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Weekly rents are rising at their slowest annual pace on record across the combined capital cities, according to the latest CoreLogic RP Data's Rental Review Snapshot.
The combined capital cities recorded an annual rate of growth at just 0.5% over the year. 
The review noted Sydney and Melbourne had the greatest increases in weekly rents however, their rates of growth have slowed relative to a year ago.
"Over the past month, weekly rents have moved lower across every capital city except Sydney where they were unchanged and in Melbourne and Hobart where they rose. Over the past three months rents are lower in all capital cities," it said.
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Weekly rents rising slowest on record: CoreLogic RP Data

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Apartments in Brisbane, Sydney and The Whitsundays are in the peak of the market, according to the Herron Todd White October 2015 property clock.
Townsville, Mt Gambier and Canberra apartments are now deemed at the bottom of the market.  
<a href="/images/2015/10/08/Screen%20Shot%202015-10-08%20at%2011.20.17%20AM.png" target="_blank">Click here to enlarge</a>
For more information, <a href="https://www.htw.com.au/" target="_blank">click here</a>.
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Brisbane, Sydney units at peak pricing on October HTW property clock

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GEUST OBSERVER
The hot weather over the October long weekend brings a reminder that Australia’s “disaster season” is fast approaching.
The summer brings bushfires, cyclones and floods to the forefront of our minds – never more so than in an El Niño year with temperatures predicted to soar.
The increase in the frequency and the impacts of natural disasters over recent years has been well documented and is at least partly attributable to changes in our climate.
Climate change is not going away, so it is highly likely that this rising tide of natural disasters will continue.
<h2>Communicating risk</h2>
This increasing prevalence presents a challenge for risk communication. How should the public be informed about the potential risk of disasters?
A common response is to assume that more information is better, and that providing summaries of risk levels will lead people to reduce their exposure to relevant risks.
Data from field studies on non-climate-related disasters, however, point to the opposite effect.
Media-released information summaries concerning catastrophic events can have the paradoxical effect of decreasing people’s overall estimates of risk.
For example, following the Loma Prieta earthquake in northern California, an analysis of house sales suggested that new buyers reduced their assessment of risk as information concerning the location and rate of earthquakes was publicised.
A similar pattern was found following the Tohoku tsunami of 2011, with unaffected residents exhibiting lowered risk perception about the heights of waves warranting evacuation.
<h2>Testing risky choices in the lab</h2>
In a paper published in Nature Climate Change today, my colleagues and I attempt to shed light on this paradoxical effect of summaries of risk.
We created a microworld with three villages, each associated with different levels of disaster risk.
On each trial of the 400-trial experiment, people (mostly university students) had to choose where to live. They earned points on each trial, but lost lots of points when a disaster struck.
One village was safe – a disaster never occurred – but people didn’t get many points for choosing to live there. A second village offered more points if no disaster occurred but rare catastrophes occurred (10 in 100 rounds), which affected a small proportion of the dwellings in the village.
A third village had even rarer catastrophes (one in 100) but the damage was more widespread, thus making the overall risk of a disaster equal to the second village.
These risks were all known to participants before they made their choices. What differed was how participants learned about a disaster occurring.
One group only found out if their own dwelling was hit, a second group found out if any of the dwellings in their village was hit, and a third group found out if any dwellings in either risky village were affected.
These three groups were designed to mimic information people could get in real life from personal experience, local sources, or from afar via media or authorities.
The key result was that the third group - people given the most information about recently experienced or avoided disasters – took more risks and were more likely to choose regions prone to disasters.
Getting full information about all the villages, as is possible in real life through media and authorities, appeared to reinforce for people that “most of the time nothing bad happens in the risky areas”.
The increased tolerance for risk is akin to a person who is willing to trade daily access to the ocean with the rare risk of flooding from an abnormally high tide.
<h2>Implications for risk communication</h2>
Our results suggest that supplementing personal experience with information about the rare occurrence of disasters (storms, floods) in different regions may paradoxically reduce people’s perception of risk and increase the appeal of disaster-prone regions.
This result implies that disaster risk communication needs to emphasise the increasing prevalence of disasters.
Statements often seen in the media such as a “one-in-50 or one-in-100-year” event could lead people to assume, incorrectly, that there won’t be another event for 49 or 99 years. This perception is compounded by their typical daily experience of nothing bad happening.
Risk messages need instead to focus on the accumulation of events and the increase in their associated risks across time. For example, people should be reminded how many major floods or severe fire days occurred between specific points in time – such as “four events between 1900 and 1949”, or “ten events between 1950 and 2000”.
Of course, this conclusion is based on the specific conditions in our modelled microworld, so we need to be cautious in generalising too far. Nonetheless, the research points towards ways to understand the sometimes paradoxical reaction to disaster risk.
Ben Newell is professor of cognitive psychology, UNSW Australia and an author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ben-newell-46" target="_blank">here</a>.
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Disaster reporting may encourage people to live in riskier places

