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Sydney has seen the first double digit sale of the year, with the historic Balmoral House in Mosman selling for around $10.3 million.
It was sold by Barclays Global's former senior executive Bruce Goddard and his wife Vanessa, who paid $4.25 million for the sandstone home in 2001.
They bought the home from ad man Wayne Kingston and wife Annalisa, who bought it from publican Peter Bunting and wife Chez for $3.4 million in 1996.
The home was modelled on the villas of the Italian Riviera when built in 1908. It has undergone extensive conservation and renovation works to maintain its period touches.
Offering panoramic views over Balmoral Beach to Manly and North Head, the five bedroom home on 903 sqm features a home office and a wine cellar.
A swimming pool sits in level gardens.
LJ Hooker Mosman agents Geoff Smith and Charlie Biddulph sold the home.
It had been listed late last year with $12 million plus price hopes.
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

Historic Balmoral House, Mosman, sold

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Fairfax shares were placed in a trading halt on Tuesday morning after The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk column revealed spin off plans on Monday. 
The media group seems set to retain between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of Domain under the separation plan.
Fairfax Media is considering a proposal to "spin off" its real estate business Domain. Analysts expect Domain to be worth about $2 billion as a separately listed entity.
The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk advised no formal decision has yet been made.
It wrote Fairfax is "seriously considering spinning off Domain into a separately listed vehicle to be run by current Domain boss Antony Catalano."
Macquarie Capital is advising Fairfax, it revealed.
The article comes as Fairfax prepares to hand down its financial results for the six months to December 31 on Wednesday.
Domain is expected to be a key feature at the results announcement despite recent reports of a constipated listings market.
A Fairfax spokesperson declined to comment to the AFR columnists.
Sources told Street Talk key Fairfax decision makers thought that "the time was right" to enact the long-speculated spin off plans before the end of the year.
The business column described Domain as the shining light within Fairfax earning about $130 million a year for the publishing company.
Goldman Sachs analysts expect Fairfax to report $139 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the six-months to December 31, with Domain accounting for $65 million.
Goldman Sachs told its clients on Monday that it was "all eyes on Domain" with particular focus on any pushback from agents on January price rises.
Last November the billionaire small cap investor Alex Waislitz urged Fairfax Media to consider changing its name to Domain to reflect its growing real estate listings business is now worth more than the entire company’s market value.
Waislitz, whose listed fund Thorney Opportunities (TOP) and private fund Thorney Investment Group own more than 50 million Fairfax shares, suggested the Fairfax name was “anachronistic” and urged the media company to consider rebranding itself.
“We think Domain alone is worth in excess of the entire market capitalisation of Fairfax," The Australian reported.
Last December when speaking to Mumbrella, Antony Catalano said there was “no need” for the real estate business to float separately.
“When you have a business that is growing as quickly as Domain is growing then we have an obligation to our shareholders to realise the value of this business,” he said.
“Fairfax is never going to float this business when so much of the value still hasn’t been realised.
"We’ve said publicly this is a business we expect to grow from $120m EBITDA to somewhere in excess of $200m EBITDA over the next two to three years."
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Fairfax reports Catalano's Domain spinoff being worked on by Macquarie Capital

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There has been a “significant fall” in investor purchase intentions in the past three weeks, marking the biggest move in the research group, Digital Finance Analytics’ 10 years of data.
DFA’s data doesn’t always align with future bank lending to investors, but analytics principal Martin North said property purchase intentions could be “on the turn”. 
“If this is the case, then auction clearances, investor lending momentum and property price rises may be impacted,” he said on <a href="https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/" target="_blank">DFA’s blog</a>, as reported in The Australian.
He said the drop in buying intentions was driven by concerns about future prices, falling rental returns, rising investment interest rates and potential changes to “generous” tax breaks for ­investors.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last week attempted to affirm the government had no plans to alter the 50 per cent capital gains tax concession for investors who hold a property for at least 12 months after reports suggested changes were being considered. 
Confidence was also hit when measures to cool CBA’s property investment lending growth were advised so the bank was adhering to the regulator’s 10 percent annual cap on credit growth. 
CBA ceased refinancing investors from other banks via mortgage brokers and raised interest only lending rates.
North's reported noted over 1.5 million households aspire to purchase property, 85% are looking for owner occupied, 15% investment.
"At the moment 18% are actively saving, hoping to buy sometime in the future, down from 21 percent a year ago.
"The biggest barriers which are stopping them from purchasing, include that prices are too high (44 percent) and the costs of living (17 percent) although the fear of employment is down to 4 percent from 11 percent a year ago.
"Under 1 percent were expecting to transact within the next 12 months, indicating that the majority are currently disenfranchised from the property market, despite the fact that 42 percent expect house prices to rise over the same period. 
"More than 13% said they were having difficulty finding a suitable loan," the latest report noted.
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Property investor 2017 purchasing intentions wane  

