory role, although market chatter points to him becoming the next chief executive following the departure of Harrod.
Earlier this year, LJ Hooker scrapped its IPO as real estate franchise businesses came under pressure from a deterioration in property listings and the threat of technologies.
Chairman Janusz Hooker has likened the launch of Settl to when Qantas created low-cost carrier Jetstar to service a different market segment.
"These will be two brands – LJ Hooker and Settl – serving two distinct customers," Hooker told The Australian Financial Review recently.
Hooker said Settl would cater to the needs of millennials and "digital natives" who wanted to "pay less and do more themselves".
But the traditional, commission-based model is not going anywhere, he stressed. Usually, commissions vary from 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent of the selling price.
"Part of the market still wants to fly Qantas, but there's a new market that wants to fly Jetstar. We're creating a new market – it's not a zero sum game. The launch of hybrid real estate businesses has increased the size of the market," he said.
Pricing for Settl has not yet been revealed, but is expected to be competitive compared with other DIY platforms.
L Janusz Hooker said Australia is on the cusp of a wave of property innovation.
“We have been closely monitoring global trends for several years, and have seen new models gain momentum in overseas markets like the UK.
"Settl will open up this new market in Australia, giving digital-natives the choice and control they want,” he said. 
"In Australia, this segment is estimated to only be a few percent of today’s market, however it could grow up to 10 percent by 2025."
Mr Hooker commented that Australia was a unique market with its own distinct circumstances - "and we’ve seen time and time again that standardised overseas models are not overly successful here." 
“We see the ongoing human value added from agents a critical part of real estate services into the future. To ensure customer satisfaction, Settl’s unique hybrid “online to offline” model aligns the agent 100 percent with the vendor’s result.”
Josh Rowe, CEO of property price prediction app realAs.com, has welcomed the new LJ Hooker venture.
"A company that is not prepared to cannibalise their own business to meet customers' changing needs will eventually fail," Rowe told the AFR.
"Netflix was originally a DVD mail order business with 20 million users at its peak. Now as a streaming service it has 99 million users," he said.
"Perhaps LJ Hooker is the Netflix of real estate in Australia."
Graeme Hyde and Bryan Weir are heading the venture, with oversight by Esther Selvanayagam, the financial chief since February 2017. 
Hyde is the exisiting network chief having joined the real estate industry in 1995 after 15 years in television and radio. He joined the LJ Hooker network in 2001 when he took over the LJ Hooker office in Port Macquarie and was inducted into the Captains Club in his second year with the network and Multimillion Dollar Chapter in his third year. 
Bryan Weir joined the board of LJ Hooker in 2014 after 35 years of corporate and business experience including time at Freeholds and Macquarie Bank.
Weir is keenly involved in the sport of rowing, being the President of Mosman Rowing Club from 2004 until 2009.
Earlier this month they watched as their Mosman-based LJ Hooker Lower North Shore group joined the Ray White network in a shock defection.
LJ Hooker Lower North Shore has been operating for 60 years and employs more than 50 people.
It has been run by the same directors for the last 20 years.
LJ Hooker Lower North Shore directors Richard Harding, Geoff Smith and Bernard Ryan are to undertake the re-brand, seeing the potential for expansion across the region from their already large footprint. Since Property Observer previously reported LJ Hooker agents jumping ship to Ray White, LJH has advertised in print publications for their replacement.
Agents across the group and industry have expressed concern at the LJH Settl initiative saying "flat fees aren't the answer."
"We have an over supply of agents, and the value is being lost as a seller when agents operate just as a tour guide at the opens.
"Agents should be looked at as an investment in the sale," one agent said adding Settl "just creates more opportunity for crappy agents."
 
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Settl, LJ Hooker's DIY hybrid property sales platform to take on disruptors 

