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One of the most striking Casuarina beachfront homes on the coastline has been listed.
<a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-casuarina-122489174" target="_blank">Set across a 1200 sqm block with a 21 metre beachfront reserve frontage</a>, it is a Paul Ulmann designed home featuring natural hardwoods and intricate stone work.
There's solid black butt floors and soaring ceilings.
The mosaic tiled pool is framed beneath a huge voided main roof cut-out.
It has been listed through Ray Real Estate Salt Village agent Bruce Williams who has a $3,375,000 asking price for 11 Dryandras Court.
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Paul Ulmann-designed home offering at Casuarina

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/57114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
We live in a global age of cities. Australia’s major urban regions are expanding rapidly. Melbourne took in a further 91,600 residents in 2014-15, giving an annual growth rate of 2.1 percent. It’s one of the fastest-growing cities in the developed world.
Australia’s other large cities also grew quickly in the past year – Sydney at 1.7 percent and Perth and Brisbane at 1.6 percent. Together the five largest cities added more than 250,000 residents in 2014-15. Projected over the next decade, that’s 2.5 million, the equivalent of adding an extra Brisbane.
Behind the gloss of ‘liveability’
In providing for the well-being of the next three million urban Australians, we need to take unvarnished stock of our situation. Australia’s cities have a reputation for being highly liveable, but such corporate metrics obscure many malign facets.
After three decades of market-driven urbanisation, our cities have become engines of social inequality. The rich have been lifted, inflating housing markets and capturing sites with the best government services and infrastructure and near to high-paid jobs. The poor are displaced to cheaper distant sites where employment, infrastructure and services are lean.
Our cities are socially divided. We’re doing little to redress these failures. 
Our cities are also machines for environmental degradation and climate change. Buildings and transport systems are overwhelmingly powered by fossil fuels. Expanding fringes continue to consume vulnerable habitats and precious agricultural land. Even infill development adds to urban land-clearing as backyard trees are bulldozed for townhouses and apartments.
We run our urban systems so that every new resident adds to environmental harm. We need to decouple urban growth from environmental loss.
We waste public resources on grand transport infrastructure for individual private motor vehicles. Our neglected public transport networks either struggle to meet demand, or are absent and so mire whole communities in costly car dependence. Car parking – ubiquitous, spatially hungry and inefficiently underpriced – consumes valuable urban space.
Our governance arrangements are mismatched to the scale of our urban problems. Financing arrangements favour the federal government, an absent actor in urban policy, save for election campaigns when infrastructure baubles are showered from on high. Meanwhile states struggle with their urban service responsibilities.
None of our cities have democratic processes that operate at the level of whole metropolitan areas. Brisbane comes close but is only one council among ten in the urbanised southeast Queensland region.
We urgently need to move beyond our failed model of urbanisation and development.
A fourth phase of urban growth?
Australian cities began as congested 19th-century administrative port towns. As the problems of housing and poverty emerged, we spent the 20th century suburbanising our cities. Via post-WWII reconstruction, we solved housing deficits with new residential suburbs linked to nearby manufacturing as a model of public welfare.
A third phase of urbanisation emerged in the 1980s as we offshored manufacturing. Our cities were reworked to the dictates of global capital by reorienting our inner-urban industrial cores around symbolic work and leisure complexes while deregulating planning and privatising infrastructure.
We began to infill our cities, but in a haphazard way, missing many of the assumed gains from consolidation. The reliance on markets has only added to our urban woes by reducing democratic influence on urban decisions.
With the failures of past planning now apparent, the unruly threat of a damaged and depleting planet is ushering us toward a fourth era of urban restructuring. What urban futures await? What might “City v4.0” look like?
Priorities for 21st-century cities
The problems are vast and complex, but here are some brief starting points.
The first big task for City v4.0 is rapid and radical decarbonisation of our urban systems to reduce our outsized consumption of planetary resources. We need to urgently reduce the use of fossil-fuelled automobiles by shifting to public transport and active travel modes.
Transport decarbonisation can be achieved by a combination of registration costs, road user charging, road space removal and expansion of public transport, though necessarily calibrated around progressive cost structures to avoid social harms. Walking and cycling, the cheapest and most sustainable modes, need an order-of-magnitude leap in the funding and support they enjoy.
We can’t wait for electric cars to be adopted en masse. That prospect is still decades away if it can be achieved at all. Electric cars are largely the preserve of the affluent. They offer little respite to poorer households driving older and less efficient fossil fuel cars across vast suburban distances.
We need to ensure decarbonisation is done inclusively rather than adding another axis of social division. It also means ditching most of our transport cost-benefit analyses which ignore environmental and social costs.
We need to resocialise our cities. Social disparities are hard to redress once entrenched, so that effort must start immediately. The first task is to achieve more even distribution of high-quality jobs, services and infrastructure across our cities so location does not equate to opportunity. This will require a mix of investment, active government planning and new revenue-raising models to fund better urban services.
We need comprehensive and progressive land taxes across our cities. These would draw revenue from the inflationary gains made in property markets during recent decades – which favour the wealthy – and redirect them to public purposes. Taxing higher-value service-rich inner properties, for example, to fund redress of suburban service and infrastructure deficits is an urgent urban reform for more inclusive, equitable cities.
Perhaps some land-tax revenue could go to rebuilding our degraded public housing stock. This has declined as a proportion of all dwellings in recent years.
Further mechanisms, like inclusionary zoning, to make our cities more inclusive and productive via more affordable housing are urgently needed. Removing minimum car-parking standards for infill developments could improve housing affordability and support sustainable transport.
Our cities need comprehensive plans to ensure urban land-clearing from infill development does not leave them overheated, stale and brown. Around half of all urban vegetation is on private land, so we need arrangements to preserve and extend green space. Converting underutilised road space to parks or biodiversity corridors has multiple benefits and should be widely adopted.
New paradigms of planning and governance 
A further opportunity, though rarely discussed, is to reactivate our lost capacity for regional planning. Population growth in the major cities should be discouraged in favour of regional centres.
And we need to see our major cities not just as individual primate cities but as networked city-regions. That would entail co-ordinated planning effort to better distribute new population, backed by active facilitation of employment and service investment. This would involve much faster trains than the puffing billies that currently serve our regional cities.
Lastly, our governance arrangements need urgent reorganisation to embed democracy at the meaningful level of the metropolitan area. This would provide a tangible and accessible middle tier between the incapacities of local governments and the general duties of state governments. Metropolitan plans with a clear democratic foundation and enabled by a clear fiscal base should be a priority for urban democratic improvement.
Nationally, we need better co-ordination of policies and funding between the federal government, which controls immigration and taxation, and lower tiers such as the states, which have all urban service responsibilities. Introducing a spatial perspective into all domestic federal policy to understand how federal actions impact cities and their regions would improve policy performance.
As a migrant country with a high rate of population growth, Australia takes people from less environmentally damaging nations and cities and, through our inefficient and degraded urban systems, turns them into some of the worst planetary consumers in the world. There seems little appetite for limiting immigration, nor is stopping urban population growth feasible.
So in an era of global urban transformation, we urgently need to change how we manage, build and grow our cities to version 4.0 so every additional resident enhances, rather than detracts from, the liveability, environmental sustainability and prosperity of our cities.
Jago Dodson is professor of Urban Policy and Director, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University and author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jago-dodson-2359" target="_blank">here</a>.
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City v4.0, a new model of urban growth and governance for Australia