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The Sydney house market has trumped July’s quarterly growth rate with rate of 7.88%, according to Onthehouse.com.au, who found Melbourne is up on July’s quarter with 3.13% growth for the thee-month period ending August.
Onthehouse.com.au market analyst Eliza Owen said the next quarter will reveal whether the Sydney unit market is finally slowing down. She says that while the Australian economy may currently be under-performing, this does not mean that housing market will follow suit.
"In August Melbourne’s unit market barely moved with a rate of -0.01%," she said.
"Brisbane continues to follow the movements of its fellow East Coast house markets, documenting a strong annual performance of 6.78%. However, Brisbane’s unit market survived the downward trend evident in its East Coast neighbours with a healthy monthly growth rate of 0.92%."
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Sydney house market continues to boom, unit market contracts: Eliza Owen

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The Australian Residential Market September 2015 report from Propell has found land subdivisions are adversely affected by new lending criteria, rental vacancy rates are increasing in most cities and foreign investment in housing will strengthen due to lower AUD.
It noted 2016 may witness a combination of slowing economic growth and rising interest rates, bringing the threat of a recession if non-mining sectors do not respond sufficiently to a lower exchange rate.
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"In 2016, the RBA may find itself in the position of having to start increasing the cash rate, suggesting that we are now at, or close to, the bottom of the cycle," the report said.
"The long term outlook is for rates to start increasing. As far as property investors are concerned, there has already been a de facto increase, as banks stop discounting investment home loans and start requiring more equity."
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Long term outlook to increase interest rates: Propell

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A property in the Victorian suburb of Garfield has made the latest top ten most discounted properties nationwide list from SQM Research in the number ten spot.
The four bedroom home on average at 1110 Nar Nar Goon Longworry road, Garfield, VIC, was first listed back in May 2011 with an original asking price of $1.2 million, according to SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher, who said the vendor reduced the asking price in August 2014, then again more recently to $850,000. "The property consists of a four bedroom home, 11 small paddocks, six stables, multiple haysheds, carports, horse shelters and more. This property is most definitely suited for someone interested in horses with plenty of business potential," he said.
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New entrant scrapes into top ten discounted properties nationwide list: SQM Research

