<html><body>
With wages growing faster than inflation over the past year, you’d assume that Aussie households are bringing in more than they need to live.
But spending is also getting away from many people. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one in seven Australian households is spending more than it earns.
There is a cliché from the older generations: a penny saved is as good as a penny earned. But where can you cut your costs? I suggest you start with the largest item in your household budget, and for most readers that will be your cost of housing: rent, mortgage and maintenance.
You can refinance into a cheaper mortgage, but you could also find several small household savings and put them into your mortgage in a monthly payment. You can save thousands.
Think about a family with an average $350,000, 30-year mortgage, paying a variable interest rate of 6.44%. If you contribute $20 per month extra you can take nearly a year – and $15,000 in payments – off that mortgage.
Of course, in order to have extra money to put into the mortgage, you need to find savings.
These needn’t be complicated: if you work in the city, chances are you’re spending around $12 on a sandwich and a drink for lunch every day. If you pack a lunch just twice a week, you save $24, or $96 a month.
I used our monthly repayment calculator on ybr.com.au and found that on an average 350,000, 30-year mortgage with an average 6.82% variable rate, putting the cost of two lunches per week into that mortgage equates to a savings of $65,500 and takes 42 months off the loan.
Cutting just one cup of take-away coffee at $3.20 per day is a $69 in savings per month. If you put this into your mortgage you’d reduce your home loan by 32 months, saving you $50,532.
What about your phone costs? Many people have mobile phones but they also have a land line. Do you need both? And do you need that size of download on your internet plan? It’s not impossible to save $50 a month between internet and phone.
Other opportunities to save are out there: shop for packaged holidays rather than buying air fares and hotel rooms separately; reduce your dining out from twice to once a week and you could be saving $300 a month; have either cable TV or DVD rentals; time your petrol fill-up for the cheapest days and buy groceries at the lowest-cost supermarket, even if it means bringing your own shopping bags.
Just about any household can find $200 a month in savings: if you put this into your mortgage each month, you save $112,602 and reduce the term of your $300,000 loan by about seven years.
This is not the stuff of financial masterminds – it’s about cutting small costs in your household so you can reduce the biggest cost of all.
Mark Bouris is executive chairman of <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ybr.com.au/">Yellow Brick Road</a>, a financial services company offering home loans, financial planning, accounting and tax, and insurance.
</body></html>

mbouris-tauSvXGAM2

Small savings can add up to reduce the length and cost of your mortgage

<html><body>
Young people have way too much to think about these days. Even youngsters who have only just begun their working lives are expected to know about superannuation, top-up limits and co-contributions. They’re expected to be responsible now for their retirement in 40 years’ time.
How did we get here? In 1992 the superannuation guarantee required all employers to put a mandated percentage of an employee’s salary into a super fund. The super guarantee could not be accessed until the worker retired.
So the onus for retirement shifted from the government and employer to the employee. And the quality of retirement for those in their 20s and 30s will be their own responsibility: the amount of retirement income they accumulate will depend on investment decisions made now.
The best time to build a nest egg is precisely in those years when you least want to think about it. Because super is a 40-year investment, small increases to contributions and slight changes in what kind of fund you use at the beginning of the journey can have a big impact at the retirement end.
Also, the very people who could be helping young people with advice – financial planners – are moving away from their old commission structure to a fee-for-service model. The fee-for-service model means the client pays for the level of service they receive. And because young people have less money and are less engaged with retirement planning in general, young people don’t go to planners.
This creates what some people call a “service gap”, which could cost people tens of thousands of dollars at retirement. We know from our own research that young people want advice about retirement, but they do not use planners.
Last year we polled 500 young people from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, aged 25-34 years. When asked how interested they were in planning for their future, 92 per cent answered either very interested or somewhat interested.
When asked if they plan on seeking advice to discuss their financial goals, around half answered “yes”.
This means that a huge majority of young people want to set themselves up for the future, but only half of them want to access the right advice. This is an important insight because financial planners don’t just help select the right super funds to invest in, they also set up the associated aspects of a person’s present and future wealth. They attend to the whole picture, something younger generations are not experienced about.
The investment options people nominate when they are not advised is illuminating. When asked what they’d be most interested in investing in, 51% said the share market, which is currently quite risky and volatile.
So the question has to be asked: why do young people feel more comfortable with a volatile investment class than they do with professional advice?
It’s an issue that has to be resolved if the self-funded retirement system is to work properly.
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ybrwealth" target="_blank">Talk to me on Facebook</a> at or on <a href="https://www.twitter.com/@markbouris" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. Let me know what you think.
Mark Bouris is executive chairman of <a href="https://www.ybr.com.au/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Yellow Brick Road</a>, a financial services company offering home loans, financial planning, accounting and tax, and insurance.
</body></html>

Why are young people comfortable with share market risk but not financial planners?