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GUEST OBSERVER
For the fifth consecutive year, Melbourne has been named the world’s most liveable city by The Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual survey. 
While the ranking is based on a range of factors such as healthcare, culture, education and infrastructure, Secret Agent believes that Melbourne's success is due to thoughtful urban design.
We owe it to Jan Gehl, the Danish architect and urban designer who worked together with Melbourne City Council in the early 1990s to transform the city from, in his own words, “neutron bombed, not a soul - not even a cat”, into a place for people.
Much of our laneway culture and outdoor dining today can be attributed to Gehl’s visionary thinking and humanistic approach to urban design.
Three main principles can be drawn from Gehl’s work:
1. Design the city at 5km/h
Cities had always been designed for people, who move at a modest speed of about 5km/h, up until the boom of the automobile in the 1960s. New cities were then designed at 60km/h - wider, further apart, less accessible by foot. Gehl’s intervention in Melbourne applied the human scale of the older, 5km/h cities, giving birth to our laneway culture that is now inseparable from the city’s identity. Narrow, dense and brimming with life, there is a certain magic that comes with compact spaces.
Thanks to Gehl and planning changes, Melbourne CBD has gained 20 hectares of footpaths over 15 years. Designing walkable urban spaces encourages people to do so, resulting in a healthier population. Think about how far a person has to walk to get from A to B; is it a comfortable distance? If it necessarily becomes a lengthy walk, can it be a safe, pleasant and eventful journey?
2. Design the city at eye level
The city at 5km/h, naturally, becomes the city at eye level. There must be visual interest or the opportunity for interaction at eye level to enrich the experience of a space. When Gehl suggested to Melbourne city planners in 1978 that it needed more sidewalk cafes, he was met with disapproval, due to its health risks and Melbourne's harsh weather. Today, the city has over 200 outdoor cafes.
Imagine yourself walking along Swanston Street or Bourke Street Mall on any given afternoon of the week. Chances are you've also thought about the large crowds, buskers, outdoor  diners and corporate workers having their takeaway lunches out in the sun. Our city presents many opportunities to stop and have a conversation, or simply sit and enjoy peoplewatching.
3. Life &gt; Space &gt; Buildings
Start by designing for life. What will people be doing; eating, walking, playing? Where can people stand or sit; will there be an opportunity to sit in the afternoon sun? By first painting a picture of how people will feel and behave, we can craft urban spaces to accommodate them. Only then do we consider how buildings can enrich the environment and preserve the flow of daily life.
Urban developments that fail typically suffer from the same syndrome: they’re bland and stark, where buildings are just objects in space. There’s nothing to do or see, and they fall short of making that transition from spaces to places.
As Melbourne’s population grows, Secret Agent hopes that we continue to build liveable and walkable places for people. Let’s not forget the most important lesson from Gehl:
“Every time we build something, we manipulate the conditions of people’s lives, but most planners don’t know enough about this manipulation. We are manipulating every time we put down a stone.”
For more information, <a href="https://secretagent.com.au/" target="_blank">click here</a>.
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Three reasons why Melbourne is the world's most liveable city: Secret Agent