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The latest 12 Cities report from Savills UK has noted US cities have the smallest gap between prime and mainstream residential values, alongside locally invested cities such as Sydney and Tokyo.
According to authors Yolande Barnes, director, Paul Tostevin, associate director and Vladimir Tikhnenko, research analyst, the 12 cities the most expensive for mainstream residential property are Hong Kong, New York and London respectively.
"This investment has been blamed in some cities for pushing up house prices for ordinary residents. Our data suggests that this is not the case, however, as both New York and Sydney have seen high price rises in recent years, despite restrictions on foreign ownership. Instead, the signs are that investment pushes up prime property values rather than mainstream values," the report noted.
"Mainstream properties generally have, on average, seen growth of 58% across the 12 cities since December 2008. Most of this growth has been associated with economic recovery in the second half of that period, with 33% occurring between December 2011 and June 2015. 
"Growth in prime markets has actually been lower across the 12 cities, growing by an average of 37% over the past seven years. The highest growth (19%) took place in the first half, before 2011, when buyers were more likely to invest capital rather than financing from income. Mainstream property values are, on average, 19% of prime property values in our 12 cities and are most heavily discounted in internationally invested cities such as Hong Kong, Dubai, Paris and London. US cities have the smallest gap between prime and mainstream values, alongside locally invested cities such as Sydney and Tokyo.
"It would appear that international investment is concentrated in prime markets and tends to push up prices in the most expensive echelons of the market. High levels of commercial real estate investment in US cities do result in international investment in multi-family housing, but this would appear to have had a moderating effect on rental growth rather than contributing to price growth in mainstream markets."
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Gap between prime, mainstream values smallest in Sydney, Tokyo, US: Savills

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The Wollongong region in New South Wales had a preliminary clearance rate for the week ending 4 October with a 58.3% clearance rate for a total of 38 auctions, according to CoreLogic RP Data.
Queensland's Sunshine Coast had a preliminary clearance rate of 54.6% from a total of 43 auctions and the Victorian suburb of Geelong only five total auctions.
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Wollongong clears 58.3% clearance rate: CoreLogic RP Data

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The valuation firm Herron Todd White has issued its latest property clock for houses - a simple broad brush means to suggest where property markets are - and what direction prices are moving in.
The valuation firm has included capital and regional cities on the October property clock for house price direction.
Melbourne has joined Sydney houses at the peak of the cycle.
<a href="/images/2015/10/07/Screen%20Shot%202015-10-07%20at%209.50.31%20AM.png" target="_blank">Click here</a> to enlarge.
For more information, <a href="https://www.htw.com.au/" target="_blank">click here</a>.
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Melbourne joins Sydney houses at peak pricing on October HTW property clock

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Only 90 auctions were held in Melbourne for the week ending 4 October, with a preliminary clearance rate of 67.7%, according to CoreLogic RP Data.
This marks the third lowest clearance rate for the year.
The North West region reported eight of the ten auctions successful and the South East region had the highest number of auctions at 21.
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North West strongest as Melbourne's clearance rate hits 67.7%: CoreLogic RP Data

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

Joel Robinson

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

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

WM Residences fills gap in Mordialloc townhouse market

&nbsp;

Developer GURNER™ Group has revealed $1.65 billion in residential sales nationally across the 12 months to December 2025, driven largely by the continued momentum of its Docklands wellness-focused precinct, Elysium Fields.

The sales result was generated across seven projects in Victoria and New South Wales, headlined by Elysium Fields, GURNER™’s $2.75 billion mixed-use precinct planned for Harbour Esplanade in Docklands.

The project has recorded more than $500 million in sales across the first three towers, equating to around 580 apartments sold.

The first tower, Helios, has now sold out of its 240 private residences, with GURNER™ preparing to release a premium penthouse collection comprising 15 three-bedroom penthouses in coming weeks.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=144441 project_image_fid=370975]

Elysium Fields is being developed on the long-held 20,000 sqm Docklands site at 208-226 Harbour Esplanade, which had remained undeveloped for more than two decades prior to GURNER™ taking over the project around four years ago.

Construction has now commenced across four towers ranging between 18 and 30 storeys, with Hamilton Marino and Maxcon appointed as builders.

Once complete, the precinct is expected to comprise around 1,100 residences, alongside retail, hospitality and public realm uses integrated throughout the site.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=144441 project_image_fid=370981]

Designed by Fraser &amp; Partners in collaboration with GURNER™ Design House, the project has been positioned around the developer’s broader focus on wellness-led residential living.