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/78030/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
Sydney is frequently placed in the top ten of global “liveability” rankings. But despite the growing popularity of the buzzword liveability, questions remain about what it actually entails. What does a liveable city look like? How do we measure liveability? And, most importantly, liveable for whom? 
The idea of liveability and liveability rankings has some usefulness. However, such rankings mask the disadvantaged, marginalised and excluded within cities, including Sydney. 
In yet-to-be-published research, our analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data from 1991, 2001 and 2011 indicates there are clear “winners” and “losers” in Sydney. Despite the strong economic growth in the 1990s, there is still a clear divide between eastern and western Sydney. 
<h2>Who defines and rates liveability?</h2>
The term liveability has proliferated in planning and public discussions, but few definitions are provided. 
Liveability is usually captured by published indices. Broadly speaking, there are three categories of indices: those that focus on decision-making from the perspective of individual lifestyle preferences, the firm, and policymakers. 
The best-known liveability indices are developed commercially. These include the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index, the Mercer Quality of Life Survey, PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Cities of Opportunity Quality of Life, and the Global Liveable Cities Index. 
More recently, Sydney suburbs have been ranked according to various liveability indices (such as Domain Liveable Sydney 2016 and the Urban Living Index). However, overall these liveability indices tend to simplify or disregard crucial factors.
These indices tell a particular and incomplete story about the city. When viewed through the lens of spatial geography, it is clear that Sydney’s ranking as a liveable city requires greater recognition of the ways in which some Sydneysiders experience inequality and disadvantage.
<h2>What did our study find?</h2>
We compared ABS data from 1991 or 2001 to the data from 2011, focusing on four issues: income, unemployment, travel to work, and housing tenure. 
Our analysis of employment found that the proportion of people employed in Greater Sydney slightly increased (94% in 2001 compared with 94.3% in 2011) and the unemployed decreased (6% in 2001 compared with 5.7% in 2011). People in full-time employment decreased while the number of people working part-time increased, bringing it almost on par with the Australian figure. 
However, the data does not reveal the disparities in people’s incomes according to where they live. When we viewed the data spatially, it was evident that people who live in the central city, inner east, inner west and the north shore of Sydney have higher weekly incomes than those living in the western parts of Sydney.
Income levels in Sydney
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/05/28/file-20170525-31761-yiq0xt.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/05/28/file-20170525-31761-yiq0xt.jpg" alt="">
Highest-income areas are shown in red, with lowest-income areas in blue. Author provided
Our analysis also found spatial disparities in the way people commute to work. Driving remained the main form of travel (49.2% in 1991 compared to 53.8% in 2011), demonstrating continued car dependence in Sydney. 
The disparity between east and west was evident in people’s opinions and preferences about travel. People in eastern Sydney felt more able to live close to where they work (72% compared with 62% in western Sydney). 
People in western Sydney were less likely to feel they had the transport they needed (86% compared with 91% in eastern Sydney). But, interestingly, they also felt that transport was less important than eastern Sydney residents. 
Finally, our analysis of housing tenure over the 20 years to 2011 found the level of outright home ownership fell by almost 10%. The proportion of people with mortgages increased (26.6% in 1991 compared with 33.2% in 2011), as did the number of people renting (28% in 1991 compared to 30.4% in 2011). 
Housing tenure in Sydney
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/05/28/file-20170525-31756-1qgbl4f.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/05/28/file-20170525-31756-1qgbl4f.jpg" alt=""> 
Areas with highest rates of outright home ownership are shown in blue, with areas of highest rates of mortgages in red.Author provided
To sum up, the winners: live in the city, inner east, inner west and parts of northern suburbs, have relatively easy access to well-paid work, and own their homes. 
The losers: live further from the concentrations of economic activity (jobs), have higher job insecurity, longer travel-to-work times, poorer transport choices and connections, lower incomes, more rental stress, less time with families, and poorer reported wellbeing.
Our analysis aligns with other recent research – see, for example, findings by the Grattan Institute, the Australian Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development and the Australian Housing Urban Research Institute. 
<h2>How can liveability be better shared?</h2>
How then do the various liveability indices account for spatial inequality and disadvantage? In 2012, the Economist Intelligence Unit added a category based on “spatial adjustments”. The Spatial Adjusted Liveability Index now makes up 25% of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s liveability score. 
Various programs and policies have also been designed to tackle liveability. These are helpful initiatives, but a more holistic and interdisciplinary approach is needed. Approaches to liveability need to be integrated (both place-based and people-based).
<ul>
<li>
First, to be effective, institutions need to decrease fragmented responses. 
</li>
<li>
Second, greater social inclusion is vital. This includes participatory approaches to planning and equitable access to jobs, services and amenity.
</li>
<li>
Third, cities need co-operative governance whereby citizens can affect decision-making through legitimate involvement. 
</li>
</ul>
A greater focus on these recommendations might bring Sydney a little closer to being a liveable city for all.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/roberta-ryan-172068" target="_blank">Roberta Ryan</a> is professor and director, UTS Institute for Public Policy and Governance and UTS Centre for Local Government, University of Technology Sydney.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/yvette-selim-365400" target="_blank">Yvette Selim</a> is senior researcher and lecturer, UTS Institute for Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology Sydney.
Both are authors for The Conversation.
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‘Liveable’ Sydney has clear winners and losers