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/72861/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVERS 
Federal government ministers have cast a cloud over funding for social housing and homelessness services, leading to speculation that the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) may not survive the 2017 budget.
Treasurer Scott Morrison and Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar point to the recent Report on Government Services, which shows the number of public housing properties has fallen, as evidence of the NAHA’s “abject failure”. Sukkar said:
"We believe it’s crucial that every dollar of spending on affordable housing programs increases the number and availability of public and social housing stock. Clearly, this objective has not been met."
It should be no surprise that Australia’s social housing has been largely static for 20 years. Everything we know about the system tells us it is not funded to even cover the costs of its ongoing operation, let alone growth to meet the needs of an expanding population. Aside from a one-off boost under the 2009 federal economic stimulus plan, social housing has been on a starvation ration for decades.
The whole system system is effectively being run at a loss. So, from the perspective of state governments, building a new public housing dwelling is just one more way of losing money.
The federal government has also long lamented the lack of transparency about how states and territories spend their NAHA funds – about AS$1.5 billion a year. And there are glaring gaps in the evidence about the operations and performance of public housing authorities.
In failing to act on a 2009 commitment to modernise and enhance the Report on Government Services metrics, the states and territories have placed themselves in a weak position to rebut claims of ineffective financial management.
That said, everyone who has any contact with the public housing system knows it to be grossly underfunded. One-off studies occasionally illuminate the scale of the issue. For example, a 2013 New South Wales Audit Office report found a $600 million annual operating deficit for that state’s public housing. But no-one can easily quantify the extent of the problem using routinely published data.
A snapshot of social housing in Australia
Around 320,000 of Australia’s approximately 428,000 social housing dwellings remain under public housing authority control. This stock was amassed through a long series of funding agreements between federal and state and territory governments. These were known as the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreements until their 2009 NAHA rebranding.
From the first Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement in 1945, the basic arrangement was that the federal government would lend funds to state housing authorities to build houses. The states would cover the ongoing costs from the rents paid by working-class tenants.
And, at least to begin with, the housing authorities did build. They made a significant contribution to housing supply, amounting to roughly one in six houses built between 1945 and 1965.
From the early 1970s, the housing authorities were directed, justifiably, to provide more housing to low-income households unable to pay full “market” rents. However, their capital funding also went into a long decline. With the exception of a brief period in the mid-1980s, housing authorities never again built at their earlier rate.
A number of interlocking problems set in. Social housing’s declining share of the housing stock became more tightly rationed to the lowest-income households. This eroded the system’s rent base. At the same time, its ageing buildings and households with greater support needs increased its costs.
Two landmark studies by Jon Hall and Mike Berry charted the implications of these developments for the finances. At the end of the 1980s, all but one of the housing authorities ran an operating surplus. By 2004, all but one ran an operating deficit.
Various attempts to improve the situation have been made. The 1989 Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement switched federal funding from loans to grants; the 1996 agreement allowed federal funds to be spent on recurrent expenses. In the early 2000s, rebates on social housing rents were reduced, slightly increasing revenue.
Modest amounts of public housing have also been transferred into the hands of not-for-profit community housing providers. Partly, this is to take advantage of the eligibility of community housing tenants for Commonwealth Rent Assistance. But although this often enables these providers to run a small operational surplus, it isn’t enough to fund stock replacement or any significant expansion.
Meanwhile, the overall stock has been eaten away, through market sales of public housing, and run down, through skimping on repairs and maintenance. Both are unsustainable strategies.
Running a system without good data
If the broad outlines of the problem are clear, there are major deficiencies in the data as to the details. The Hall and Berry analysis is now dated. There is no current evidence base that shows transparently and consistently what the social housing system in each state and territory costs, and how these costs are met.
For example, the Report on Government Services purports to show the “net recurrent cost per dwelling” for each state and territory. But this does not differentiate between distinct expenditure components such as management and maintenance.
Our 2015 research found that this metric was a “black box”, subject to implausibly large variations across jurisdictions. These reflected the vagaries of departmental restructures, rather than a sound accounting of social housing operations.
There is little doubt that all public housing authorities are now in deficit. However, the Report on Government Services provides no data on the relative scale of these funding shortfalls. Nor do governments routinely reveal the scale of system costs still met by tenants’ rents, nor through stock sales.
What should a rebooted NAHA do?
Although the NAHA does it inadequately, an enduring program of federal funding for operational expenses is essential to sustain the social housing system. Such funding cannot be “replaced”, as Morrison has suggested, by a government-backed aggregated bond financing model.
The bond aggregator model depends on social housing providers having a durable subsidy from government that pays the difference between their ongoing costs and the revenue from rent that low-income tenants can afford.
Instead, NAHA should be rebooted to deliver three things:
capital funding for new social housing stock, distributed according to an assessment of current and projected needs in each state and territory;
recurrent funding, distributed according to the number of social housing dwellings in each state and territory and an assessment of reasonable net recurrent costs; and
clear accounting by social housing providers for costs of provision and the contributions of tenants, government funding and other sources of income towards meeting these costs.
Many in the social housing world would agree the NAHA framework is far from transparent and that there is no certainty that NAHA money is optimally spent. But a ministerial focus on these issues while ignoring the system’s chronic underfunding smacks of re-arranging deckchairs.
Rather than scrapping the NAHA, the system should be rebooted, to properly fund both the growth and ongoing operations of social housing. This must be done on the basis of clear targets for the level of need to be met and the reasonable costs of providing the service.
Chris Martin is research fellow, Housing Policy and Practice, UNSW and can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/chris-martin-203935" target="_blank">here</a>.
Hal Pawson is<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/hal-pawson-147969"> </a>associate director - City Futures - Urban Policy and Strategy, City Futures Research Centre, Housing Policy and Practice, UNSW and can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/hal-pawson-147969" target="_blank">here</a>.
Both are authors for The Conversation.
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Australia needs to reboot affordable housing funding, not scrap it