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GUEST OBSERVER
Following the end of the mining boom, Australia’s growth has been rebalancing towards housing and the services sectors. The first part of the rebalancing act involved a significant rise in housing prices and housing construction. 
Housing prices have risen by 30 percent since mid-2012, led by Sydney and Melbourne. Most of the rampup in building has been apartments in the major cities. 
The housing market is now cooling, as a result of tighter prudential settings and the boost to housing supply.
<a href="/images/2016/04/22/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-22%20at%208.43.29%20AM.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/04/22/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-22%20at%208.43.29%20AM.png" alt=""> 
Although the housing upswing has been a necessary part of the rebalancing act, it also drove a rise in household debt. The household debt-to-income ratio has risen from 167 percent in 2011 to 186 percent in 2015. Australian household debt levels are among the highest in the world. However, high household debt is not, in itself, a problem, as long as the debt is held by households that can service it. In Australia, the distribution is fairly favourable, with high income earners holding most of the debt.
Institutional features also matter. In Australia’s case, all mortgages are full recourse, significantly reducing the incentive to default. Australia does not have sub-prime mortgages. Australian households also use their mortgage to save, given the tax benefits available for doing so. This has meant that the average mortgage is currently more than 2.5 years pre-paid, leaving households with a significant equity buffer to draw down, if needed. The prudential regulator has also been tightening lending standards over the past 18 months, particularly for investors, reducing the risks involved with the new lending. Loan-to-valuation ratios on new loans have fallen.
We expect housing price growth to remain subdued in coming quarters. We see some risk that apartment prices could fall, given signs of over-supply of apartments, particularly in Melbourne and Brisbane. However, we view these apartment markets as somewhat segmented from the detached housing market. Significant foreign investment in new apartments also limits domestic financial system exposure.
Overall, we see mortgage debt as generally well distributed to households that can  afford to continue to service it and see the financial stability risks as moderate.
Australia’s housing market is cooling 
National housing prices have been broadly steady over the past six months, following strong growth over recent years (Chart 1). 
The slowdown has been most vivid in Sydney and Melbourne, where housing prices have been flat since October, following annual average growth of 10 percent and 6 percent over the previous four years (Chart 2). Housing price growth has been much more modest in the rest of the country at around 3 percent a year over the same period.
Apartment prices have generally risen by less than detached housing prices in recent years, and are slowing down by more than detached housing prices in some of the major markets.
The slowdown reflects a range of factors, including tighter prudential settings, particularly for investors, and rising housing supply. We expect these factors to continue to constrain housing price growth in coming quarters and forecast that national housing price growth will run at low single-digit rates this year and into 2017, following growth of around 10% in 2015 (see Downunder Digest: Australia’s housing market cools, 11 December 2015).
<a href="/images/2016/04/22/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-22%20at%208.45.21%20AM.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/04/22/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-22%20at%208.45.21%20AM.png" alt="">
Household debt has risen, but it’s the distribution that matters
The housing price boom has led to rising household debt. The household debt-to-income ratio has increased from 167% in 2011 to 186% in 2015, mostly led by a pick-up in lending to investors (Chart 3 and 4). This makes Australian household debt levels amongst the highest in the developed world (Chart 5). Of course, given the rise in housing prices, the household debt-to-asset ratio has been more subdued: it has actually fallen from 24% in 2011 to 22% in 2015.
<a href="/images/2016/04/22/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-22%20at%208.46.38%20AM.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/04/22/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-22%20at%208.46.38%20AM.png" alt="">
High household debt levels can make an economy more vulnerable in the face of a shock.
However, it is unusual for the high debt levels, in themselves, to be the driver of a downturn. The US sub-prime crisis was a rare example of this situation. Importantly though, even in the US, it was not the level of aggregate debt that mattered most, but the distribution of debt. In Australia’s case, most of the debt is held by higher income households. Numbers for 2010 showed that, at that time, around 72% of the household debt was held by the top 40% of income earners (Chart 6). Less than 4% of the debt attributed to the lowest 20% of earners.
Australia’s financial system also has institutional features that help to reduce the risk that household debt could become concerning. For a start, all mortgages are full recourse.
Australia’s tax system also favours paying down mortgages ahead of schedule as interest payments and expenses on owner-occupied properties are not tax-deductible. 
The latest numbers suggest that the average mortgage in Australia is currently over 2.5 years pre-paid, leaving households with a significant buffer in the face of the risk of rising unemployment.
Lending standards were tightened as investor borrowing rose
Despite these factors, the strong rise in lending to housing investors through 2013-15 raised concerns that the new lending could increase the risk to the overall mortgage book. Concerns increased partly because the ramp-up in debt was quite geographically concentrated in New South Wales and, to a lesser degree, Victoria, and because the strong investor interest was helping to fuel double-digit housing price growth in these markets (Chart 7).