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GUEST OBSERVER
For active investors, the Budget comes with positive changes such as in super and home ownership but many are negative such as targeted measures against the banks and sharp cutbacks on property tax breaks. Everyone will be affected by the recently delivered Budget and here are some key features that affect properties:
The government has constantly been pressured to scrap borrowing in super but it has not reversed its position and SMSF operators can still borrow. However, there is a new super cap of $1.6 million and borrowed funds will be computed based on the $1.6 million cap.
Starting 1st July 2017, first-home buyers may salary sacrifice up to $15,000 or a total of $30,000 a year into their superannuation account at a concessional tax rate. They will be allowed to withdraw the cash to use as a deposit on their first home. This measure allows super to be accessed early.
Those who will sell a property investment will be subject to CGT at a marginal tax rate but those who hold a property for more than a year will get a discount of 50 percent on their CGT tax assessment. The negative gearing tax rate remained the same and investors can claim expenses and interest for the cost of an investment property against their tax bill. One advantage of higher interest rates among commercial banks is that the amount that can be deducted in negative gearing increases.
Downsizers may be able to make post-tax contribution to superannuation of up to $300,000 from the proceeds of selling their home, even if they exceed the $1.6 million cap. Investors will no longer be able to claim tax deductions for travel expenses related to inspection, maintenance or rent collection of a property. Many investors have properties a long distance away from their home and they incur travel expenses when they visit their investments.
This change may upset many investors because an outright ban on claims for travel expenses is an absolute loss. It used to have no limit and the allowance may have been abused because the government expects to collect $540 million from the scrapped tax allowance starting 1st of July.
Depreciation deductions may only be claimed on personally purchased items for an investment property, excluding plant and equipment which was included with the purchase. These measures will not please many investors but the truth is, it is to their advantage that negative gearing remained untouched because any changes related to this could have been more dramatic. Investors are relieved that the changes have not gone further as well.
Lastly, foreign property investors will lose the CGT exemption on the sale of their main residence and are now required to report all sales over $750,000 or have a withholding tax applied upon sale. There will also be a new annual levy of at least $5,000 for properties left vacant for more than six months a year.
PS.
Disallowing deductions for travel expenses and depreciating assets not directly bought by the investor may be the thin edge of the wedge and increasing deductions for work-related expenses can be quite worrisome. This change is controversial and some people suggest that if it is a step towards a slow-down of deductions for Australian taxpayers, debate has to begin now.
Ed Chan is the founding partner of <a href="https://www.chan-naylor.com.au/" target="_blank">Chan &amp; Naylor</a>.
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Federal Budget 2017 features that affect Australia's real estate: Ed Chan

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/77311/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
“I’m no criminal. I had no choice,” Bruce said. “I felt the only way I could get the government to see the injustice that is taking place was by taking action. All I wanted was to protect my home.”
Bruce is one of three protesters brought before a Mudgee court on May 17 for a preliminary hearing. On April 12, he was arrested after peacefully objecting the proposed expansion of the Wilpinjong mine by blocking the entry to the mine and stopping shift workers from entering and leaving the area.
The Wollar Three, as they have become known, are the first to be charged under New South Wales’ anti-protest laws, which were introduced in March 2016. They pleaded not guilty.
If convicted, the Wollar Three face significant penalties including heavy fines and up to seven years’ imprisonment. The laws they were charged under have been described as draconian and an attack on democracy and civil society.
An existential threat to a community
Bruce is one of the very few remaining residents of Wollar, a small rural community in the Mid Western Region, NSW. Wollar is located in the western coal fields and surrounded by three multinational open-cut coal mines - Peabody’s Wilpinjong Mine, Yancoal’s Moolarben and Glencore’s Ulan Coal Mines.
While coal extraction has a long history in the region, the recent intensification of mining has challenged the previous co-existence of mining and local communities in the region. Wollar is the latest rural village to fall victim to coal mining.
Most central to Wollar’s demise is Peabody’s Wilpinjong mine, which is the mine closest to the village. Peabody today owns the vast majority of land in and around Wollar, and more than 90% of the pre-Wilpinjong population has been resettled.
Last month, the Planning Assessment Commission approved a further expansion of the mine. This will bring the boundary of the mine to within 1.5 kilometres of the village.
As the mine has encroached on Wollar, the community has dispersed – and fewer than 30 residents today remain in the area. This forced migration has been accompanied by the withdrawal of services and social support that had made village life viable. Remaining Wollar residents are increasingly vulnerable and unable to sell their properties for a fair price on the open market.
During the recent commission hearing, the remaining residents requested that all the properties within the area be afforded acquisition rights. Such rights would have provided the opportunity to negotiate with the proponent, with a view to selling their properties to the mine and gaining autonomy over their future.
The commission’s determination report found the expansion:
… has the potential to further exacerbate the existing decline of Wollar.
However, the commission concluded that no other properties but those within the zone of affliction, limited to the village, are exposed to impacts that would justify granting acquisition rights.
This assessment is based on a reading of impacts that emphasises spatial proximity and technical measures of environmental (noise and dust) modelling. It fails to acknowledge the role played by the proponent and the government in reducing the wellbeing and livelihood of those left without compensation.
Invisible displacement violates international standards
The existing project and the coming mine expansion represent a slow onset disaster that has significantly reduced local residents’ wellbeing. The remaining residents have become displaced in place, with their future opportunities for mobility and life significantly reduced.
The resettlement of the former residents of Wollar has happened slowly and without any proper planning. This breaks with the primary underlying assumption of international safeguard standards, which state that risks associated with displacement and resettlement should be predicted and mitigated.
The World Bank’s Performance Standard 5 relates to project-related land acquisition and involuntary resettlement. It refers to resettlement as both physical displacement (relocation or loss of shelter) and economic displacement (loss of assets or access to assets, which result in reduction in income sources and other livelihood means).
The standard aims to “minimise adverse social and economic impacts from land acquisition or restrictions on land use by”:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>providing compensation for loss of assets at replacement costs; and</li>
<li>ensuring that resettlement activities are implemented with appropriate disclosure of information, consultation, and the informed participation of those affected. However, this standard is not applicable to the case at hand. Nor can the Wollar Three or others facing this type of invisible displacement call on international human rights law for a just outcome.</li>
</ul>
Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights offered some protection for property rights:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.</li>
<li>No-one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.</li>
</ul>
However, property rights were not included in the binding human right treaties established on the foundation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In any case, the Wollar Three have not lost their right to own property under the letter of human rights law.
The law does not capture a sense of loss while a person remains in place. Nor does international law create a cause of action that can be called on in Australian domestic courts.
A sense of loss and injustice
Standing outside the Mudgee courthouse last week, Bruce explained:
My home is threatened and I’ve lived in that area for 30-odd years and I just had to stand up and say no, this should not be allowed to go ahead! Bruce’s actions come as a reaction to the sense of injustice that is marking the planning system in NSW.
A sense of lost place and displacement saturates the stories of those who live in the area, who speak of themselves as “victims of a silent war” and “casualties of extraction”. They have become stranded, left with properties that no longer have any value, decreased income and increased costs.
In this context, they feel increasingly hopeless. It was this sense of powerlessness that led Bruce and the two other accused to take civil disobedience action in April. Feeling they no longer have any hope or future, they were willing to risk a prison sentence.
 