<html><body>
In the 30 years or so that I’ve been running businesses, I’ve noticed that consumer sentiment is often created by a cultural environment rather than what is actually happening in folks’ lives.
This can work in favour of over-exuberance, or it can create gloom. We’re currently in one of the negative phases, but there’s another way to treat the “bad” economic news, and that is to see a free market economy as something that forces the constant reinvention of just about everything.
I’ve been watching the financial troubles of the Darrell Lea chocolate and lolly brand, which has been in administration. Letting go 418 people is not a good thing, however the system works well enough for a new owner to step in and buy Darrell Lea and reinvent what that business does.
The signs of positives defying the negatives are all around us. Yes, Kodak went out of business, but other companies have reinvented personal photography with affordable, high-quality cameras that don’t require film. And Australian steel-making may be under pressure, but there was OneSteel, quietly making itself a miner of iron ore, not letting itself be forced into irrelevance.
Australian business owners and householders can train themselves to think this way as well. There is a way forward out of adversity: you just haven’t found it yet. It could be as simple as rethinking what you sell. The ability to up-skill, find another job, reinvent yourself as a different proposition to an employer, has never been better.
Take the uncertainty created by the European crisis and the US slowdown. It has played on our minds and held back our own economy, but one of the benefits has been a cash rate that – at 3.5% – is in the lowest range of the past 20 years.
How good is this? Ask any baby boomer who was paying 19% on their first mortgage.
There are many people suffering right now, but I urge people to have a look behind some of the negative economic stories: inflation ran at around 1.2% for the year to June, and the wage price index was sitting at 3.6%. So wages are increasing at a greater rate that inflation.
That isn’t bad, especially taken with a low unemployment rate of 5.2% in July. Compare it with the United States at 8.3%, or the EU at 10.4% unemployment in July.
And in a country where we all need a car, they are more affordable than they’ve been for a long time. A Ford Falcon in 1960 cost a man 60 weeks’ pay, while in 2012 it cost 30 weeks’ average male pay.
The economy will cause more businesses to close or to contract. But the important part is: what happens next? And in your own life, are you keeping your eyes open, preparing yourself for what happens next?
A market economy always provides the chance to start again. What’s your reinvention?
Mark Bouris is executive chairman of <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ybr.com.au/">Yellow Brick Road</a>, a financial services company offering home loans, financial planning, accounting and tax, and insurance.
</body></html>

With interest rates and unemployment low, there are economic positive signs all around

<html><body>
Over the next few weeks a lot of readers will be receiving tax refund cheques. According to the ATO, the average refund issued between 1 July 2012 and 20 August 2012 was $2,217 – not a small amount.
What should you do with it?
First job/tertiary student: If your credit card balance is getting close to the max, a tax refund should be applied to it. If your credit card is looking OK, you should make this money earn more money, without locking it away for the six months or a year of most bank term deposits. There are high-interest savings accounts that allow you to take out the money when you want, but check the fine print: many of these high-interest rates drop once your money has been in there for four to six months.
House savers: If you are saving a deposit for a house, a tax refund is best placed in your high-interest savings account, so long as you don’t have significant credit card debt or a high-interest car loan. For example, if you are paying 15% for your cards, and only getting 5% in your savings, perhaps use the tax refund to control your debt.
Mortgage payers: In most variable-rate mortgage accounts, once you’ve been paying it for 18 months or more, you are starting to pay down principal. Paying lump sums into the mortgage at this stage can noticeably accelerate the pay-out. Be warned: there’s no point doing this in most fixed-rate mortgages, and many variable-rate home loans won’t allow you to put in lump sums. So check your mortgage first.
Mortgage payers with kids: People with mortgage and kids have so many competing priorities for a windfall that there could be 20 places to put a tax refund cheque. My advice is to not absorb it into the general bank account: tag the money and make it work for you. And if you’re stressed and overworked, consider putting that tax refund into a holiday.
Business owner: Business owners can reinvest a tax refund straight back into the business or use it to pay down personal debt, depending on where the refund accrues. Either way, a tax refund shouldn’t be squandered.
Pre-retirees: People in their 50s are still working and paying mortgages, but also preparing for retirement. Look at topping up your superannuation, having first checked with an adviser about the benefits and latest rules. A tax cheque could also be placed into a high interest bearing account, or could buy high-yielding shares (that deliver dividends). A tax refund cheque into the mortgage is a good bet.
Retiree: In retirement investors looking for very stable, high-yield places to put their money. If you’re lucky enough to have a tax refund look at a high-interest account. There’s no point in banking this cheque in your bank transaction account – you’ll be receiving either a zero interest, or an interest rate so low that the monthly account fees wipe it out.
Mark Bouris is executive chairman of <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ybr.com.au/">Yellow Brick Road</a>, a financial services company offering home loans, financial planning, accounting and tax, and insurance.
</body></html>