<a href="/images/2016/04/22/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-22%20at%208.48.14%20AM.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/04/22/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-22%20at%208.48.14%20AM.png" alt="">
As a result of these concerns, the authorities tightened prudential settings. This included: requiring the banks to test new borrowers for a higher mortgage rate than offered; requiring the banks to slow the growth in their lending to investors to below 10% y-o-y; and, requiring the banks to hold more capital (which saw effective mortgage rates rise). Tighter prudential settings have seen a clear pullback in lending to investors (see Chart 7). There has also been a fall in the proportion of lending at loan-to-valuation ratios of over 90% and a decline in ‘interest only’ loans (Chart 8). This should help to reduce the risks associated with recent new lending.
Apartment over-supply presents a risk
To the extent that there are risks, the key focus is on the apartment markets in the major cities. Apartment building has picked up substantially in the major cities (Chart 9). Importantly, our view remains that the national detached housing market is not over-supplied, which means the overall housing market is not yet showing signs of being over-supplied (see Downunder Digest: Australia’s housing supply ramp-up, 9 September 2015). As Chart 9 shows, there has only been a modest rise in construction of detached dwellings in recent years.
<a href="/images/2016/04/22/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-22%20at%208.49.28%20AM.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/04/22/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-22%20at%208.49.28%20AM.png" alt="">
The risk of a potential over-supply of apartments is largest in Melbourne and Brisbane, where apartment building has been at record highs as a share of the existing stock (Chart 10). There is also some risk of over-supply in Perth, where apartment building has been strong.
To some degree, the detached and apartment markets are segmented, given the lack of perfect substitutability. For example, buyers of detached dwellings in the suburbs tend to be quite different from buyers of inner-city apartments. So a possible decline in apartment prices, due to over-supply, would not necessarily translate into a matching fall in detached housing prices.
This is particularly the case, given that there has only been a limited pick-up in detached home building in recent years. The tightening of prudential settings and falls in loan-to-valuation ratios also help protect the financial system from any decline in apartment prices as new borrowers would need to see larger price declines before they fell into negative equity.
Strong foreign investor involvement in the major city apartment markets, particularly from China, may also limit the exposure of the domestic financial system to the impact of any falls in apartment prices in these markets. Government approval numbers show that there has been a strong rise in foreign purchases of new dwellings in Australia over the past year (Chart 11).
<a href="/images/2016/04/22/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-22%20at%208.50.41%20AM.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/04/22/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-22%20at%208.50.41%20AM.png" alt="">
Many of these purchases are off-the-plan apartments, partly because foreigners are restricted to purchasing newly constructed dwellings.
In its recent semi-annual financial stability review, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) noted that ‘the Australian banking system has little direct exposure to Chinese investors’. Foreign buyers may also have different motivations for purchasing, with some looking to invest in property as a store of value, rather than for speculation. This could limit the willingness of foreign investors to divest, even in the event of some capital losses.
Falling apartment prices could also put pressure on developers’ balance sheets, with many of the apartments having been sold ‘off the plan’. Again, the RBA recently noted that its liaison suggested that ‘settlement failures have, to date, remained uncommon and are generally expected to increase significantly only if housing prices fall substantially’.
Related risk in commercial property
Global demand for commercial property assets has also somewhat displaced Australia’s commercial property market. Commercial property prices have risen well ahead of rents in recent years, as global investors ‘search for yield’ pushes Australian yields down to global levels, which are around historical lows. The ramp-up in commercial property prices (and fall in yields) has come despite office vacancy rates that remain elevated, with particularly sharp increases in Brisbane and Perth.
This could have a bearing on the domestic apartment market as there may be some substitutability between office and apartment buildings. A retreat in commercial property prices could put some downward pressure on apartment prices. However, much like the apartment market, foreign investor involvement in the commercial property sector has been significant, which could limit the risks to the domestic financial system.
Mortgage loan arrears are still falling
Finally, it is worth noting that mortgage loan arrears have continued to fall since their peak in 2011 and are at very low levels (Chart 12). What is most interesting is that arrears continued to decline despite the rise in the unemployment rate over recent years. This is likely to reflect the support from falling interest rates over that period. The recent decline in the unemployment rate should help to support loan servicing and potentially limit concerns about household debt levels.
<a href="/images/2016/04/22/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-22%20at%208.51.42%20AM.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/04/22/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-22%20at%208.51.42%20AM.png" alt="">
Paul Bloxham is chief economist (ANZ) for HSBC . Daniel Smith is economist. They can be contacted <a href="https://www.about.hsbc.com.au/hsbc-in-australia/management-team" target="_blank">here</a>.
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Australia’s rising household debt and should we worry? HSBC's Paul Bloxham