“We don’t sell apartments. We create a true luxury lifestyle that simply doesn’t exist elsewhere in the market today,” Founder and Executive Chairman Tim Gurner said.

“To deliver that requires an extraordinary level of detail, coordination and discipline across multiple verticals, from design and hospitality through to wellness and service.”

“We’ve always believed that living extends far beyond the physical residence. It’s about how you feel the moment you arrive, how you live day-to-day, and the ecosystem that supports that.” 
[smartcode_project:default project_id=144441 project_image_fid=370977]

The project’s design places a heavy focus on landscaping, wellness amenities and biophilic design principles.

Plans include around 3,700 sqm of landscaped gardens and open space throughout the precinct, alongside a retail and dining offering spanning approximately 5,000 sqm.

The broader public realm strategy centres around what GURNER™ describes as the “Path of Life”, an urban forest and landscaped pedestrian environment intended to connect the various buildings and wellness spaces across the precinct.

The apartments themselves will incorporate a range of wellness-focused inclusions, including purified air and water systems, circadian lighting, antimicrobial surfaces, and optional in-home wellness upgrades.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=144441 project_image_fid=370980]

Gurner said the company’s experience through its Saint Haven wellness clubs had directly informed the residential offering now being incorporated into Elysium Fields.

“We’re seeing a clear global shift toward longevity, performance and proactive health,” Gurner said.

“Our role is to deliver that in a way that feels seamless, highly private and beautifully resolved within the environments we create.”

A large component of the wellness offering is planned through the resident amenity and health facilities proposed within the precinct.

That includes plans for bathing and recovery facilities spread throughout the towers, incorporating mineral pools, saunas, steam rooms, flotation therapy, red light therapy and wellness lounges.

The developer is also seeking approvals for what it describes as a “reverse ageing medical clinic” within the precinct.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=144441 project_image_fid=370978]

According to project information released by the group, the proposed facility would include cryotherapy, IV infusion therapy, infrared and dry saunas, PEMF beds, MRIs, DEXA scans, brain scans and blood analysis services.

Within the first tower, Helios, residents will also have access to a dedicated amenity offering known as the Sky Private Club.

The upper 15 levels of the building will include private lounges, dining spaces, rooftop amenities and optional private wellness studios integrated within residences.

The Helios tower itself comprises 260 apartments ranging between 60 sqm and 300 sqm, including a collection of penthouses.

That includes a planned two-storey penthouse spanning around 600 sqm with uninterrupted bay views.

The Elysium Fields precinct is being delivered in partnership with Digital Harbour Holdings, a consortium that includes the Liberman family, which controls the development rights across the Docklands site.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=144441 project_image_fid=370979]

The sales result comes as GURNER™ continues expanding its national development pipeline beyond Victoria.

“We have a strong pipeline across Australia and are now focused on scaling into key markets including New South Wales and Queensland, while continuing to build on our Melbourne base,” Gurner said.

“We currently have more than $3 billion in the market, growing to over $5 billion by October, and expect to materially outperform last year in the 2026 calendar year.”

The result also reflects the continued strength of the upper-end apartment market in Melbourne, particularly for owner-occupier-focused product with large-scale amenity and lifestyle offerings.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=144441]

Record result anchored by the Group’s “utopian” Elysium Fields precinct – defying market headwinds in Docklands.

Elysium Fields drive Gurner to $1.65 billion in apartment sales over 2025

National Australia Bank (NAB) will fund <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/palmera-residences-gold-coast-18-garfield-terrace-surfers-paradise-qld-4217">Palmera</a>, a $1 billion, 52-level luxury residential tower being developed by Central Equity in one of the Gold Coast’s most tightly held coastal locations at Northcliffe.

The project, launched recently by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/central-equity">Central Equity</a>, one of Victoria’s largest private residential developers, comes at a time when construction funding for large residential developments has become increasingly competitive as lenders tighten exposure to the sector.