What mortgage holders should do with their tax refunds: Mark Bouris

<html><body>
Retirement investors need to learn an approach called portfolio optimisation.
It’s something the professional fund managers aim for, but they create funds that suit many investors, whereas you can tailor a portfolio that is optimised for your own needs.
There are three factors in portfolio optimisation, a concept that is the specialty of the RP Data-Rismark economist (and Yellow Brick Road director) Christopher Joye.
The first is your target return. This is the return you want from all of your investments when you retire. Start with an actual sum so you can track back and find the annual rate of return you are aiming for.
This is where you start deciding what kind of assets and what kind of yields are in your portfolio.
Which brings us to the second factor: your risk.
There are many ways of defining risk, and many that are marketed to us.
But if you are not a professional I think it’s quite reasonable to see risk like this: it’s the risk that you won’t get back as much as you put in.
This is not scare mongering. As you age, you have less margin to earn back the money you lost on an investment and the risk you face is that you might go backwards when you can’t afford to.
The third factor in portfolio optimisation is one of correlation. That is, you can insulate the risk in one type of asset by investing in a different asset with an unrelated risk characteristic.
Bearing in mind these factors, it’s fascinating to read Joye’s research into which asset mixes performed best from 1982-2012.
For non-home owners over this 30-year period, who opted to buy one investment property, this was their optimised portfolio: 46.8% in cash; 36% in Australian government bonds; 9.2% in Aussie shares and 8% in the investment property.
Did you notice what weighting Aussie shares had in this optimum portfolio?
The optimum investment portfolio for home owners 1982-2012 is also interesting: the family home + one investment property should have been 60% of the portfolio, 21.9% should have been cash, 10.9% Australian government bonds and 7.2% Aussie shares.
Volatile listed property trusts and global shares don’t make it into these portfolios while cash and bonds have a heavy weighting.
Exercises such as these are valuable to the independent investor because they illustrate what performs long term, and Joye’s figures are presented as a mix – an optimised portfolio with a high degree of uncorrelated investment.
I’ve been predicting for a while now that Australians are going to move their retirement savings to fixed-income investments such as cash and bonds.
Fixed-income products have reasonably high returns with nowhere near the volatility of equities. And as Joye’s research shows, they seem to be a good portfolio fit with property ownership.
Always get advice, but if you don’t, start thinking in terms of portfolio optimisation.
 Mark Bouris is executive chairman of <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ybr.com.au/">Yellow Brick Road</a>, a financial services company offering home loans, financial planning, accounting and tax, and insurance.
</body></html>

Getting the mix of property and shares right for your retirement portfolio

<html><body>
It’s become the norm to read about our great luck as Europe and the United States wrestle with soaring debt and high unemployment, and Australia just sails through. But I’m thinking that Australia’s excellent response to the GFC is as much about individual austerity and sacrifice as it is about exports to China and economic management.
There are a number of factors operating on our economic wellbeing right now that average Australians deserve a pat on the back for. For a start, we are saving again. While the Australian household savings rate fell below zero in 2003, it started rising slowly from there and then made a big comeback after 2008. The current savings rate in this country is around 9.6% – much healthier than the 4.3% in the US and 3.3% in Canada.
Australians deserve praise for responding this way during a crisis.
During the post-GFC fallout, Australian household debt-to-disposable income also reduced slightly from 135.3% to 134.5%. It doesn’t seem that healthy, but it certainly looks healthier than the US and UK, where it’s over 160%, or Canada, where it’s 152%.
“Lucky country” notwithstanding, paying down expensive debt and securing cheap debt is smart, and it’s what Australians have been doing. Credit card spending has slowed since 2008, and at the same time Australians have been shoring up their mortgage positions. Around half of Australian mortgage holders are now ahead on their repayment schedules, and the ratio of mortgagees who are on schedule is well over 80%. It’s a very healthy picture.
In the US, the mortgage delinquency rate is at 7.58% of mortgage holders who are at least 30 days in arrears.
In Australia, the Fitch agency ranks mortgages holders at around 1.5% delinquency.
It’s an enormous difference and is partially underpinned by unemployment numbers: 5.2% in Australia, 8.3% in the US.
But it isn’t just employment. Australian households responded immediately to the GFC by curtailing their spending, and those not pulling back on consumption have been shopping smarter, using the internet and high Aussie dollar to save money.
And although Australians can be thankful that unemployment hasn’t spiked and wages growth has continued during the post-GFC, we haven’t had it all easy. During this time electricity prices have risen markedly and while our current cash rate is very low, Australian home buyers haven’t had the virtually 0% finance enjoyed by other nationalities.
Unfortunately, while Australians have pulled their heads in and have been determined to weather the effects of the GFC, it seems they will be saddled with deflated equities values in their superannuation and flat house values, for at least the medium term.
There isn’t too much to be done about that. For now, we can say we’re saving smarter, spending smarter and borrowing smarter.
It’s all the small sacrifices and belt-tightening that makes an economy. Australians have not only been lucky – they’ve been smart.
Mark Bouris is executive chairman of <a href="https://www.ybr.com.au/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Yellow Brick Road</a>, a financial services company offering home loans, financial planning, accounting and tax, and insurance.
</body></html>