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Residential real estate group, McGrath Estate Agents has announced the signing of two new franchise offices in the Melbourne. 
The offices will be in bayside suburb of Bentleigh situated in the southeast, and another in the outer-east at Croydon. 
Both offices are due to open in May, bolstering the number of Melbourne offices to four since it first entered Victoria in December last year. 
McGrath Chief Executive John McGrath said he was delighted by the continued momentum in the company’s expansion. 
McGrath Bentleigh will be led by Melissa Ryan and Peter Sinclair. 
The new franchise office will focus on the key suburbs of Ormond, Bentleigh, Bentleigh East, Oakleigh and Murrumbeena. 
McGrath Croydon will be led by Paul Fenech. The new franchise office will focus on the key suburbs of Croydon, Kilsyth, Mooroolbark, Croydon Hills and Croydon South. 
The two new Melbourne offices will bring the current office count across the East Coast of Australia to 84. 
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McGrath to open Croydon and Bentleigh offices in Melbourne

McGrath to open Croydon and Bentleigh offices

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<div>The head of Victorian real estate’s peak body, the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, Enzo Raimondo is set to depart.</div>
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<div>He has served as the Real Estate Institute of Victoria’s chief executive for 16 years, after arriving in March 2016 from the Real Estate Institute of South Australia where he was the ceo.</div>
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<div>Representing over 2000 Real estate businesses in Victoria who employ over 14,000 people, over 80 per cent of all real estate agencies in Victoria are members of the REIV.</div>
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Mr Raimondo’s replacement has not been been announced.
"I've had 16 wonderful years," said Enzo who has two sons working in real estate.
REIV President Geoff White will step in as acting CEO from mid-May, working alongside Mr Raimondo.
After 16 years of service, REIV CEO Enzo Raimondo is departing the REIV to take up an undisclosed opportunity in the property industry.
Mr Raimondo is the REIV’s longest-serving CEO, commencing in the role in 2000. 
Mr White acknowledged Mr Raimondo’s significant contribution to the industry – both in Victoria and South Australia where he was previously CEO of the REISA – and said that it provided a solid foundation for the next stage in the REIV’s evolution.
“His efforts are to be commended and have greatly increased the profile of the sector and members’ interests,” he said.
Under Mr Raimondo’s leadership, the REIV has introduced compulsory CPD for members, and launched a range of digital products, including propertydata.com.au and realestateview.com.au.
He added that the REIV “recognises this as a wonderful opportunity to build upon what has been achieved to date, and to ensure continued advancement for the real estate industry’s peak body”.
 
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Enzo Raimondo stepping down from REIV

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A surviving Surfers Paradise cottage which has been in the family for more than 50 years has been listed for sale.
Set just 150 metres from the beach, the modest two-bedroom cottage at <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-qld-surfers+paradise-122422534" target="_blank">204 Surf Parade</a> sits in a high-density development area near the Crown Plaza resort.
The cottage sits on 405 square metres of land bought for a reputed $8,000 in 1965 remaining through three generations, and transferred in 1984 internally at $40,000. 
McGrath Broadbeach agent Greg Washington and Elizabeth Taylor puts it under the hammer on May 14 on site.
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Rare Surfers Paradise home auction offering

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Dunleigh, a grand Queen Anne Federation home built in 1909 in Mosman, has been listed for sale.
The five bedroom, five bathroom <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-mosman-122387314" target="_blank">72 Raglan Street</a> offering has a $4.5 million to $4.75 million price guidance through McGrath agent Michael Coombs.
It comes with a country-style kitchen. There are harbour views from the upper and lower verandahs.
It goes to May 21 auction.
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Mosman's 1909 Federation offering Dunleigh

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GUEST OBSERVER
In March this year, investigation from the City Futures Research Centre at the University of New South Wales suggested that vacant properties across Sydney were constricting supply and adding to unaffordability.
The number of unoccupied dwellings in Sydney was derived from 2011 Census data, and researchers found that approximately 120,000 dwellings across Sydney were unoccupied on the night of the Census. It was also found that a higher concentration of vacant properties were found in inner-city suburbs, where rental yields are low.
The study concluded that the ability to negatively gear investment properties and receive large capital gains tax concessions incentivised investors to hold properties empty. This would explain why vacancies were higher where the capital gains on an untouched property exceeded the benefit of renting it out.
However, the evidence found may not support this conclusion, partly because properties have to be rented out or at least available for rent in order to receive benefits from negative gearing.
Representatives from the real estate sector claimed that the figure of vacant properties and its impact on affordability was overstated, as the data did not take into account properties that were vacant because they were on the market and people were in between moving homes. However, Residex data shows that on the night of the Census, there were approximately 6,100 properties listed for rent and approximately 14,200 properties listed for sale in Sydney. Listed properties are not necessarily vacant, but assuming they are, this would account for just 17% of the vacant properties estimated across the greater Sydney region on Census night.
It would seem that market activity cannot account for the majority of the vacant properties in Sydney’s metropolitan.
Eliza Owen is the market analyst for Onthehouse.com.au. She can be contacted <a href="https://www.onthehouse.com.au/" target="_blank">here.</a>
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Vacant properties: are the figures overstated? Onthehouse.com.au's Eliza Owen

An entity directed by HSN's Rafi Assouline and Rebel Property's Allen Linz has filed plans for an impressive new precinct in Woolloomooloo.

The major mixed-use development would transform a prominent William Street site into a new residential village anchored by affordable housing and a large public park.