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The Melbourne house where 1980s singing actor heart-throb Rick Springfield spent a few formative years (above) sold at weekend auction for $1.13 million.
After competition between four bidders, Springfield’s Parkdale teenage years' home was secured by a young couple who saw the classic <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-parkdale-124558774" target="_blank">clinker brick home</a> for the first time on auction morning.
Buyers Wei Gu and his wife Jiegiong Zhan also only heard the Sydney-born rocker’s No. 1 hit Jessie's Girl for the first time when it was played prior to the auction.
The Hodges Mentone agent Mark Eddy said it was a great result.
"Rick and his brother Michael will be pleased that their mother’s home of many years has sold,” Eddy told the Herald Sun.
Domain Group chief economist Andrew Wilson told Domain the upbeat Melbourne auction market had passed another test, but a record super Saturday of auctions loomed next weekend, further testing the depth of buyer support. 
Home sales across the nation ranged from $166,000 to $5.68 million at weekend auctions.
Both sales were in Victoria, with a likely Brighton knockdown selling at $580,000 above reserve (below) at an executor’s auction for $5.68 million. It was a 720 sqm <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-vic-brighton-124543926" target="_blank">St Ninians Road</a> offering.
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/02/20/Screen%20Shot%202017-02-20%20at%2010.13.43%20AM.png" alt="">
The cheapest was a one bedroom unit at <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-unit-vic-bacchus+marsh-124468598" target="_blank">Bacchus Marsh</a> (below), 57 kms out of Melbourne, which was sold for $166,000.
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/02/20/Screen%20Shot%202017-02-20%20at%2010.15.56%20AM.png" alt="">
It last sold at $101,000 in 2006, reflecting 4.7 percent annual growth for the Grant Street townhouse which was marketed as having an expected rental return of $190 to $210 per week.
A prime parkside home in Sydney's Chatswood (below) fetched $4,955,000, the second dearest result at auctions across Australia over the weekend.
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/02/20/Screen%20Shot%202017-02-20%20at%2010.17.40%20AM.png" alt="">
Located at <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-chatswood-124569382" target="_blank">47 Stanley Street</a>, the property was marketed as "an ideal combination of prime positioning and powerful potential."
The solid five bedroom Federation home on a 925 sq m block was knocked down to an local Chinese owner occupier at about 15 per cent above its reserve.
The combined capital city weekend clearance rate remains in the high 70s, despite mid-February auction volumes reaching the highest level so far this year, according to CoreLogic's auction commentator Kevin Brogan.
The larger volume was driven by a substantial rise across the Sydney and Melbourne markets, while there was a small decrease across the smaller capital cities.
The strongest clearance rates, based on preliminary data, were in Sydney and Canberra, where 83 per cent and 81 per cent of auctions returned a successful result.
Canberra’s preliminary auction clearance rate of 81 percent was consistent with last week, and significantly higher than the 61 per cent recorded last year.
A 2011 Philip Leeson-designed <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/50-schlich-street-yarralumla-canberra/1317334380511" target="_blank">Yarralumla house</a> (below) sold for $2.4 million with Peter Blackshaw Manuka agent Mario Sanfrancesco signing up seven registered bidders.
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/02/20/Screen%20Shot%202017-02-20%20at%2010.19.08%20AM.png" alt="">
The Schlich Street block cost $861,000 in 2008.
Melbourne recorded a strong preliminary clearance rate, with 76 per cent of auctions clearing, just below the 77 per cent national average.
The preliminary combined capital city clearance rate was higher on the weekend than the 71 percent in same period last year.
The 2,280 auctions held was slightly lower as 2,347 auctions were held over the same time last year.
Across Melbourne, the 76 per cent clearance rate was up from 75 per cent last week and also higher than the 74 per cent over the same weekend last year.
Melbourne hosted around 1,100 auctions, around double the 556 held last weekend, and around the same seen one year ago.
This weekend in Melbourne, the number of properties for sale is expected to rise to 1400 with Domain's Dr Andrew Wilson suggesting the listings were big for February when auctions were usually only just starting to build up again.
Of the Melbourne sub-regions, the highest clearance rate was recorded across the North East region, with preliminary results showing 85.5 per cent of the 91 auctions were successful.
Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate this week was 83 per cent across 661 auction results.
There were a total of 844 auctions held across the city. Looking back at the same weekend last year, 800 auctions were held across Sydney and a clearance rate of 76 per cent was recorded.
The North Sydney and Hornsby region hosted the most auctions of any Sydney sub-region this week, with 137 properties taken to auction.
"It's another extraordinary result for Sydney," Domain chief economist Dr Andrew Wilson told Domain.
"Next week it could be even bigger with the number of property listings to rise about 30 per cent to 900."
Brisbane’s preliminary clearance rate was 50 per cent, down from 53 per cent last week.
There were 117 Brisbane auctions this week, compared to 131 last week.
Adelaide recorded a clearance rate of 68 per cent across 86 auctions this week, up from 66 per cent across 91 auctions last weekend.
Perth’s clearance rate of 36 per cent across 41 auctions was up from the previous week's 25 per cent.
Perth's highest sale was $2.1 million when a <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-wa-mount+pleasant-124579946" target="_blank">Tudor-style Mount Pleasant riverfront</a> reserve home (below) sold with views of the Mount Henry Bridge on the Canning River.
 