Australia escaped the GFC through saving and hard work, not luck

<html><body>
The Reserve Bank held the cash rate at 3.5% this past week, leaving a lot of business owners none the wiser as to the future state of the economy. But in your own business, you get to decide the value of money as it performs for and within your enterprise. There are eight key segments worth considering:
Spending: When you look at your business, what are you spending on? What are your costs and do all of them contribute to creating revenues? Ask this: if I stopped this expenditure right now, what would happen to my business?
Saving: Many businesses put cash to one side to ensure they can pay essential costs. How much is your savings earning you? Many business owners stash cash in a legacy cheque account, and it may be paying zero interest. Yet there are high-interest rate accounts out there and the money is on-call. Make you money work.
Borrowing: One of the easiest ways to lose money from your business is to pay too much for debt. Whether it’s an overdraft, a term loan, equipment leases or corporate credit cards, have you fallen into a set-and-forget mindset with your finance? Do regular health checks of your debt, or get a finance broker to do it for you.
Repaying: At the end of a finance facility, do you know the most cost-effective way to go forward? Do you know all of your options and how much they will cost you? Sometimes it’s better to roll over a facility and other times it’s better to pay out a loan as fast as you can. You should know what value you get from debt before taking it, and set your repayment strategy accordingly.
Protecting: How do you protect your revenues? There are lot of interesting business insurances, but you have to know to ask for them. It’s worth engaging a broker and seeing what he or she would put in place – the entire rationale for running a business is to create revenues, and if you lose them, you have no business.
Investing: Whether you take out dividends to invest personally or the business buys commercial property, it’s worth thinking about how to make surplus funds work smart, and it’s always worth consulting an expert. This is how I think about it: those investment funds should work as hard as you worked to earn them in the first place.
Tax efficiency: You can’t run a business without dealing with the ATO. And you are taxed according to your legal structure or status. I advise business owners to stay close to their accountants and to make sure that they are paying the right amount of tax.
Budget: Your business budget is not just a road map, but it’s also your official statement about what is critical and what is merely a wish list. It assigns a value to money. If you feel you’ve lost your way with budgeting, engage an expert. It’s your money – value it!
Mark Bouris is executive chairman of <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ybr.com.au/">Yellow Brick Road</a>, a financial services company offering home loans, financial planning, accounting and tax, and insurance.
</body></html>

The RBA does not determine your business’s finances – you do

<html><body>
There’s a new wave of financial services migrating beyond the computer and onto phones and tablets, as well as moving into social media such as Facebook.
But as these services migrate onto a device that fits in the pocket, people still need something more.
In my current business, Yellow Brick Road, we’re opening branches at a rate of one per week nationally, simply because people still want face-to-face discussions about their affairs.
The key, in my opinion, lies in the difference between the financial services you can turn into a “product”, and those you cannot.
People are happy to use financial products, but they really want advice.
The Nielsen Pacific Global Survey of Investment Attitudes was released a few weeks ago: 70% of Australians used the internet for banking and investment transactions in the previous three months. But the same survey also found that 54% of Australians had visited a physical bank branch in the previous three months.
This shows a nation that is using products but still need to be able to talk about more complex matters such as mortgages, life insurance and super.
It’s a quaint picture of a technology-driven country with a traditional heart. But the problems are in fact, far from quaint. An example of this could include our superannuation system, which puts the onus for retirement investment on the individual.
The first port of call for most people with super is not an advisor, but a product. The super fund member is mailed a brochure with describes the various products and the member ticks the boxes and sends it back.
The Nielsen survey showed just 16% of Australians currently rely on a financial planner or adviser, while 57% preferred to be in charge of their investment decisions.
Now consider the fact that 70% of investment-focused Australians currently maintain a shareholding of stocks, the worst performing assets.
I believe there are many forces that have pushed Australians away from being advised on their investments and their retirements.
Most banks don’t offer advice unless the customer is a wealthy “private client”; stockbrokers don’t give you the full service unless you have a certain amount to invest; and the superannuation funds have become the product.
That leaves the independent advisers and planners, who many Australians avoid because there is either a trust problem or the costs are perceived to be too great.
More should be done by the superannuation industry, the ASX, the government and regulators to encourage people to seek advice around complex and crucial financial arrangements.
However, people have to show some initiative in these matters and decide what’s really important. Most people who seek expert advice get something out of it: an insurance broker reducing your premiums; an adviser finding a lower fee super fund; a mortgage broker finding you a better loan or an accountant getting you a better tax result.
Aussies need to rethink how they balance financial products with advice. A product fills a need; advice is planning for life.
<div>
<div>Mark Bouris is executive chairman of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ybr.com.au/" rel="nofollow">Yellow Brick Road</a>, a financial services company offering home loans, financial planning, accounting and tax, and insurance.</div>
<div>
For more, <a target="_blank" href="/news">view our free webinar Refinancing and the Interest Rates Riddle.</a>
</div>
</div>
</body></html>