The proposal, submitted as a State Significant Development Application, covers 164-172 and 174-194 William Street, a 6,398 sqm site between Forbes Street and Dowling Street on the southern edge of Woolloomooloo.

Designed by fjcstudio in collaboration with Bangawarra, Studio Bright and Tribe Studio Architects, the scheme would deliver 227 apartments across four residential buildings ranging in height up to 18 storeys, alongside retail space, public domain improvements and a new publicly accessible park.

<img alt="Rebel" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="0eb59b7c-914a-4a5c-b849-3a56749f5e93" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-06-12%20at%2011.18.51%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=mxM6EEqeoLjrCiTlCzTKTvzpKuh6kSkH" />

It's another design scheme for Rebel, who took <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/first-look-rebel-property-group-takes-woolloomooloo-precinct-to-nsw-government">concept plans to the NSW Gov late last year</a>.

The latest plans will be a mix of 167 build-to-sell apartments and 60 affordable apartments, with the affordable housing component representing 15 per cent of the project's gross floor area. The apartment mix includes 12 one-bedroom, 53 two-bedroom, 89 three-bedroom apartments and 13 penthouses, while the affordable housing component would comprise 42 one-bedroom and 18 two-bedroom apartments.

<img alt="Rebel" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3b3d4553-8a8c-4af5-aa8c-519ffb1e28c6" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-06-12%20at%2011.20.12%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=_Yb6ibN7eDnOtQjCNDK2eviORa4qzgv." />

Rebel Property is seeking to take advantage of the NSW Government's infill affordable housing bonus provisions under the Housing SEPP, which provide additional floor space and height in exchange for the delivery of affordable housing for a minimum of 15 years. The planning pathway allows a 30 per cent increase in floor space ratio and building height where 15 per cent of the development is dedicated to affordable housing.

&nbsp;

At the centre of the development is a 1,356 sqm sunlit public park designed to become a new community gathering space at the gateway to Woolloomooloo. The park would be complemented by a network of pedestrian laneways connecting William Street with the surrounding streets, improving permeability through what is currently a largely impermeable block.

<img alt="Rebel" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="257af931-a393-4007-8c6d-7219796df58d" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-06-12%20at%2011.20.51%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=KAHy94GrhaReFsWTGDKfy39EDJ8gEEv4" />

The design team says the public domain has been heavily influenced by the site's topography and Aboriginal cultural heritage, drawing on the escarpments, gullies and landscape characteristics that historically defined the area before urbanisation. The landscape design has been developed in partnership with First Nations consultancy Bangawarra.

The project would be delivered across four separate buildings. The William Street East and William Street West buildings, designed by fjcstudio, would contain the majority of the apartments. Melbourne-based Studio Bright has designed the Forbes Street building, while Tribe Studio Architects is responsible for the Dowling Street building.

Rebel had secured approval for the concept plans late last year.

Joel Robinson

First look: HSN, Rebel, advances Woolloomooloo precinct plans

A locally heritage-listed furniture showroom on Water Street is set to become the centrepiece of a new mixed-use residential development as local developer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/keylin-group">Keylin</a> seeks approval for <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/lotus-on-water-street-290-water-street-fortitude-valley-qld-4006">Lotus on Water Street</a>, a 15-storey project on the Fortitude Valley side of Spring Hill.

The proposal spans 290 Water Street and 137-141 Warry Street, combining several properties into a 2,869 sqm site that sits between Fortitude Valley, Spring Hill and the rapidly evolving Victoria Park precinct. Keylin's plans would deliver 132 apartments alongside new retail, hospitality and commercial space, while retaining and repurposing the historic Brunswick Home Furnishers Showroom that fronts Water Street.

Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/jackson-teece">Jackson Teece</a>, Lotus on Water Street comprises a 12-storey residential tower rising above a three-storey podium and communal rooftop terrace. The development includes 76 apartments classified as multiple dwellings and a further 56 units proposed as short-term accommodation, designed to be flexibly used as either accommodation or permanent residences. The apartment mix comprises six one-bedroom, 54 two-bedroom and 16 three-bedroom homes.

<img alt="First look: Keylin unveils heritage-led Lotus on Water Street tower in Fortitude Valley" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="9822bb79-6c49-49c9-95ba-319e8c8d81c3" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/fortitude%20valley%20front.png?VersionId=ioW8zbN4UVebbLetTFuv92t.HkdgfR5e" />

Residents would have access to an extensive rooftop recreation level spanning more than 1,200 sqm of communal open space. Plans include a pool, gym, sauna, infrared sauna, yoga area, library, private dining room, barbecue facilities and landscaped entertainment spaces, making the rooftop the project's largest shared amenity offering.

At street level, the proposal focuses on the adaptive reuse of the heritage buildings along Water Street, where 518 sqm of retail and commercial space is planned across shop, office and food and drink outlet uses. A permeable residential lobby would be positioned between the retained heritage buildings, creating a pedestrian connection between the historic streetscape and the new tower behind.