Amy Maguire is a Senior Lecturer in International Law and Human Rights, University of Newcastle and author for The conversation. She can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/amy-maguire-129609" target="_blank">here</a>.
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Displaced rural residents face imprisonment for protesting mine expansion: Amy Maguire

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/78184/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
Research shows consumers value speed when it comes to shopping. Australian retailers need to react or they will lose.
A recent survey shows that Australians are feeling more time-poor than ever, with 45 percent of women and 36 percent of men feeling “always” or “often” rushed, or “pressed for time”. Meanwhile, research has identified that almost one in four shoppers (23 percent) are willing to pay a premium for “same day” delivery.
In other words, consumers’ expectations are changing. Speed is becoming a point of difference, a new front of competition, between retailers. And many Australian retailers are lagging behind.
When a quarter of your customers are willing to pay a bit extra to have their online purchases delivered that afternoon, it is surprising more retailers are not investing in the “last-mile” – from the warehouse to the customer.
<h2>The threat</h2>
The advantage physical stores always had over online was immediacy. Walk in, grab it and go. While online retail had an endless range of choice and often lower prices, shoppers had to wait.
But “same day” delivery undermines that, combining the convenience of online shopping with the immediacy of bricks n’ mortar.
New retailers and logistics companies are selling us time and convenience just as much as they are selling products or services. Take Ur-bit, a delivery provider operating in Sweden, Paris and London; shop online and get them to pick up and deliver to your home, office, and even your car.
Many in the US and UK have teamed up with third party providers like Lyft and Uber to achieve a same-day delivery. British supermarket Sainsbury’s has more recently begun trailing an app allowing shoppers to order up to 20 products and have them delivered in an hour.
Meanwhile, Australian supermarkets are still only offering next day delivery, with up to 3 hour delivery windows. Although admittedly, Coles has started trialling same-day delivery in some Melbourne stores.
<h2>The opportunity</h2>
While Australian retailers are threatened by speed, it is also an incredible opportunity. Australian retailers may not be able to complete against the likes of Amazon on product range and price, but speed may level the playing field.
Australian retailers have struggled with this since they started selling through multiple channels – stores, online and catalogues. In most cases today, Australian retailers are still pushing products to stores from warehouses, unpacking them, only to have those same products re-packaged and forwarded to a customer’s home.
This isn’t very cost effective, and it also doesn’t work in a context where stores are shipping smaller, individual orders directly to customers’ homes.
What Australian retailers should be focusing on is building fulfilment centres, such as The Iconics’ new facility. These are facilities that are located close to customers, making it very quick and easy to deliver to homes and offices. No repacking required.
The construction of such fulfilment centres has become something of an arms race among online retailers, led by Amazon. It’s time for Australian retailers to join in.
But its not just speed that can give an advantage. In the past, delivery was dominated by a few companies, but today there are myriad new players who offer more than speed. They can arrange not only when a product is delivered, but how it arrives in a customer’s hands - with flexible locations and timing.
Customers’ expectations for flexible, fast and cheap same-day delivery is both a threat and an opportunity for Australia’s major retailers. It is currently unclear who will win this race, but retailers must wake up to the demands of customers. Their competitors already have.
 
Gary Mortimer is an Associate Professor, Queensland University of Technology and author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gary-mortimer-1322" target="_blank">here</a>.
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Aussie retailers need to adapt to a world built on speed: Gary Mortimer