Multiplex has been appointed the builder, and construction is now underway.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=108274 project_image_fid=365784]

Since its first project, Central Equity has delivered more than 85 residential developments with a combined end value exceeding $8 billion.

Palmera reflects Central Equity’s growing focus on the Gold Coast luxury apartment market and continues a relationship between Central Equity and NAB that dates back to the late 1980s, when the bank funded one of Melbourne’s earliest inner-city residential towers at a time when high-rise apartment living in the CBD was largely unproven.

“NAB’s funding of Central Equity’s $36 million CBD development in the late 1980’s to the financing of the billion-dollar tower today highlights the long-term relationship between the two organisations in delivering major residential projects” said Central Equity Founder and Chairman Eddie Kutner.

He said NAB’s early support was instrumental in helping establish the company’s development model.

“When we commenced our first residential tower in the late 1980s the concept of funding off-the-plan apartments was still largely untested in Australia,” Kutner said.

“NAB recognised the opportunity early and supported the project when others were uncertain. That relationship has now continued for more than 37 years across many developments.”

[smartcode_project:default project_id=108274 project_image_fid=365771]

Central Equity was established in 1987 when Melbourne’s CBD and Southbank precinct were still dominated by warehouses and commercial buildings. Fewer than 100 residents lived in Southbank at the time, and large-scale residential development in the inner city was not widely considered.

Recognising changing demographics and lifestyle preferences, the company began developing high-rise residential projects designed to bring permanent residents into the city centre.

Central Equity has provided accommodation for approximately 40,000 residents across Melbourne’s CBD and Southbank, while also incorporating supporting infrastructure including essential lifestyle facilities like retail spaces, childcare facilities and neighbourhood activity centres.

Central Equity has spent many years assembling the Palmera development site on the corner of Garfield Terrace and Frederick Street in Northcliffe, creating a supersite of around 3,300 sqm.

The developer said the Palmera apartment tower reflects its long-term view of the Gold Coast as a growing and increasingly diversified economy.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=108274 project_image_fid=365768]

Supported by infrastructure including the light rail network, major road upgrades expanded education, hospital and medical facilities and continued expansion at the Gold Coast Airport with more internation and domestic flights.

Positioned in the tightly held Northcliffe precinct, the 52-level tower will deliver 347 apartments, targeting buyers seeking a high-end coastal lifestyle, from downsizers to interstate investors.

Designed by Marchese Partners with interiors by DBI, Palmera has been conceived as a next-generation residential offering, featuring a collection of oversized apartments, with premium three-bedroom residences offering sweeping northern views stretching from Surfers Paradise through to Burleigh Heads.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=108274]

NAB funds $1 billion Surfers Paradise apartment development, Palmera

Two years after completing one of the newest developments in North Sydney, developer <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/aqualand-australia">Aqualand</a> is turning its attention to the rapidly evolving St Leonards apartment market.

The developer, which completed AURA by Aqualand on North Sydney's Walker Street, has lodged plans for a 5,918 sqm site at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/33-37-herbert-street-st-leonards-nsw-2065">33-37 Herbert Street, St Leonards,</a> seeking approval for a pair of residential towers rising above a shared podium opposite Royal North Shore Hospital.

The proposal forms part of the broader transformation underway across the St Leonards-Crows Nest precinct, where former industrial and commercial sites are increasingly being redeveloped into high-density mixed-use projects tied to major transport infrastructure.

<img alt="Aqualand" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="2cc428cf-fe70-4cac-9cd5-264ad53af62c" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-28%20at%209.51.56%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=otKSnHtbjAvAddOnovyXQMgcAwE6DMe1" />

According to the planning documents, the site sits “within the St Leonards–Crows Nest Strategic Centre, identified by the NSW Government as a key area for accommodating future jobs and housing across Sydney.”

The proposal has been designed by fjcstudio, formerly FJMT Studio, and is being progressed through the State Significant Development pathway due to its scale and affordable housing provision.