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/02/20/Screen%20Shot%202017-02-20%20at%2010.20.24%20AM.png" alt="">
It was the same price as its 2011 sale at $2.1 million.
 
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Rick Springfield's teen home sold at weekend auction

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SPONSORED POST
I have a client getting 100 percent average growth and returns on his investment portfolio year on year. He’s a department head of one of Australia’s top four banks. He’s not alone – I have many clients getting plus 100 percent returns year on year.
The question I often get asked is ‘what are they investing in?’ But that would be the wrong question.
The big question is: what do we want property to do for us? 1,973,000 or around 8 percent of all Australians own an investment property.
Only 18.9 percent have two properties, 5.5 percent own three, 2 percent own four and 0.9 percent have six or more. That tells us less than 2 percent of the population are using property to build wealth.
Around 7 million Australians own real estate.
The three main reasons to buy a property are: to live in, for income or for capital growth.
So what do we want an investment property to do for us? Two things: give us income and/or give us growth.
The general rule of thumb is the higher the income the lower the growth (i.e. commercial property) and similarly the higher the growth the lower the income.
So when we buy an investment property we need to be clear about our primary objective: growth or income.
I’m a growth-focused investor. Income is important but growth is the focus. The only part of a property that grows in value is the land. Rule number one for me is 40 percent land content.
So how do you get 100 percent plus per annum figure? The answer is compound growth
98 percent of investors make the biggest mistake you can make – they’re simple investors. They know two questions to ask: ‘what are my returns and when do I get my money back?’
When it comes to property they have one mantra; ‘location, location, location.’ Generally the best location is close to where they live.
Simple investors buy with a view to then sell. Compound investors focus on growth and use this growth for leverage, enabling them to grow their portfolio on their initial investment. Some very important factors then come into play with the strategy. For example the bank you use is vital – you must get a copy of the bank valuation and resist cross-collateralising your own home.
And to top it all off, Australia’s population growth is 1.5 percent-2 percent p.a. Custodian investors have their land bank strategically placed in growth areas where the average population growth rate is over 6 percent p.a. that’s more than three times the Australian average. ‘
Land is the commodity and land is the focus.
John Fitzgerald is CEO of Custodian Group. He founded his company in 1981 and has since bought, sold and developed more than 10,000 properties in 4 states of Australia. He wrote the 7 steps to Wealth in 1998 - now in its 7th edition. Get a copy at <a href="https://www.custodian.com.au/getthebook/" target="_blank">getthebook.com.au</a>.
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Invest in land - that is where the growth is: Custodian

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The penthouse in Darlinghurst's Top of the Town apartment complex has been bought by property developer Duncan Hardie and his wife, Lyn.
He has paid $10.9 million to former media executive Cameron O'Reilly, who had bought it from the Sutton car dealership family for $8.25 million in 2007.
The dual-level apartment, sold through Alison Coopes at Agency by Coopes, has been rebuilt with swathes of glass and marble.
The three bedroom, three bathroom apartment has 700 sqm of space including its impressive rooftop lawn.
Duncan Hardie recently sold the Hunter Valley's Sweetwater winery.
He built the Mediterranean-style residence and commissioned Country Trader's Geoff Clark to fill it with antiques from across Europe.
Inspired by southern European vineyard estates, the 48 hectare holding came with reduced hopes after being listed with a $30 million price tag in 2015, but sold at a substantial discount to property developer Sam Arnaout.
Hardie has long aspired to an inner city penthouse being the $19 million off the plan buyer of a Wylde Street, Potts Point penthouse that failed to be constructed. 
This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.
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Cameron O'Reilly sells Darlinghurst's Top of the Town penthouse