<img alt="First look: Keylin unveils heritage-led Lotus on Water Street tower in Fortitude Valley" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="269cf3e0-7d13-48bf-a318-05a00deb5c10" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/fortitude%20valley%20podium.png?VersionId=DLXmTCLsp6GOcLpQ0h.0z7wKCw59EhN_" />

The heritage retention strategy is central to the scheme. The development application notes that the Brunswick Home Furnishers Showroom and adjoining heritage buildings will remain, with only non-significant structures on the site earmarked for removal under a previously issued Heritage Exemption Certificate. Levels one and two of the new podium are recessed behind the heritage façades to maintain their prominence within the streetscape.

Jackson Teece has drawn inspiration from the site's manufacturing history when designing the podium. The planning documents state that the façade incorporates perforated metal screening that references the woven and rattan furniture historically produced on the site. Cascading and climbing plants are integrated throughout the podium to soften the building's presentation and screen parking levels behind. The landscape strategy also informs the project's name, Lotus on Water Street, drawing on the historic Spring Hollow waterholes that once ran through Spring Hill and the blue water lilies associated with Meeanjin, Brisbane's traditional name.

The proposal also incorporates the neighbouring property at 141 Warry Street, currently occupied by a healthcare service. The existing building would remain, with nine dedicated parking spaces allocated within the new development to support its ongoing operation. In total, Lotus on Water Street proposes 117 car spaces, including 110 resident spaces and seven visitor bays, alongside 100 bicycle spaces.

<img alt="First look: Keylin unveils heritage-led Lotus on Water Street tower in Fortitude Valley" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="70cf07bc-4fd8-4e70-92dd-be8b21c4e4f0" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/fortitude%20valley%20site.png?VersionId=txlxrJImM0Sm_vTzHVKh5DDUkyL_CiiA" />

The site sits within the Spring Hill East Precinct of the Spring Hill Neighbourhood Plan and is positioned around 650 metres from both Fortitude Valley Station and Exhibition Station. It is also within walking distance of the King Street precinct, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston Quarter and Victoria Park, which is earmarked to become a major venue precinct ahead of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Planning documents describe the location as a key gateway between Spring Hill and Fortitude Valley and highlight the area's increasing importance as new transport infrastructure and Olympic-related investment reshape Brisbane's inner north. The development team argues the project will contribute additional housing supply while activating a section of Water Street that has historically received less investment than other parts of the Valley.

Keylin has become increasingly active across Brisbane and southeast Queensland, assembling sites in strategic inner-city locations. They are currently selling and delivering <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/oria-spring-hill-447-gregory-terrace-spring-hill-qld-4000">Oria Spring Hill</a>, just over 140 apartments due for completion in 2027.

Keylin plans heritage-led Lotus on Water Street apartment development in Fortitude Valley

Roseville is poised for a wave of new apartment development following the NSW Government's rezoning of land around Roseville Station under its Transport Oriented Development program.

The new planning controls have unlocked significant development potential within walking distance of the station, with a number of sites expected to be amalgamated and redeveloped in the coming years as developers seek to take advantage of the increased density allowances.

One of the more restrained developments in the precinct, and set among the first to be delivered having commenced well before the recent changes, is Hyecorp's Juliet. The boutique apartment project is already well under construction and remains on track to welcome residents by the end of the year, offering a markedly different proposition to many of the larger-scale developments now likely to emerge across the suburb.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=7395 project_image_fid=278194]

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/juliet-roseville-64-pacific-highway-roseville-nsw-2069">Juliet</a> will comprise just&nbsp;34 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments opposite Roseville Station. For Hyecorp, which has delivered projects across Sydney's Lower North Shore for more than three decades, Roseville presented a rare opportunity to address a growing gap in the market.

"<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/roseville-nsw-2069">Roseville</a> has long been one of the North Shore's most tightly held and desirable suburbs, offering a unique combination of village charm, established greenery, excellent transport connections, and proximity to some of Sydney's best schools and lifestyle amenities," Hyecorp said.

"We recognised a growing demand from local homeowners seeking to downsize without leaving the community they have built their lives around. The location presented a rare opportunity to create homes that cater specifically to that buyer profile."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=7395 project_image_fid=278196]

The six-level development has been designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/pbd-architects">PBD Architects</a> as a collection of residences that feel more like homes than apartments. The brief centred generous floorplans, abundant natural light, quality finishes, and strong connections to outdoor space.

PBD Architects drew inspiration from Roseville's established garden suburb character, creating a building that sits comfortably within its surroundings rather than dominating them. The architecture incorporates natural materials, soft forms, layered landscaping, expansive balconies, and generous setbacks to strengthen the connection between residents and the suburb's leafy environment.

"The focus was on designing spacious, house-like residences for discerning owner-occupiers and downsizers who wanted to remain on the North Shore without compromising on comfort, privacy, or design," PBD said.&nbsp;

"Every apartment was to feel considered, timeless, and highly functional."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=7395 project_image_fid=278195]

Inside, residences feature engineered timber flooring, stone kitchen benchtops and splashbacks, integrated Fisher &amp; Paykel appliances, ducted air conditioning, and large outdoor entertaining areas designed to take advantage of district and treetop views.

