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Internal documents from the Reserve Bank of Australia show its economists modelled house price falls of as much as 15 per cent during the COVID-19 shutdown.
Economists working within the Reserve Bank of Australia also considered the merits of halting established home sales amid the market disruption caused by the pandemic.
Reserve Bank economists considered urging the Federal Government to shut down the real estate industry, "pausing" sales to avoid perceptions of a coronavirus-inspired housing market crash.
In April, economist Nick Garvin wrote to colleagues, warning them the RBA should stop discussing the housing market as if it were operating normally, and calling for a halt — as happens to stock market trading in emergencies. 
"I think it's dangerous for regulators to be reporting on housing prices as though the market is currently functioning," he wrote.
Garvin noted shutting down real estate sales would send a statement that "we're in a different category of situation" and that normal reporting of clearance rates and average prices was "misleading".
"It's become clear that there has been a big drop-off in demand for new housing," wrote assistant governor (economic), Luci Ellis, in notes which were obtained by theABC through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
A sharp fall in house prices was forecast in a note on April 18. 
"Housing prices are expected to decline by around 7 per cent over the next year. Prices are expected to remain around 10 per cent lower than at the February Statement over the forecast horizon," it read, putting most of this down to a loss of confidence.
It forecast the fall in house prices could be as little as 2 per cent in the best scenario, "in the downside [worst scenario] prices fall by 15 per cent".
 
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j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

RBA economists modelled 15 percent house price falls amid market shutdown consideration

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From tomorrow ING will be increasing its fixed rate home loans for owner occupiers by up to 0.20% and for investors by up to 0.40%.
ING is one of only three lenders on Canstar's 100+ lender database to increase fixed rates in June.
These changes will see ING’s former market leading 2-year Orange Advantage Residential fixed rate of 2.09% drop out of the top 3 lowest 2-year fixed rates, with the interest rate now sitting at 2.19% (comparison rate 3.79%).  <img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2020/6/18/ING%201.JPG" alt="">
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2020/6/18/ING%202.JPG" alt="">Canstar’s finance expert, Steve Mickenbecker said, "ING has surprised the home loan market by increasing its fixed housing loan rates from Friday."
"ING’s fixed rate increases come after recent fixed rate cuts from major banks that have been fueled by low wholesale funding costs."
"For owner occupiers the increases range from 0.05% to 0.20%, but for investors they are as high as 0.40%, suggesting the bank is reviewing its appetite for housing risk."
"ING’s 2-year fixed rate for owner occupiers remains amongst the market leaders, but they have relinquished their lowest price position."
"Fixed rates continue to be at the sharpest priced end of the market with rates as low as 2.09%."
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ING goes against the grain increasing fixed interest rates