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GUEST OBSERVER
Super Saturday is coming early for Cooley Auctions with 100 homes set to go under the hammer on February 25 - a personal best for the successful team.
Looking back at the same weekend over the past five years, February has never looked hotter for Cooley Auctions. Only 2014 came close with 97 auctions in one day, but this year will smash that record.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Sydney cracks 1,000 auctions. It's definitely going to be a very big day. 
There are already 926 auctions scheduled for February 25 according to APM price finder figures, but that number could be higher on the day.
With so many homes on the auction block on one day, the Cooley Auctions team will be far busier than the same weekend last year when there were 66 auctions scheduled. In 2015 there were 83 auctions on the corresponding Saturday.
All eyes turn to February as the month when consumers and industry insiders can truly gauge how the year's auction season will shape up.
It's extremely important that the day passes the acid test. If the market goes well on a big Saturday with big volumes then the indication will be that the market is in a really good position to continue through the Easter period and most likely well into the first half of 2017.
If the autumn season starts with a bang then it almost always guarantees that the winter market will be hot. However, timing is everything.
Super Saturday usually comes just before Easter, but Easter this year is in mid April which is actually really good news for agents.
Agents can capitalise on that time frame. When Easter is a little bit later it means that we get a couple more weeks of auctions in before the holiday weekend.
Despite 2017 barely being two months in, the Sydney auction scene is already showing signs of market sentiment.
Honestly, I think there is a bit of fear about. A lot of vendors are trying to come onto the market as early as they can because there's a lot of talk of a market correction. There is a fear of missing out on the peak of the market which is absolutely a contributing factor to the number of auctions on February 25.
With such a bumper February that will see 403 auctions in the bag, Cooley Auctions is gearing up for a busy 2017. The closest February auction numbers were back in 2015 when the firm clocked up 379 auctions for the shortest month of the year and subsequently went on to perform more than 6,000 auctions over the 12-month period.
Damien Cooley, managing director of Cooley Auctions and can be contacted <a href="https://cooleyauctions.com.au/" target="_blank">here</a>.
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Super Saturday in February: Damien Cooley

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Opening Remarks to Plenary Panel at the Australasian Housing Researchers Conference
Luci Ellis 
Assistant Governor, RBA
In financial stability, my old role, housing is certainly crucial. Housing is the biggest asset most households will own and the bulk of household sector wealth. Lending against housing is also a large part of financial sector assets. Housing outcomes are therefore central both to the welfare of households and the stability of the financial system.
The housing sector is also crucial on the monetary policy side, my new role. As a sector, it is especially sensitive to interest rates. It is a key part of the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. Housing prices respond to interest rates, and in turn affect household consumption through wealth and collateral effects. And the housing construction industry is one of the most interest-sensitive.
The theme of this conference is ‘Housing and Inequality’. I'd like to talk about two aspects of that. First, there's the inequality – or rather, diversity – between countries. Second, there's the inequality represented by the distribution of housing outcomes across residents of a particular country.
Institutions Matter: The Cross-country Dimension
On the first, we can summarise by saying that institutions matter. Country-specific features are very important to housing outcomes, including the outcomes most relevant to monetary and financial stability policymakers.
<ul class="ul1">
<li class="li1">A range of institutions determine the idiosyncratic risk that households face, and thus the credit risk they pose to lenders. These include labour market institutions, the funding of health care, and the structure and generosity of the social safety net.</li>
<li class="li1">Geographic and other factors determine the urban structure, which in turn affects the relative price of housing. We know from economic geography that as city populations rise – and the amenities that go together with that – housing prices rise even relative to the higher incomes that often go along with big-city living. So urban concentration affects macro-level variables, like the ratio of housing prices to household incomes, as well as individual-level outcomes, such as people's lifetime housing experiences.</li>
<li class="li1">The structure of the mortgage market matters, for example whether fixed or variable-rate mortgages predominate. These features are in turn affected by a range of tax and other institutional factors. An example of a feature quite specific to Australia is the popularity of linked offset accounts. These change the interpretation of debt data that do not adjust for balances in these accounts. They also change assessments of the resilience of the household sector to various kinds of shocks.</li>
</ul>
Taken together, these factors suggest that we can't assume a single value of any particular macro-level ratio exists that is ‘right’ for all countries or for all time. It depends. We can't assume that a particular level of debt is always and everywhere sustainable. It depends on who has the debt and what kind of credit risk they pose. We can't assume that a particular level of prices is ‘correct’ or ‘sustainable’ in all circumstances.
What we can do is get some sense of the relativities between countries that you might expect, given those institutional and other differences. For example, we can reasonably expect that countries where much of the population lives in smaller, cheaper cities will have lower national aggregate ratios of housing prices to incomes than other countries. That might partly explain why the price-to-income ratio for the United States is relatively low (Graph 1). By contrast, Australia is somewhere around the middle of the pack of mid-sized countries on this metric.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph1.gif" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph1.gif" alt="">
 