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Lower winter market listings will commence from the Queen’s Birthday holiday break next month, but vendors should really sell their homes whenever it is convenient. 
The unpleasant weather of winter does not dampen interest in the Sydney market as it did in the past. 
Indeed winter can be a great time to sell given that there will be fewer listings competing for buyer attention. 
Over recent years there has been a rising trend of winter auction volumes to record levels. 
REA Group chief economist Nerida Conisbee noted last year winter was the season with the highest clearance rates. 
Average clearance rates across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane for winter were 74 percent, while autumn came in second with an average clearance rate of 69.8 percent. Spring, which most think of as the traditional selling season, had an average clearance rate of 61.8 percent, while summer was lower at 61.1 percent.
Ofcourse the property needn't go to auction, rather be for sale by private treaty or discretely for sale off market.
Common sense would tell you that fewer are inclined come to a wet onsite auction, however while the sticky beaks might drop off during the colder months, the percentage of serious bidders among the attendees actually increases. 
There are few reasons why homes can't be put up for sale in the upcoming cooler months, so here's some quick advice on listing.
Winter can make homes much more welcoming so get that great winter light into the home.
Draw back the curtains and blinds on the windows and make the house or apartment feel warm and comfortable. Light the trendy new hanging fire place.
<div>
Decorators would also suggest add some warm reds and oranges to your soft furnishings around the house.
Be sure to instruct your agent about the best time of day to show your home for its open for inspection.
Auction hibernation certainly happens more so in Sydney's higher-priced suburbs through winter as overseas vacations are the escape for owner and agents alike.
Garden suburb vendors tend to hold back too, but not the inner west so much.
The fact is the demographic reasons for buying and selling don't take a pause so growing families still need that extra bedroom.
Those downsizers who've perhaps got their off the plan settlement coming up, will want to lock in their house sale too.
The recent strong autumn sales period ensures there are still plenty of committed buyers who've missed out.
Unsuccessful buyers with approved finance are still out there to buy before they have to re-apply and meet tougher restrictions, so they don’t have time to take three months off over winter.
So this winter, like any market, there are opportunities to make the most for the seller and buyer.
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Winter does not dampen interest in Sydney market

One of North Sydney's best-known commercial buildings could become hundreds of new homes, with insurance giant Zurich Australia lodging a State Significant Development Application (SSDA) to transform 5 Blue Street into a mixed-use residential development above North Sydney Station.

Rather than demolishing the existing building and starting again, Zurich is proposing an adaptive reuse project that would convert the landmark office building into a 15-level residential development delivering 62 apartments, 86 affordable co-living dwellings, activated retail and significant upgrades to the Blue Street Plaza.

The proposal reflects a growing trend of commercial property owners repositioning ageing office assets into residential housing as Sydney grapples with housing supply shortages and changing workplace demand.

<img alt="Zurich" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="0bba7d12-06dc-4375-aad7-238c94b21ac5" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-07-22%20at%2010.42.05%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=NJl5oLAEBDGuPmY3RnyliKODjMc8lvRh" />

Located directly above North Sydney Metro and train station, the 3,051 sqm site occupies one of the most strategically positioned parcels of land on Sydney's Lower North Shore.

Designed by fjcstudio, the proposal seeks to retain and adapt much of the existing structure while creating a contemporary residential address that better connects with the public domain surrounding North Sydney Station.

The application proposes two basement levels, ground floor retail, affordable co-living accommodation across the podium levels, and apartments above, while preserving and enhancing the publicly accessible Blue Street Plaza.

Rather than pursuing maximum apartment numbers, Zurich has opted for a housing mix heavily weighted towards larger owner-occupier residences.

The proposal includes 62 build-to-sell apartments comprising 12 one-bedroom, 19 two-bedroom, 29 three-bedroom apartments and two premium penthouses. It also incorporates 86 affordable co-living dwellings, which would be managed in perpetuity by a Community Housing Provider.

That balance between traditional apartments and affordable housing reflects the NSW Government's push to increase housing diversity around major transport infrastructure.

The proposal has been lodged concurrently with a rezoning application, with Zurich arguing the site is ideally positioned to support additional housing given its immediate proximity to public transport, employment and services.

"The proposal aims to respond to the housing challenges facing Sydney through the delivery of diverse housing types in a highly accessible location," the design report by fjcstudio states. It also seeks to improve pedestrian amenity through upgrades to Blue Street Plaza while creating a high-performing residential building that responds to the surrounding context.

<img alt="Zurich" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="36082e15-c636-4481-bb68-5a5f6443fe39" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-07-22%20at%2010.41.36%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=5P6VD.fvmqjQfIG3TWWMRXxQWiQBjeFB" />

Rather than replacing the commercial building, fjcstudio has developed a design that works with the existing structural framework above the rail corridor, an approach that significantly reduces demolition while allowing the site to be repositioned as a mixed-use residential precinct.

The existing structural constraints have informed much of the building's design, including its relationship with Blue Street and surrounding public spaces.

The building has been designed as a slender tower rising above a clearly defined podium, with vertically expressed façades intended to reduce the perceived bulk while reinforcing North Sydney's emerging skyline.

According to fjcstudio, the architectural language responds directly to the surrounding commercial towers while maintaining a finer grain expression more closely aligned with the neighbouring Lavender Bay streetscape.

The tower incorporates articulated façade elements, landscaped podium edges and recessed upper levels to soften its appearance and improve pedestrian amenity below.

A significant component of the proposal is the revitalisation of Blue Street Plaza.

The existing public space has long served as one of the primary pedestrian connections between North Sydney Station, Greenwood Plaza and Blue Street, yet its role is expected to become even more important following the opening of Sydney Metro.

Zurich's proposal seeks to strengthen that role by improving landscaping, introducing new retail frontages, enhancing pedestrian permeability and creating more active edges throughout the day and evening.