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GUEST OBSERVATION
 
Australia’s energy market is outdated. It doesn’t encourage competition and that’s holding back the <a href="http://www.unswlawjournal.unsw.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/39-4-6.pdf">transition</a> to renewable energy. Important reforms to modernise the market are on the way, but big energy companies are seeking to use the cover of COVID-19 to prevent the change.
This is bad for consumers, and for climate action. Reform would help create a modern grid <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://relp.lexxion.eu/article/RELP/2011/2/44">designed</a> around clean energy, pushing coal-fired generators to retire earlier. Over time, it would also bring down power costs for households and business.
Renewable energy is the cheapest form of new electricity. It’s far better for the environment than coal and gas, and can deliver reliable supplies when backed by batteries and other energy storage.
Instead of delaying reform, Australia should be advancing it.
What’s this all about?
Regulators and governments recognise the need to modernise the rules governing the National Electricity Market. That market, established in 1998, supplies all Australian jurisdictions except Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Reliable electricity requires that supply and demand be kept in balance. This balance is primarily provided by a system known as the <a href="https://www.aemc.gov.au/sites/default/files/content//Five-Minute-Settlement-directions-paper-fact-sheet-FINAL.PDF">wholesale spot market</a>. Every five minutes, electricity generators bid into the spot market, specifying how much energy they will provide at a certain price.
An entire <a href="http://www.coagenergycouncil.gov.au/publications/post-2025-market-design-national-electricity-market-nem">redesign</a> of the market rules is scheduled for 2025. This should make the market work efficiently and reliably as coal retires and is replaced by renewable energy.
In the meantime, one important rule change is due to start in July next year, known as “<a href="https://www.aemc.gov.au/rule-changes/five-minute-settlement">5-minute settlement</a>”.
Currently, electricity is sold and sent out from generators in 5-minute blocks. But the actual price paid for this electricity in the wholesale market is averaged every 30 minutes. This means there are six dispatch periods, each with their own price, which are then averaged out when the market is settled.
This strange design has enabled big electricity generators to <a href="https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0140988316301839">game the market</a>. One method involves placing high bids in the first interval, then placing low or even negative bids in the remaining five intervals. This ensures that electricity from the big generators is purchased, but that they and all other generators receive an artificially high average price for the whole 30-minute period.
In 2017, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) <a href="https://www.aemc.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/97d09813-a07c-49c3-9c55-288baf8936af/ERC0201-Five-Minute-Settlement-Final-Determination.PDF">decided</a> to replace 30-minute settlement with 5-minute settlement.
<a href="https://www.aemc.gov.au/sites/default/files/content//Five-Minute-Settlement-directions-paper-fact-sheet-FINAL.PDF">The commission says</a> the current system was adopted more than 20 years ago due to technological barriers which have since been overcome. It argues moving to 5-minute settlement would better reflect the value to consumers of fast-response technologies, such as batteries storing renewable energy and so-called “demand response” (a concept we’ll explain later).
<a href="https://www.aemc.gov.au/rule-changes/five-minute-settlement">According to</a> the AEMC, the rule change would lead to lower wholesale costs, cutting electricity prices for consumers.
But on March 19 this year, the Australian Energy Council, which represents most coal-fired power stations and the big three electricity retailers, sought to delay the reform. It wrote to federal energy minister Angus Taylor and his state counterparts, arguing the pandemic means energy companies must focus on “<a href="https://www.energycouncil.com.au/analysis/covid-19-brings-reform-challenges/">critical supply and reliabilty</a>” issues, rather than implementing the rule change.
But energy consumption has <a href="https://www.tai.org.au/content/national-energy-emissions-audit-april-2020">barely changed</a> during the pandemic, the Australia Institute’s national energy emissions audit shows. So delaying the reform to deal with supply and reliability issues appears unjustified.
Despite this, the Australian Energy Market Operator has proposed delaying the change for a year. Our <a href="https://www.tai.org.au/content/delaying-energy-market-reform-increase-costs-slow-transition-renewables-think-tank-industry">submission</a>, endorsed by energy and technology leaders, opposes the delay.
Moves by regulators to delay another <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/regulators-flag-delays-to-16-energy-reform-projects-as-fossil-fuel-interests-dig-in-15284/">16 market reforms</a> due to COVID-19 also seem to be afoot.
Change is possible
Last week, one big rule change to the National Electricity Market did proceed as planned. <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-11/customers-paid-for-reducing-electricity-demand-radical-change/12343790">It allows</a> “demand response” energy trading from 2021.
<a href="http://www.tai.org.au/content/finkel%E2%80%99s-forgotten-finding-%E2%80%93-%E2%80%98negawatts%E2%80%99">Demand response</a> involves reducing energy consumption during peaks in demand, such as during heatwaves. Basically, the rule means big energy users, such as smelters and manufacturing plants, could power down in these periods, and be paid for doing so.
Technology pioneers such as battery entrepreneur <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/covid-19-may-delay-national-electricity-market-reform-20200419-p54l3s">Simon Hackett</a> and Atlassian chief <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/ambitious-energy-reforms-set-to-cut-household-power-bills-20200611-p551rs">Mike Cannon-Brookes</a> have backed this change.
Australia has successfully used demand response to provide <a href="https://arena.gov.au/assets/2019/03/demand-response-rert-trial-year-1-report.pdf">emergency</a> electricity capacity and <a href="https://www.afr.com/news/demand-response-worth-half-a-liddell-to-energy-queensland-20180404-h0ybij">other</a> <a href="https://www.aemc.gov.au/rule-changes/demand-response-mechanism">benefits</a>. But it’s never been unleashed in the wholesale energy market.
The rule change doesn’t involve smaller users such as households. But it’s a promising start that creates new competition for fossil fuel generators and allows energy users to help make the grid more reliable.
Political warfare over climate policy has held back Australia, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8500.12328">and the electricity market</a>, for more than a decade. But energy reform that encourages greater market competition can readily be supported by political conservatives.
The demand-response rule change is a clear example: it has been <a href="https://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/taylor/media-releases/wholesale-demand-response-help-lower-costs-and-strengthen-energy">championed by Taylor</a> and his predecessors <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-13/negawatts-touted-as-solution-to-growing-energy/8707232">Josh Frydenberg</a> and <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/coalition-seeks-deal-to-cut-power-demand/news-story/5b7a3dd86ddf11c91d5f817405bb43a9">Greg Hunt</a>.
Getting future-ready
Once the health crisis is over and economic recovery has begun, Australia will need the economic and social benefits of electricity market reform even more than before.
Such reform “<a href="https://www.tai.org.au/content/energy-reform-after-covid-19">stimulus</a>” would help ready the grid for the inevitable retirement of coal-fired power stations, such as Liddell in 2023.
It would also align with state government investments in renewable energy, and boost private investment in new generation (which has <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/cec-calls-for-action-on-grid-issues-as-renewables-investment-cut-in-half-28289/">recently slumped</a>) and <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2020/05/26/coronavirus-manufacturing-industry/">large-scale batteries</a>.
Electricity remains Australia’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-to-attend-climate-summit-empty-handed-despite-un-pleas-to-come-with-a-plan-123187">highest-polluting sector</a>. Around the world, electricity markets are planning the <a href="https://www.ren21.net/renewables-report-launch/">transition</a> from high to low emissions.
Delaying reform in Australia would be a major setback on the path to our essential energy transition.
Richie Merzian, Climate &amp; Energy Program Director at The Australia Institute, contributed to this piece.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/daniel-j-cass-909838">Daniel J Cass</a>, Research Affiliate, Sydney Business School, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a>
This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/energy-giants-want-to-thwart-reforms-that-would-help-renewables-and-lower-power-bills-140640">original article</a>.
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Energy giants want to thwart reforms that would help renewables and lower power bills