Similar comparisons of household debt-to-income ratios across countries also put Australia in the middle of the pack.[1] The United States is lower, consistent with the lower average price-to-income ratios there. Several small European countries, such as Sweden and the Netherlands, have much higher ratios than Australia does. I would not expect or want Australia's ratio to be as high as it is in those countries. Their institutions are different. In particular, a wider range of debt is tax-deductible in those countries, so households have less incentive to pay debt down.
Distributions Matter: The Micro-level Dimension
The concept of inequality perhaps of most interest to this conference, though, is the differences across households. The way people access housing is not the same. These distributional issues can be considered over several dimensions.
<ul class="ul1">
<li class="li1">We can consider the distribution of outcomes in the cross-section of households: how outcomes differ for different types of households at a point in time.</li>
<li class="li1">We can consider outcomes for different cohorts: whether the experience of people in a particular age group changes over time.</li>
<li class="li1">We can consider issues of intergenerational distribution: whether outcomes for people in one generation depend on the experiences of their parents.</li>
</ul>
It turns out that these sorts of distributional issues matter for policy. Certainly they matter for financial stability policy. It is rarely the median borrower who defaults. Risk comes from the tails of the distribution. But even something as ‘macro’ as the transmission of monetary policy turns out to depend strongly on distributional considerations (Hughson et al 2016). 
So the Reserve Bank spends a lot of time and resources examining household survey data and other micro-data to inform our macro understanding; some of that work has explicitly touched on inequality as the subject of interest (Dollman et al 2015), while other work has noted the effect of macro-level developments on inequality (La Cava 2016). The rest of my talk today will cover a few interesting findings from this type of analysis. I'm not setting out to be comprehensive here, because that would not be feasible in the time available. But hopefully it will give a flavour of what's possible and the kinds of issues we've looked at.
<ul class="ul1">
<li class="li1">Firstly, and unsurprisingly, housing ownership and housing wealth are not equally distributed across the cross-section of households.</li>
<li class="li1">Secondly, fewer young people are home owners now than previous cohorts at the same age. This is partly about demography. If it were purely a story of people being priced out, other outcomes would be different.</li>
<li class="li1">Finally, concerns about access to appropriate housing aren't only about ownership. We should also think about how housing is experienced, including security of tenure.</li>
</ul>
One issue of inequality that generates a lot of public discussion is whether people can purchase their own home. Housing affordability is clearly a concern more generally, because adequate shelter is so important to human welfare. But clearly there is great social interest in how that housing is delivered, who owns it, and who pays for it. Of the many inquiries into housing affordability over the past decade or so, at least two – the Productivity Commission's 2003 Inquiry and the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics Inquiry in 2015 – were specifically on home ownership.
At a national level, Australia actually has a home ownership rate that is neither unusually high nor unusually low.[2] Many of the countries that have higher rates seem to manage it by having very high proportions of young adults living with their parents, even into their thirties, rather than renting. But the outcomes do vary across households. We can see this in several independently collected data sets, but for today I'm going to rely mainly on the HILDA survey.
Unsurprisingly, higher-income households are more likely to own their own home, whether with a mortgage or outright (Graph 2). The highest-income group are not only more likely to live in their own home; the wealth represented by their own home, net of debt, is also higher than for lower-income and middle-income households.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph2.gif" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph2.gif" alt="">
 
More important than income, though, is life stage. Not many teenagers or young adults are heads of households; those that are, are not that likely to own their own home.[3] Over time, people do start purchasing their home. Home ownership rates rise rapidly with age, reaching 80 per cent for households headed by someone aged 55 or more (Graph 3). Housing wealth has the same pattern, largely because the older you are, the longer you have had to pay your mortgage down.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph3.gif" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph3.gif" alt="">
 
Because higher-income households are more likely to be owner-occupiers, they are also more likely to have mortgage debt (Graph 4). This is why we say that most of the mortgage debt in Australia has been borrowed by those most able to service it. That said, the lower-income households that do have debt, tend to have quite a lot of debt relative to their incomes. Sometimes this is because they have temporarily low incomes, but overall it does speak to the need to be aware of pockets of potential stress within a more benign overall picture.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph4.gif" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph4.gif" alt="">
 