Ground floor retail would wrap the plaza, while separate residential and co-living entries have been designed to improve wayfinding without reducing street activation.

Landscape design has been integrated throughout the podium and public realm, softening what is currently one of the most heavily urbanised parts of North Sydney.

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fjcstudio has carefully oriented apartments towards Sydney Harbour and the CBD while using privacy blades and articulated façades to minimise overlooking between neighbouring buildings.

Large framed openings along the western elevation maximise harbour outlooks, while the eastern apartments have been angled towards the south-east to improve privacy from neighbouring development.

The project forms part of the continuing transformation of North Sydney from a predominantly commercial CBD into a genuine mixed-use city centre.

Since the completion of Victoria Cross Metro Station, developers have increasingly shifted their attention towards residential projects capable of leveraging the area's unparalleled transport connectivity.

&nbsp;

FiveX recently lodged plans for a 61-storey, 490-apartment tower that would become one of the tallest residential buildings in North Sydney if approved.

Aqualand continues to expand its Lower North Shore presence following the completion of AURA on Walker Street and its recent St Leonards and Roseville proposals.

Developers are also progressing projects throughout Walker Street, Miller Street and the Victoria Cross precinct as demand for well-located owner-occupier apartments continues to strengthen.

Joel Robinson

First look: Zurich targets North Sydney office conversion with 148-unit proposal above Metro station

Busy developer Aqualand Prestige has formally taken the next step in its expansion across Sydney's Lower North Shore, lodging a State Significant Development Application (SSDA) for its long-held Archer Street site in Chatswood.

The application covers <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/51-55-archer-street-chatswood-nsw-2067">51-55 Archer Street</a>, a 1,767 sqm amalgamated site on the eastern edge of the Chatswood CBD, where the developer is seeking approval for a 45-level mixed-use tower delivering 114 apartments, including a significant affordable housing component, alongside retail, commercial space and six basement levels of parking.

The SSDA marks the latest milestone for a project Aqualand has been quietly progressing over the past two years. The developer first secured the site for its Aqualand Prestige platform before undertaking an alternative design excellence process with PTW Architects, ultimately avoiding a formal design competition through the Housing Delivery Authority pathway.

The proposal has evolved considerably from Aqualand's original concept. The revised scheme has been designed around larger owner-occupier product, with an unusually high proportion of three and four-bedroom apartments, targeting the more affluent buyer profile, and downsizer, emerging across the North Shore.

<img alt="Archer St" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="0171204c-5811-41b5-9b09-2335d1b7c3d0" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-07-22%20at%208.52.48%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=6YTuxfq.puZo7k2wbfgemcO5K3QfXYGQ" />

The 114-apartment mix comprises six studios, 27 one-bedroom apartments, 18 two-bedroom apartments, 50 three-bedroom residences and 13 four-bedroom homes. A quarter of the building will be dedicated to affordable housing, well above the mandated 15 per cent&nbsp;

PTW has structured the building vertically, with affordable housing across levels one to six, premium apartments through levels seven to 31, duplex skyhomes on klevels 32 to 43, a penthouse on level 44, and a rooftop plant level above. Six basement levels will provide resident parking and servicing.

The tower is proposed to reach approximately 154 metres, placing it among a growing collection of residential high-rises transforming Chatswood's skyline.

Rather than competing purely on height, PTW says the design has been driven by creating a slimmer tower capable of delivering significantly larger apartments.

"The primary objective of this project was to create a distinctive building that stands out from the recently approved or built structures in the Chatswood area," the design report states, noting the structural efficiency allows greater investment into apartment quality and resident amenity.

Residents would have access to more than 450 sqm of communal open space including landscaped gardens, swimming pool, rooftop entertaining areas, fitness spaces, community gardens, children's play areas and barbecue facilities.

A major focus of the design has been the public domain.

The ground plane has been opened up through landscaped terraces inspired by Willoughby's sandstone ridges, with native planting, public seating, artwork, retail activation and a series of gathering spaces intended to soften what has traditionally been a hard commercial streetscape.

The landscape strategy references Blue Gum forests once common throughout the area, while incorporating Indigenous storytelling, public art and lighting installations to strengthen the connection to Country.

Chatswood has been one of Sydney's busiest apartment markets over the past 12 months, with a steady pipeline of both new project launches and fresh development applications.

Hyecorp recently launched Celine, a 122-apartment development just along Archer Street, while Changfa and Huirong Group are progressing The Anderson, an 84-apartment project on Anderson Street.

Develotek recently secured approval for a 101-apartment tower on Pacific Highway, while Tian An LFD received the green light for Hammond Greens, its apartment development on the edge of the Chatswood Bowling Club.

Commercial property developer FiveX is also making its move into the residential market. Last month it lodged plans for a 61-storey tower with 490 apartments, which, if approved, would become one of the tallest residential buildings in Chatswood.

Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/first-look-fivex-targets-chatswood-skyline-with-61-storey-tower-after-north-sydney-plans">First look: FiveX targets Chatswood skyline with 61-storey tower after North Sydney plans</a>

Aqualand is also expanding its development pipeline following the launch of its luxury residential brand, Aqualand Prestige. The developer has delivered a string of high-end apartment projects across Sydney's affluent suburbs over the past decade, most recently AURA by Aqualand on Walker Street in North Sydney.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=30959 project_image_fid=292863]

It has since quietly assembled its next wave of projects.