Australians need to embrace wise financial planning

<html><body>
I was interested this week in a financial wellbeing survey, which focused on the gap between the size of superannuation, and what is actually needed for retirement. Just 23% of Australians are confident their super will fund a decent retirement. When it comes to superannuation, there are distinct phases: people in their teens and 20s don’t care; people in their 30s and 40s do care but they’re focused on career, mortgage and kids; and people in their 50s and 60s are panicking about retirement. Let’s start with the first group. Those new to the workforce don’t think about retirement, but their decisions now have ramifications 40 years later. The law says your employer has to put 9% of your wages into a complying super fund, so you start with the advantage of a developing nest egg with tax breaks. You owe it to yourself to shop around the funds and see what they offer. Secondly, I suggest you roll any super accounts your might have from previous employers into one super account. You should also put some extra super in each month and select which accounts your super goes into. Your super fund has various allocations, such as conservative, balanced, growth, international, property and so on. When you are young you should have your super in funds that ride the more volatile yet higher-yield shares-based funds. It gives you the best chance of having a large nest egg when you retire. Then we have people in their 30s and 40s. This is a difficult group to interest in superannuation because all of their earnings are going into mortgages and/or kids. But these are also peak earning years so income should be put away to be accessed later. In these years you should start with owning your own home. Secondly, you should be contributing more to your superannuation than the 9% your employer puts in. Fifteen per cent of earnings is a good target. And don’t forget to protect your earning power with life insurance, income protection insurance and total and permanent disability (TPD) insurance. With the complex interactions between tax, retirement savings and tax breaks, you can easily lose advantages that the law provides, so I suggest you get an adviser. The third life stage – people in their 50s and 60s – is the most complex because a certain amount of life has been lived and retirement is drawing closer. Start by knowing how much you’ll need to live on. Secondly, work on owning your home: either do this in your working years or use your superannuation to pay out the mortgage. Thirdly, you must get the most from super, especially if you own a business or you have a self managed super fund. Superannuation is designed to allow you to be a self-funded retiree. But you have to make it work to your advantage, and for most of us, that means taking advice.
Mark Bouris is executive chairman of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ybr.com.au/" rel="nofollow">Yellow Brick Road</a>, a financial services company offering home loans, financial planning, accounting and tax, and insurance.
</body></html>

Sorting your super at every age

<html><body>
The problem with being called “the lucky country” is that it’s passive.
We’re actually hard-working and optimistic. And we’re fighters. So what’s wrong with the “resilient nation”?
I went to the Twittersphere this week and asked followers: “what do you think is the BEST thing about the Australian economy right now?” These are some of the more than 75 replies:
<ul>
<li>@markbouris The strength &amp; resilience shown despite high AUD, world economy &amp; constant negative reporting</li>
<li>@markbouris it's resilience. But without some political leadership that may soon evaporate</li>
<li>@markbouris The tenacity of its people to keep going and believe that things can only get better</li>
</ul>
What struck me about the responses was the way Aussies combine sophisticated understanding of the world with old-fashioned faith in hard work.
Amid the financial stress and uncertainty, the national psyche is still about resilience and working hard, and it will get us through.
And we’ll push forward without tearing ourselves apart with the false “class war” or wealth envy as we’re seeing in Europe and the United States.
We’ve seen a brief hint of it here, but it doesn’t seem to stick. Australians want to work hard for their rewards, not to tear down those who are succeeding.
So when we see negative attention showered on the mining industry – either because the mining moguls are too rich or the miners are overpaid – I think it’s time we got away from the spin and saw this for what it is.
For a start, the mining moguls are employing people, driving exports, building infrastructure and creating billions of dollars in ancillary employment and wealth generation. Every time mining moguls build a new railway line or open a new project or sign a new supply contract, they have to employ construction companies, consultants, professionals and lots of manpower. And they all pay taxes.
Secondly, the people who work in the mining industry work incredibly hard, in remote locations, in the heat and the dust and often away from their families for extended periods. They work knowing that when China, Korea and Japan have a downturn in their industrial output, Aussie mining jobs are on the block.
So give these people a break – they’re as hard-working and ambitious as workers employed in east coast manufacturing.
Resilience shows itself in many ways. Some workers take pay cuts to keep the factory open, while business owners make sacrifices in the home to keep the business afloat. Mothers with young kids go back into the workforce to help with the bills.
Tenacity shows up in the official figures too. Bankruptcies are 6,000 per year fewer now than they were in 2010, and despite the GFC-affected global economy, our unemployment is around 5%. And we didn’t have to drop our official interest rate to zero to do it.
We’re not out of the woods yet, but if we can keep our optimism and our resilience to the fore, and avoid the temptation to turn on ourselves, this nation will emerge stronger than it ever was.
Mark Bouris is executive chairman of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ybr.com.au/">Yellow Brick Road</a>, a financial services company offering home loans, financial planning, accounting and tax, and insurance.
</body></html>

Give hard-working miners a break: Mark Bouris

A who's who of Australian surfing, business and entertainment has emerged on title records following the completion of Esprit Rainbow Bay, the latest boutique beachfront apartment development by former professional surfer Paul Gedoun's S&amp;S Projects.

The completed project has attracted an enviable collection of owners, many with long-standing ties to the southern Gold Coast and the surf culture that has helped define Rainbow Bay and neighbouring Kirra for generations.

Given Gedoun's own background in surfing, it perhaps comes as little surprise that some of Australia's most recognisable surfers have chosen to buy into the development overlooking one of the country's most celebrated stretches of coastline.

Pezet Matheson directors Jayde Pezet and Todd Matheson launched the project in late 2021, and have managed the sales campaign all the way through to its sell-out and recent completion.