Participation in the housing market need not be about owning your own home. Many people rent; someone else has to own those dwellings as well. In Australia, most private rental properties are owned by other households. In other words, there are not many companies operating as residential landlords. A good indication of who owns rental properties comes from looking at people who have housing debt other than debt on their own primary residence. In this graph, we have split up the share of people who have any housing debt into those who have only debt on their own home, and those who have some other kind of housing debt; most, but not all, of this second group also have owner-occupier debt. As you can see, this other property debt is even more likely to be held by high-income earners than owner-occupier debt is.
The pattern of rising ownership rates for older age groups does not give everyone comfort that most people will be able to afford a home eventually. People worry that it is becoming harder to achieve home ownership at a given life stage than it used to be. This would be an issue of inequality across cohorts. It is true that home ownership rates have fallen for most age groups over time (Graph 5). The overall ownership rate has stayed fairly steady because the population is ageing. It is also true that ownership rates shifted down between 2006 and 2011; we'll know what happened in 2016 when the Census data come out in a few months.
The 25–34 age group is typically seen as the core group of first home buyers. We can see that ownership rates in this group have fallen by a bit more than 10 percentage points since the 1970s. But we can also see that most of the decline had already happened by the early 1990s, before the big increase in housing prices relative to incomes. What changed during that earlier period was that people started partnering and settling down later in life. The post-war Baby Boom had been characterised by an anomalously young average age at first marriage. Through the 1970s and 1980s, the normal historical pattern started to reassert itself. Ownership rates for young people declined as a result, because many people wait to settle down before they buy a home.
By saying this, I'm not suggesting that people should not worry about whether households can achieve their desired housing tenure. I am suggesting that the situation is more complex than would be suggested by a single-minded focus on a single metric of affordability, such as median housing prices.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph5.gif" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph5.gif" alt="">
 
Much of the commentary around the difficulty of achieving home ownership centres on the task of accumulating the deposit. It seems common to assume that everyone needs a 20 per cent deposit when they first buy. This isn't actually true: although lenders require some deposit coming from genuine savings, it doesn't have to be as high as 20 per cent. So it's surprising that as housing prices have risen, the distribution of loan-to-valuation ratios – the converse of the deposit – hasn't shifted up over time (Graph 6). If anything it has declined in the past few years for which we have data. It's not entirely clear why this is. And because a high loan-to-valuation ratio does imply higher risk both for the borrower and the lender, it might not be such a bad thing. But it does suggest that, again, the situation is more complex than a simple summary statistic can capture.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph6.gif" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph6.gif" alt="">
 
One reason why first home buyers haven't needed to increase loan-to-valuation ratios might be that more of them are getting help from friends and family to accumulate the deposit. Careful analysis of the HILDA Survey dataset shows that the share of first home buyers receiving that help has been increasing over the decades, but it actually remains low (Graph 7).
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph7.gif" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph7.gif" alt="">
 
It is common to focus on the different outcomes for owners versus renters in purely financial terms. Another aspect of inequality I would like to talk about today is security of tenure. A range of different data sources confirm that although young people move more often than older people, the big difference is between renters and owners (Graph 8). A similar pattern occurs in countries such as the United States (Bachmann and Cooper 2014).
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph8.gif" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph8.gif" alt="">
 
Looking just at the group of households who can be tracked through the whole life of the HILDA survey, and who didn't switch between owning and renting at any stage, you can also see that renters were also more likely to have moved many times in that 13-year period (Graph 9).
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph9.gif" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/02/17/sp-ag-2017-02-16-graph9.gif" alt="">
 
Some earlier literature has suggested that transaction costs induce home owners to move less often than they might otherwise do, which makes it harder for them to take advantage of changing labour market opportunities (Oswald 1999). That effect doesn't seem clear in Australian data, so I would not draw that conclusion here (Flatau et al 2002). Yet even without the transaction costs of selling a home – including tax, legal fees and agent commissions – we know that moving house can be disruptive and costly. So I question whether all those moves by renters were desired by those households. Many renters are happy with their current home, but are required to move because the lease expired or the landlord sold the property. If we are concerned about inequality of housing outcomes, perhaps we should focus less on the type of tenure, and more on security of tenure.
That's just a brief round-up of some of the issues we have been looking at recently. Housing issues will always be with us, and will always be important to the functions of the Reserve Bank. That's why we value conferences like this: the diverse perspectives offered help us see the bigger picture. I'm certainly looking forward to the rest of the discussion in this session.
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Housing sector is crucial for monetary policy: RBA's Luci Ellis

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GUEST OBSERVER
The Prime Minister’s statement yesterday that there will be no changes to capital gains tax (CGT) on housing has the full support of the residential building industry. 
New housing is one of the most highly taxed commodities in the Australian economy.
In the lead up to last year’s election there were a range of proposals from reducing CGT on investment properties to applying the tax on the family home. Yesterday’s categorical statement by the government provides continued certainty to the industry and to investors.
The housing industry has opposed changes to the way capital gains are currently treated on investment properties. It would mean investors pay even more tax.
Right now, around two dollars out of every five that an individual pays for a new home is tax. 
Buyers pay those taxes. And then they pay taxes on the taxes. They pay stamp duty on top of taxes, including the GST. And when they eventually sell the property, if they make any money, they pay tax on that. 
Housing cannot be asked to pay even more taxes. It would simply have the opposite effect. 
When it comes to improving housing affordability, the focus should be on increasing supply year on year. This won’t happen by removing the incentives to build new homes and placing pressure on existing housing prices to meet demand.
Graham Wolfe is deputy managing director, HIA, and can be contacted <a href="https://hia.com.au" target="_blank">here</a>.
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PM’s capital gains tax decision the right one: HIA's Graham Wolfe