The scheme would comprise 413 apartments, including 46 affordable housing units, alongside retail and commercial uses fronting Herbert Street. The project would also include communal open space, landscaping, a swimming pool, gymnasium, children’s play areas and podium-level resident amenities.

Planning documents show the development would consist of a part-13, part-39 storey tower form positioned above a four-storey podium.

“The development comprises a unified podium that activates the street interface, and two setback towers to accommodate new housing supply while maintaining an appropriate human scale at ground level,” fjcstudio noted in its Design Report.

The northern and southern towers have been shaped to respond to the surrounding skyline while also limiting overshadowing impacts to nearby public open space, particularly Talus Reserve.

The design report said the differing tower heights were intended to “contribute to a varied skyline while responding to the surrounding built form context and solar access considerations.”

<img alt="Aqualand" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="36da62dc-ff9e-41f2-a7e3-7be38373751c" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-28%20at%209.51.45%E2%80%AFAM_0.png?VersionId=Mo6Rp2r.XRLTzIfg_PEEpw8NepDH8UBs" />

The site sits directly opposite Royal North Shore Hospital and within walking distance of both St Leonards Station and the new Crows Nest Metro station.

While the site itself sits just outside the formal Crows Nest Transport Oriented Development boundary, the planning documents repeatedly reference its alignment with the broader TOD objectives reshaping the Lower North Shore.

“The site is located adjacent to St Leonards Station and in close proximity to Crows Nest Metro which is within the Crows Nest Transit Orientated Development Accelerated Precinct which has been identified by the NSW Government to support housing delivery,” the Design Verification Statement noted.

According to fjcstudio, the project has been designed to respond to the broader transition occurring across St Leonards, where increasing residential density is being concentrated around transport infrastructure and employment hubs.

“The broader precinct is undergoing significant change, with a mix of existing mid-rise buildings and newer high-density developments,” the report stated.

“Recent and approved projects indicate a consistent shift toward taller built form, typically organised as tower-and-podium typologies with more active ground levels.”

The proposal includes close to 6,000 sqm of retail and commercial space across the ground floor and podium levels, designed to create a more activated street edge along Herbert Street.

Aqualand’s plans would also introduce a landscaped podium shared between the two towers, with communal open space in the form of a podium rooftop designed to support resident interaction and improve urban greening outcomes. The scheme would also introduce pocket parks at the northern and southern ends of the site, including a landscaped area at the corner of Herbert and Ella streets designed to improve pedestrian amenity and soften the streetscape.

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The proposal is being progressed through the NSW Government’s Housing Delivery Authority pathway, which was introduced to accelerate housing supply across the state. The application was declared State Significant Development in April 2025 following an expression of interest process.

<img alt="Aqualand" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="faf6d97d-2671-454f-b85a-fe1c6a7be608" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-28%20at%209.51.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=diVd28OBVr5.YV.7prrOz.uAanwwwm7a" />

St Leonards has been particularly active with new developments in recent weeks. Developer SP Setia’s <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/first-look-sp-setia-targets-st-leonards-skyline-with-40-storey-tod-tower">plans for a new 42-storey tower</a> recently went on exhibition through the same pathway, while <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/first-look-stockland-plans-52-storey-538-apartment-st-leonards-tower">Stockland’s 52-storey tower proposal</a> was also recently unveiled.

Aside from the St Leonards project, which is expected to take around nine months to move through the approvals process ahead of a potential 2027 launch, Aqualand is also preparing to launch Boronia, a new apartment project in Roseville comprising around 111 apartments on Larkin Street.

The developer also has approvals in place for the next stage of the Barangaroo precinct, which will feature new residential, retail, hospitality and community uses, alongside a new metro entry across the five-hectare site.

More than 50 new retail destinations are planned for Central Barangaroo, alongside a 270-metre-long boulevard connecting Hickson Park to Nawi Cove. Together with Harbour Park, more than 50 per cent of the precinct will comprise public open space and parkland.

Michael Crawford

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