<img alt="Esprit" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="08fc6261-b84e-4b09-8a44-66d3067fd0d1" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-07-29%20at%208.51.05%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=4AOcb6ETZwNUnMPdTtz1B3pZAIB_jgZ2" />

Former world champion Mick Fanning, who grew up in Coolangatta, secured an apartment in 2023. He paid&nbsp;$2.07 million. Last year he sold his Bilinga home for over $16 million.

Three-time world champion Joel Parkinson also purchased in the development, alongside big wave surfer Mark Mathews. Mathews bought the most expensive apartment in the building, spending just over $4 million.

Joining them is Rip Curl founder Doug Warbrick, whose company helped shape Australia's global surfing industry over the past five decades.

The appeal of Rainbow Bay has extended well beyond the surfing community.

International DJ Paul Fisher purchased an apartment through his investment vehicle, YLB Developments, an abbreviation of his trademark phrase "You Little Beauty".

The purchase comes as Fisher and his wife Chloe are developing their own luxury apartment project further north in Palm Beach. Their boutique beachfront development, Pescado, comprises just seven apartments on Jefferson Lane, which start from just shy of $6 million. The couple intend to retain the two-level penthouse as their Australian base between international touring commitments.

Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy and his wife Wendy have also invested in Esprit, purchasing two apartments after spending decades holidaying on the southern Gold Coast. They also have a luxury apartment in Joe Adsett's Rockpool, less than 400m away from Esprit.

<h2>Boutique project draws owner-occupiers</h2>

Esprit launched in 2021 and sold strongly, with buyers drawn to its boutique scale, beachfront position and contemporary design.

The completed development comprises 94 apartments across 11 levels, offering expansive floorplans designed primarily for owner-occupiers rather than the investor market.

Crowning the building is Club Esprit, pitched as being the Gold Coast's first residential rooftop wellness centre. The roof features a&nbsp;25 metre magnesium lap pool, which is surrounded by wet daybeds and poolside cabanas,&nbsp;multiple barbecue areas,&nbsp;a yoga and relaxation play lawn, and a private dining room with a kitchen scullery, bar, lounges, and an outdoor terrace.

The wellness centre is&nbsp;fully equipped with a Technogym, ice bath, infra-red sauna, steam room, thermal room, and treatment room. The roof has views spanning&nbsp;Rainbow Bay, Snapper Rocks and the Pacific Ocean.

<h2>S&amp;S Projects continues to shape Rainbow Bay</h2>

S&amp;S Projects founder Paul Gedoun has become one of the key figures behind Rainbow Bay's evolution over the past several years.

After establishing S&amp;S Projects, Gedoun has focused on delivering lifestyle-driven apartment developments designed primarily for owner-occupiers seeking a permanent coastal home.

Esprit is Gedoun's third completed project in Rainbow Bay, following Flow and Awaken, both of which achieved record prices for the suburb.

He is now delivering <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/radia-rainbow-bay-271-boundary-street-coolangatta-qld-4225">Radia Rainbow Bay</a>, a 38-apartment development on Boundary Street that is currently selling, and has no plans to leave the precinct anytime soon. S&amp;S Projects has also lodged plans for its fifth Rainbow Bay development, an 88-apartment project on Boundary Street featuring a strong wellness focus.

Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/qld/first-look-s-s-projects-proposes-88-apartment-wellness-tower-at-coolangattas-boundary-street">First look: S&amp;S Projects proposes 88-apartment wellness tower at Coolangatta's Boundary Street</a>

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Joel Robinson

Who's who of buyers revealed as Esprit Rainbow Bay settles

Nature Based Cities (NBC), the not-for-profit organisation focused on improving biodiversity and nature outcomes in urban development, has launched its latest industry design guidelines and accreditation framework, this time targeting precinct-scale residential communities.

The move extends NBC’s influence beyond its initial focus on medium and high-density residential developments. Several projects have already achieved NBC accreditation since the launch of its Medium &amp; High-Density Residential Guidelines in early 2025.

The expansion into masterplanned communities and new residential precincts reflects the growing need for stronger nature-positive benchmarks as Australia’s outer suburban growth corridors continue to expand at pace.

Paul Hameister OAM, NBC Founder and the Executive Chairman of Melbourne developer Hamton who itself leans heavily into nature and biodiversity in its developments, says the&nbsp;nature-first approach to mitigate the effects of climate change has become standard in other parts of the world such as the UK, but Australia is lagging.&nbsp;Australia’s environmentally sustainable design (ESD) rating tools have no minimum mandatory requirements for living landscapes.

“We’ve always wanted to do more, and we know other developers who want to do more, but the ESD rating tools just aren’t there,” Hameister says. “In Australia, you can have a five-green-star rated building that’s concrete and glass with not a blade of grass. 
 
“The focus is on reducing emissions, which is laudable, but there hasn’t been enough attention paid to protecting and re-establishing nature. We need both for the health of the environment and for communities.”

He says that having now&nbsp;made good progress in supporting developers of medium and high-density residential projects, NBC is now looking to bolster better nature-based decision-making and recognise developers of greenfield projects in the outer ring and large inner-ring brownfield precincts, who want to champion nature and living landscape as a defining feature.

Since 2022, the not-for-profit has sought to remove the roadblocks preventing developers from incorporating nature and living landscapes into their projects, shifting the conversation from the reduction of emissions and grey infrastructure, toward recognising nature as an essential infrastructure.