Earlier this year Aqualand launched Boronia in Roseville, a boutique 111-apartment development on Larkin Street. The project is one of the first significant apartment developments to launch in the suburb ahead of what is expected to become one of Sydney's most active new housing precincts under the NSW Government's Low and Mid-Rise Housing reforms, which allow greater density around train stations.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152095 project_image_fid=373685]

The developer has also lodged plans for a two-tower, 413-apartment development on Herbert Street in nearby St Leonards, further strengthening its presence across the Lower North Shore.

Beyond that, Aqualand remains behind the final stage of Barangaroo, where plans will deliver a five-hectare mixed-use precinct comprising new homes, retail, hospitality and community facilities, alongside a new Metro entrance and more than two hectares of public open space, completing the Barangaroo precinct.

Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/central-barangaroo-development-takes-big-step-with-concept-proposal-approval">Central Barangaroo development takes big step with concept proposal approval</a>

Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/first-look-aqualand-joins-st-leonards-apartment-party">First look: Aqualand joins St Leonards apartment party</a> 
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First look: Aqualand pushes ahead with Chatswood apartment tower as SSDA lodged for Archer Street

Mass timber is becoming an increasingly popular construction material in apartment developments, but Adelaide developer <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/otello">Otello</a> is taking the approach a step further.

At its new <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/flowe-bowden-18-gibson-street-bowden-sa-5007">Flowe Bowden</a> development, the exposed cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure isn't just about reducing the building's environmental footprint. It also forms the foundation of a broader wellness strategy, influencing everything from indoor air quality and natural materials to the way residents move through and experience the building.

The 115-apartment mixed-use development, designed by Melbourne-based architecture practice Fieldwork, will occupy a prominent island site opposite Bowden Village Reserve, combining one, two and three-bedroom apartments with retail and a dedicated wellness destination.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152022 project_image_fid=375528]

Wellness isn't confined to a gym or shared resident facility at Flowe. Instead, Fieldwork embedded the concept into the building itself.

The development has been split into two residential wings connected by a naturally ventilated central breezeway, replacing traditional enclosed corridors with open-air walkways that improve natural light, encourage cross ventilation and create more opportunities for neighbourly interaction.

"Rather than treating wellness as something that only happens on the ground floor, our response integrates it throughout the building, which led us to ask what it really means to design a healthy building," Fieldwork Director Quino Holland said.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152022 project_image_fid=375531]

The building's architecture also reflects Bowden's industrial heritage. The lower podium references the area's historic brick and sandstone buildings, while the upper levels transition to exposed CLT, allowing the timber structure to become a defining feature throughout the apartments and shared spaces.

The use of mass timber sits alongside a range of sustainability initiatives, including a fully electric, gas-free design, rooftop solar and a targeted 5 Star Green Star rating.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152022 project_image_fid=375524]

Inside the residences, the focus remains on natural, durable materials. Blackbutt engineered timber flooring, exposed CLT ceilings, porcelain surfaces and warm timber joinery create a calming interior palette, while low-VOC finishes and responsibly sourced materials have been selected to improve indoor air quality.

Kitchens have been designed as the centrepiece of each apartment, featuring porcelain island benchtops, timber-look cabinetry and brushed steel tapware, with layouts that maximise natural light and ventilation.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152022 project_image_fid=375530]

The more traditional interpretation of wellness comes in the form of Level Eleven, a two-storey wellness club spanning the ground floor, mezzanine and first floor.

The facility will include a gym, yoga and reformer Pilates studios, Finnish and infrared saunas, magnesium hot and cold plunge pools, and dedicated recovery spaces. Unlike many residential wellness facilities, Level Eleven will also operate commercially, allowing the broader Bowden community to access the venue while giving residents exclusive membership benefits.

The ground floor has also been designed around everyday living. A café overlooking Bowden Village Reserve will activate the street frontage, while a bike workshop with tool storage, co-working space and dog wash has been incorporated to support daily routines and encourage interaction between residents.

"Flowe brings together my two biggest passions, creating places and creating healthier lives," Otello founder Daniel Harris said.

"We wanted to create something Adelaide hasn't seen before, a genuinely healthy building, where the way you live is lifted without even trying."

Flowe is positioned directly opposite Bowden Village Reserve and within walking distance of Bowden Railway Station and the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, placing future residents just minutes from the Adelaide CBD while remaining connected to one of the city's most established urban renewal precincts.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=152022]

Otello launches wellness-focused Flowe Bowden with Adelaide-first mass timber apartment design

Not all apartment amenities are immediately visible.

Swimming pools, gyms, rooftop terraces and residents' lounges have long featured on buyers' wishlists, but as the way Australians live has changed, so too have the features that make apartment living more convenient.

Increasingly, buyers are placing value on the practical aspects of day-to-day life. Fast internet, EV charging, secure bike storage, flexible workspaces and parcel management are becoming just as relevant as lifestyle amenities, reflecting changing habits and expectations.