Residents will also have access to a rooftop barbecue and lounge area, alongside practical amenities including parcel lockers, EV charging capability, bicycle storage, a dog wash bay, and a basement car wash facility.

The majority of purchasers so far have been local owner-occupiers from Roseville, Lindfield, Chatswood, Killara, and the broader Upper North Shore, many of whom are transitioning from larger family homes.

"Buyers are looking for spacious, house-like apartments that allow them to downsize without feeling like they are sacrificing comfort or functionality," Hyecorp noted.

"They value large kitchens, generous living areas, ample storage, quality finishes, secure parking, lift access, and low-maintenance living."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=7395 project_image_fid=278204]

Juliet sits directly opposite Roseville Train Station and within walking distance of Roseville Village, while Chatswood's retail and dining precinct is only minutes away. The development is also surrounded by some of Sydney's most established schools, including Roseville College, Ravenswood, Pymble Ladies' College, and Knox Grammar, as well as nearby parklands and golf courses.

Juliet is currently more than 75 per cent sold ahead of its anticipated completion in late 2026.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=7395]

Juliet to sit quietly amid Roseville apartment boom

Sherpa Property Group has unveiled the third instalment of its Flourish series, securing full approval for the two-tower, $500 million Flourish Soleira development in Palm Beach.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/flourish-soleira-1150-1154-gold-coast-highway-palm-beach-qld-4221">Flourish Soleira</a> will rise from a prominent site in the commercial heart of Palm Beach, the long-time home of Cash Converters and a range of local retailers.

The project will introduce a new retail and dining precinct at ground level, beneath 286 apartments.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150017 project_image_fid=370959]

“We’re very committed to not only providing affordable residential offerings that are much needed in Palm Beach, but also delivering a vibrant new commercial heart that complements the extraordinary growth of the southern Gold Coast,” Sherpa Property Group founder Christie Leet said.

The development will sit under Sherpa's Flourish brand, which is aimed at providing a pathway into the beachside suburb for locals, first-home buyers and downsizers. In a move designed to assist first-home buyers entering the market, Sherpa has reserved all one and two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartments exclusively for eligible first-home buyers.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150017 project_image_fid=370964]

“Our vision through Flourish is to create a vibrant retail and lifestyle focal point within the Palm Beach centre zone, delivering thriving communities underpinned by lifestyle-rich locations,” Leet said.

“So far, Flourish has been an incredible success, and we hope to carry this momentum as we progress the next two Flourish projects in Palm Beach.”

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150017 project_image_fid=371430]

Located across 1150-1164 Gold Coast Highway and 3 Sixth Avenue, the development will comprise two towers. The northern tower will deliver 154 apartments, while the southern tower will add a further 132 residences, helping address ongoing demand for new apartments in the tightly held coastal suburb.

Flourish Soleira will also feature the most extensive rooftop amenity offering ever delivered in Palm Beach.

The two towers will be connected by a skybridge, with residents gaining access to a rooftop recreation deck featuring a full-width swimming pool, hot and cold plunge pools, wellness spaces, a gymnasium, private dining facilities, massage treatment rooms, barbecue areas, a basketball court, golf simulator, indoor and outdoor dining spaces, sun lounges and extensive landscaping.

LPS Group is expected to start construction later this year.

Sherpa is already well advanced on construction of its debut Flourish project, Flourish Amargo, located just around the corner from Soleira. Meanwhile, Flourish Oasis, positioned opposite Amargo, recently commenced construction and has nearly sold out its collection of 47 apartments.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=150017]

Sherpa unveils $500m mixed-use Palm Beach precinct, Flourish Soleira

Are mortgage holders set to get a reprieve from the RBA in 2026?

Big Four bank NAB believes so. They are now expecting the next move from the RBA to be a cut, rather than a hike, which they had pencilled in for August. They are unsure of the timing of the cut however, they note in their latest&nbsp;NAB Economics RBA Watch.

NAB Chief Economist, Dr Sally Auld, said recent data suggests the economy has lost momentum and the outlook for rates has shifted, noting that the broader economic backdrop has changed since earlier in the year.

“The next move in the cash rate is likely to be down, but the timing is uncertain," Dr Auld said.

"In February, growth was above trend, the economy was operating above capacity and there was uncertainty over the restrictiveness of rates. None of these conditions exist today,” she outlined.

Dr Auld said recent data pointed to softer momentum across the economy while acknowledging that at the same time, uncertainty remains a key feature of the outlook.

“Both Q1 GDP data and the NAB business survey suggest momentum in the economy has slowed, meaning that growth has likely peaked for the cycle. That said, we are cognisant there is still considerable uncertainty around the outlook, both with respect to activity and inflation.”

Dr Auld said inflation risks and labour market outcomes would be important to watch.

“On the prices side, we are still forecasting above target core inflation through to mid-2027. Margins will compress and weaker labour market outcomes are a risk.”

She said tighter financial conditions are expected to weigh on housing and activity.

“Tighter financial conditions will be reflected in a slowing in house price growth and housing credit growth. In summary, we have greater conviction that the next move in rates is down, but less conviction on the timing.”

Jonathan Chancellor

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