The New Communities Design Guidelines and Scorecard arm developers with the tools needed to deliver a nature positive outcome for their new communities. Intended to be adopted at the outset of the planning process, the guidelines are designed to help create communities that are cooler, healthier and more resilient while also enhancing social wellbeing and long-term economic value.&nbsp;

New Communities developers seeking accreditation will be independently assessed across a range of key criteria including ecology, tree canopy, biodiversity, and walkability. Once the masterplan is complete and submitted for approval, the scorecard is formalised based on proposed outcomes. Projects that meet the NBC criteria will receive either Commended or Exemplary accreditation outcomes, creating a clear benchmark for nature-positive new communities in Australia.&nbsp;

Janis Fischer, Director at Tract and NBC Advisory Council member, said the development of new communities in our suburbs can have a substantial impact on nature and biodiversity.

"By incorporating nature-based design principles at the inception of a project, developers and their design teams can achieve nature positive outcomes that are good for both people and the planet.’’&nbsp;

NBC accredited New Community projects will gain access to NBC branding and marketing tools to help communicate their nature-based credentials to purchasers and the broader market.&nbsp;

Nature Based Cities: A new Australian benchmark for developing nature-positive new communities

Apartment buildings are increasingly being designed around how people actually live day to day, not just how they want a building to look.

For buyers, that shift is showing up in practical inclusions that respond to changing habits. Work-from-home spaces, EV charging, wellness amenities, secure bike storage and parcel management are becoming part of the broader apartment conversation, reflecting a move toward buildings that reduce friction in everyday life.

Online shopping has become one of the clearest examples of that change.

Australians spent a record $82.6 billion online in 2025, with nearly one in four retail dollars now spent online. That has made parcel delivery a regular part of apartment living, rather than an occasional inconvenience.

For apartment residents, however, the delivery process can be less straightforward than it is for detached homes. Parcels may be left in lobbies, redirected to Post Offices, missed entirely, or placed under the responsibility of building managers and concierge teams.

That is why secure parcel infrastructure is increasingly being considered alongside more familiar apartment amenities.

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-VjjLwoViX0?si=A3k7ws9NX35Uac7_" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>

Australia Post Parcel Lockers offer one way to address the issue. When a parcel arrives, residents receive a notification through the AusPost app or SMS, then collect it using a QR code or one-time PIN. The parcel is kept secure, accessible and removed from common areas.

The broader Parcel Locker network now includes more than 1,500 locations across Australia, positioned at Post Offices, shopping centres, supermarkets, transport hubs and other accessible locations.

For new apartment projects, the relevance is clear. A building’s amenity offering is no longer only about lifestyle spaces, but also about convenience, security and functionality.

As buyer expectations evolve, secure parcel delivery is becoming part of the same design conversation as flexible working, sustainable transport and resident wellbeing.

It is one less thing for residents to worry about, and another example of apartment design adapting to the way Australians now live.

Apartment design is adapting to the way Australians shop

While school holidays and trips to Europe tend to define the winter property market, there's been no cold snap at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-walden-north-sydney-177-walker-street-north-sydney-nsw-2060">The Walden</a> in North Sydney.

Developer-builder&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/aland">ALAND</a> sold more than $35 million worth of apartments throughout June, including a $6.8 million apartment that now ranks among the highest apartment sales ever recorded in North Sydney.

SRM Residential agent Ben Stewart said buyer demand throughout June reflected a mix of improving market confidence and longer-term thinking from owner-occupiers.

"We're seeing strong demand from owner-occupiers who are taking a longer-term view," Stewart said.

"Many recognise the opportunity to secure an apartment in an iconic building and premium location while values remain attractive. They may initially lease the property, but the intention is to eventually move in themselves, rather than purchasing purely as an investment."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134323 project_image_fid=367129]

Located at 177 Walker Street, The Walden will deliver 161 one, two, three and four-bedroom residences across a 30-storey tower designed by Rothelowman. Every apartment occupies a corner position, maximising natural light, cross ventilation and views across Sydney Harbour, the Opera House, Sydney Heads and the northern districts.

Rather than a traditional balcony, the residences feature winter gardens that seamlessly extend the open plan living areas, creating versatile spaces for relaxing or entertaining throughout the year. Floor-to-ceiling glazing draws in natural light while showcasing sweeping views from the building's elevated Walker Street position.

Every apartment features high-end Calacatta marble, bespoke joinery, and fully integrated appliances.

The larger residences have been planned with distinct entertaining and private zones, with many master suites positioned on corners to capture natural light and harbour views. Walk-in dressing rooms, freestanding baths and refined stone finishes reinforce the house-like feel that has resonated with downsizers and owner-occupiers.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134323 project_image_fid=6393]

Rothelowman Principal Ben Pomroy said the project was designed to make the most of its unique position overlooking the harbour.

"The Walden is a celebration of all things beautiful, curated for those who expect nothing less than exceptional," Pomroy says.

"Meticulously designed entertaining spaces and light-filled living areas that capitalise on capturing the natural beauty of Sydney's iconic harbour."