Online shopping has been one of the biggest drivers of that shift.

Australians spent a record $82.6 billion shopping online in 2025, with almost one in every four retail dollars now spent digitally, making parcel deliveries a routine part of everyday life rather than an occasional convenience.

For apartment residents, however, receiving those deliveries isn't always straightforward.

Without someone home to accept a parcel, deliveries can be redirected to a nearby Post Office, left in building foyers or common areas, or require building management to temporarily store packages. As apartment living continues to grow across Australia's cities, parcel management has become an increasingly important consideration for both residents and developers.

Australia Post's Parcel Locker network is one response to that shift.

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Rather than relying on home delivery, eligible parcels can be directed to a nominated Parcel Locker, where they're securely stored until collected. Once a parcel arrives, residents receive a notification through the AusPost app or SMS and can retrieve it using a one-time code or QR code at a time that suits them.

The network has expanded to more than 1,500 locations nationwide, with Parcel Lockers positioned at Post Offices, shopping centres, supermarkets, transport hubs and, increasingly, within or alongside residential developments.

That growing presence reflects a broader change in how apartment buildings are being planned.

Developers are increasingly considering the operational side of apartment living alongside traditional lifestyle amenities. Just as secure mailrooms, bicycle storage and EV charging have become more common inclusions, parcel management is emerging as another feature that supports everyday convenience.

It also helps preserve the arrival experience within a building. Carefully designed lobbies and communal spaces can quickly become cluttered when deliveries accumulate, while secure parcel solutions reduce the likelihood of missed deliveries or parcels being left unattended.

For buyers comparing apartments, these everyday details are becoming part of the decision-making process.

Location, floorplans and finishes remain fundamental, but the features that simplify daily life are carrying greater weight than they once did. As online shopping continues to shape consumer behaviour, secure parcel delivery is increasingly becoming another amenity worth looking for.

Parcel delivery is joining the apartment amenity checklist

Inca Property Group has lodged a State Significant Development Application (SSDA) for Dawn, a 53-apartment oceanfront development overlooking Mona Vale Beach.

The proposal, at 35-39 Darley Street East, would replace an existing 18-apartment strata building with a new owner-occupier-focused development comprising 53 two and three-bedroom apartments, including nine affordable built-to-rent residences delivered under the State's infill affordable housing scheme.

Positioned on a 2,679 sqm elevated site around 280 metres from Mona Vale Beach, the development has been designed to maximise panoramic ocean views while responding to the site's sloping topography.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/inca-property-group">Inca Property Group</a> Managing Director Josh Thompson said the State Significant pathway provided greater certainty for projects of this scale.

"This State Significant pathway gives the team real certainty to progress <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/dawn-35-39-darley-street-east-mona-vale-nsw-2103">Dawn</a> through to completion," Thompson said.

"It allows us to acquire a one-off site, design it carefully and deliver the right offering for the suburb, assessed by the NSW Government's planning department."

The project is one of the first developments in the area to be assessed under the NSW Government's Low and Mid-Rise Housing policy, with the site sitting on the edge of the policy's designated inner area.

The proposal includes three basement levels providing 124 car spaces, alongside a range of resident amenities including a swimming pool, gym, sauna, wellness facilities and private plunge pools for selected ground-floor and penthouse apartments.

<img alt="Dawn" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="fc1a1daf-0ce4-4f12-9076-b1fa553c7a91" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-07-21%20at%208.42.11%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=4GZ9h.gpNkTljbxyAET8Jfhv51XUamDm" />

Thompson said Dawn had been designed specifically for owner-occupiers and downsizers, a buyer profile that has driven demand across Inca's recent Upper North Shore developments.

"The majority of buyers in our recent North Shore projects have been downsizers, and we are learning exactly what this market is looking for. Beyond the location itself, we have included resort-style amenities to deliver a genuine lifestyle offering," Thompson said.

Located within walking distance of Mona Vale Beach, the town centre, Mona Vale Golf Club and the Royal Motor Yacht Club, Dawn represents Inca's first Northern Beaches project following the sell-out of Tara on Park in Waitara and Ellis Residences, currently under construction in St Ives.

Construction will be undertaken by Inca's in-house construction arm, GOP Constructions.

Dawn is the latest major apartment proposal for Mona Vale, with the suburb emerging as one of the key beneficiaries of the NSW Government's new Low and Mid-Rise Housing policy.

New developer One Living, led by industry veteran Joseph Scuderi, recently secured a site on Mona Vale Road, on the border of Mona Vale and Pymble, where it is planning around 140 apartments.

IPM is also planning its third project in Mona Vale, significantly increasing the scale of its previous developments with an 82-apartment proposal at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/159-167-darley-street-west-mona-vale-nsw-2103">159-167 Darley Street West</a>, opposite Bayview Golf Course and less than 800 metres from Mona Vale town centre.

Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/one-living-enters-sydneys-new-apartment-market-with-northern-beaches-site-acquisition">One Living enters Sydney's new apartment market with Northern Beaches site acquisition</a>

Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/first-look-ipm-plans-third-mona-vale-project">First look: IPM plans third Mona Vale project</a>

Jonathan Chancellor

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