Developer <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/bottega-property-group">Bottega House</a> has secured council approval for its first Brisbane project - a $270 million luxury residential development on an absolute riverfront site in leafy St Lucia.&nbsp;

The 15-storey project, known as <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/st-lucia-by-bottega-house-180-macquarie-street-st-lucia-qld-4067">St Lucia by Bottega House</a> , will occupy a prime north-facing site at 178-180 Macquarie Street, directly fronting the Brisbane River in the established inner-west suburb known for its rowing clubs, golf courses and sprawling University of Queensland campus.&nbsp;

St Lucia by Bottega House will feature a suite of amenities including dedicated wellness spaces, a mineral pool and cold plunge. The project has been positioned to attract affluent owner-occupiers seeking high-quality, house-sized apartments.&nbsp;

Bottega House has been set up by co-directors Nick Malloch, Louis Mennes and Craig Marsh.

Malloch said the project drew inspiration from its Brisbane River setting and leafy inner-west surrounds, while responding to the demands of discerning locals looking to transition from freestanding homes into apartment living.&nbsp;

"With an expansive river frontage and lush green surrounds, we knew we had to create something special that reflects the natural beauty of the location while offering residents masterfully crafted homes," said Malloch.&nbsp;

"Our intent was to complement the project's quiet, private setting by introducing residences that offer a calm retreat and sanctuary from the everyday. The result is a harmonious blend of architecture, interiors and amenity that emphasises wellbeing, comfort and beauty without excess."&nbsp;

Malloch added that project consultants had been carefully selected in alignment with Bottega House's commitment to care, quality and attention to detail. The design team includes architects <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/plus-studio">Plus Studio</a>, interiors practice <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/interior-designers/mim-design">Mim Design</a> and landscaping by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/urbis">Urbis</a>.&nbsp;

Three-bedroom apartments are expected to start around $5 millio. Selling agents Keenan &amp; Byrne said the pricing strategy for the project was anticipated to achieve upwards of $25,500 per square metre.&nbsp;

The project's development approval this week follows the success of Bottega House's inaugural Queensland project - a 22-storey collection of full-floor sky homes at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast which included the sale of a two-storey penthouse at a record price for a beachside residence.&nbsp;

St Lucia by Bottega House is expected to launch to market in November, with construction anticipated to be completed mid 2029.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=151826]

Joel Robinson

Bottega House to make Brisbane debut with St Lucia riverfront apartment development

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/sherpa-property-group">Sherpa Property Group</a> is advancing its affordable apartment model into Brisbane with the acquisition of another site at Cordelia Street in South Brisbane for $27 million.

Sherpa, which has a $1.7 billion pipeline across Southeast Queensland, intends to bring a cohort of apartments exclusively for first homebuyers into its proposed 186-apartment project to be built at 2 Cordelia Street.

The Sherpa model has already been incredibly well received from their Gold Coast projects, where Sherpa Group set aside a number of apartments exclusively for first homebuyers.

The new $320 million project marks Sherpa Group's second development in Brisbane, following its $255 million Symphony project, also on Cordelia Street, which is currently under construction.

Symphony will deliver 146 apartments across 28 levels, offering a mix of one, two and three-bedroom apartments. With 114 already sold, construction by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/builders/lps-group">LPS Group</a> is scheduled for completion in 2028.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=7574 project_image_fid=351654]

Sherpa Founder, Christie Leet, said the company was excited to be venturing into Brisbane for its second residential project.

“We’re big believers in the future of Brisbane as we lead into the 2032 Olympics and beyond,” Leet said.

“The success of Symphony has guided us into what will be our second project and we look forward to submitting our plans with council soon so we can deliver yet another quality project to the inner city residential market.

“Our Flourish model has been very well received both in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and we’re excited to be able to offer some of these apartments again exclusively to first homebuyers to help get them into the property market.

“The model has been extraordinarily well received in our previous projects and it is something we are committed to moving forward.”

2 Cordelia Street will be designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/hal-architects">HAL Architects</a> &amp; Finegrain and will include Sherpa’s signature residential amenities including pool, gym, recreation, wellness and work from home spaces.

The project will feature ground-floor commercial space, creating a vibrant amenity for residents and the surrounding community.

A development application will be lodged with Brisbane City Council in August on the code compliant site and will be launched to the market early 2027.

Sherpa acquires new site for second Brisbane apartment tower

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.

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]

Jonathan Chancellor

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