Residents will also have exclusive access to The Pavilion, a dedicated amenity building featuring a rooftop pool, wellness studio, gymnasium, sauna, concierge service, residents' lounge, private dining spaces and work-from-home facilities.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134323 project_image_fid=6402]

The project marks ALAND's first major luxury apartment development in Sydney's inner-city market after more than two decades delivering residential communities across Greater Sydney.

Founder and CEO Andrew Hrsto previously said the rarity of the Walker Street site made it an opportunity the company could not overlook.

"This is a rare opportunity to bring a truly exceptional project to life in one of Sydney's most iconic locations, and to showcase our craftsmanship and design expertise at a world-class level," Hrsto said.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134323 project_image_fid=6383]

The Walden has been introduced to the market at a time when demand for living in North Sydney is at an all-time high. Billions of dollars have been invested in infrastructure, including the recently opened Victoria Cross Metro station, located just 300 metres from The Walden, providing residents with direct access to the Sydney CBD in just minutes.

Private investment has also transformed the area through the arrival of new retail and dining destinations, elevating the lifestyle offering in what was once considered primarily a commercial precinct rather than an aspirational residential address.

The Walden is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion in 2028.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=134323]

ALAND records $35 million in sales in North Sydney as The Walden bucks quiet winter selling season

The long-awaited redevelopment of the former Eastlakes Shopping Centre site has reached a major milestone, with Conquest's plans for a new mixed-use precinct officially placed on public exhibition.

The State Significant Development Application would transform the 1.7-hectare site at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/19a-evans-avenue-eastlakes-nsw-2018">19A Evans Avenue</a> into one of Sydney's largest urban renewal projects, delivering 736 apartments above a new shopping centre anchored by Woolworths, alongside specialty retail, dining, commercial space and new public open spaces.

The public exhibition marks the next chapter for the project after <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/conquest">Conquest</a> acquired the stalled Stage Two development from Crown Group, who completed the first stage across the road prior to their voluntary liquidation.

<img alt="First look: Conquest unveils plans for 736-home Eastlakes Shopping Centre redevelopment" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5fca22c5-d1ed-4e2c-8801-03f7df1eafc8" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/eastland%20podium.png?VersionId=uomwr41nF8CmLUZRDcu3mHQechlbxucS" />

&nbsp;

Designed by DKO Architecture, the proposal comprises four residential buildings ranging from 14 to 18 storeys above a two-level retail podium. The development would deliver 736 apartments, including 74 affordable homes, 215 Build-to-Rent apartments and 521 market residences. Provision has also been made for dual-key apartments, which could increase the total number of dwellings to 877.

At ground level, the shopping centre has been designed as the suburb's new meeting place, anchored by a full-line Woolworths and complemented by a curated mix of fresh food retailers, cafés, restaurants, health services and everyday convenience shopping. Generous pedestrian links and landscaped public spaces will connect the retail precinct through to Jack Mundey Reserve, creating a more walkable and connected neighbourhood.

Conquest CEO Michael Akkawi said the redevelopment was about far more than replacing a shopping centre.

"Eastlakes has been overlooked for too long, and this is the community’s moment. We are building a shopping centre and homes, a genuine heart for the suburb, and we genuinely want locals to help shape it."

"We enrich communities through the creation of homes, places, and experiences designed for life, built to last, and owner for generations. That starts with listening, so we warmly encourage everyone with a connection to Eastlakes to view the plans and share their thoughts."

<img alt="First look: Conquest unveils plans for 736-home Eastlakes Shopping Centre redevelopment" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="22f6fb20-54fb-4bd7-8a92-48fafdd00608" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/eastland.png?VersionId=cugp7s9hrMHGJJdYzkeAkrFoQgnF4GXf" />

DKO said the design had been shaped by the site's landscape setting and surrounding open space.

"Our vision for the site embraces its unique Bidjigal identity by blending the residential living with generous landscaping and a material palette inspired by the Bidjigal locality, and celebrating the panoramic views to Botany Bay and the wetlands reserves."

"Taking cues from Country, we seek to harmonise built form with the landscape and lightly touch the earth. By reconnecting, retaining and regenerating existing ecology, and weaving in natural elements, we can deepen our connection to Country."

The landscape strategy extends across the podium and rooftops, incorporating communal gardens, children's play areas, lawns, community gardens, family gathering spaces and extensive tree planting. New landscaped links will also strengthen the connection between the precinct and Jack Mundey Reserve, while publicly accessible open spaces have been integrated throughout the development.

The proposal builds on Conquest's broader placemaking strategy for the site. Through an ongoing partnership, local artist Joe Rashbrook has been appointed Urban Art Curator, working alongside young residents to transform the project's site hoardings into a public art gallery that allows the community to engage with the redevelopment before construction is complete.

Conquest has rapidly expanded its development pipeline since acquiring the Eastlakes site, with more than $6 billion worth of mixed-use projects now in planning across Sydney, including Stanmore, Castlecrag and Waterloo.

Conquest CEO Michael Akkawi said the redevelopment was about far more than replacing a shopping centre.

Mark Bouris

Editor's Picks

Have something to contribute?

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News