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GUEST OBSERVATION
The government’s <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/coronavirus/homebuilder">HomeBuilder</a> scheme allows <a href="https://www.corelogic.com.au/news/homebuilder-renovations-where-are-most-owner-occupied-dwellings-below-15-million">certain</a> home owners to apply for a tax-free grant of A$25,000 if they are spending between $150,000 and $750,000 renovating a home or building a new home. Eligibility criteria are strict.
The scheme has boosted renovation talk in some circles (although, as CoreLogic has <a href="https://www.corelogic.com.au/news/vacuum-effect-and-its-implications-homebuilder-scheme">pointed</a> out, it may merely bring forward works that were already planned).
Here are some questions to ask yourself when trying to decide between renovating and moving – and how to add value to your existing home.
What adds value to a house?
Property market observers <a href="https://www.domain.com.au/advice/how-to-make-your-home-stand-out-when-selling-932031/">advise</a> updating or renewing bathrooms or kitchens – even small fixes such as replacing a cracked or dated splashback, replacing a bath or adding skylights can go a long way.
Think about easy repairs that create an invaluable good first impression – a fixed-up fence, a new carpet or resurfaced flooring or even good old decluttering.
But remember you’ll only qualify for HomeBuilder if you plan to spend at least $150,000 on an owner-occupied home worth no more than A$1.5 million (CoreLogic has <a href="https://www.corelogic.com.au/news/homebuilder-renovations-where-are-most-owner-occupied-dwellings-below-15-million">listed</a> which suburbs have the most owner-occupied properties under A$1.5 million).
Factors to consider if you’re thinking of renovating
How long till you retire? How secure is your employment? Thinking carefully about your earning potential between now and retirement will help you understand how what you can borrow and afford. If you are planning to stay, you will get the benefit and enjoyment of the renovations.
Do you need to stay close to school or work? If that’s a consideration, renovating may be worth more to you than buying further out.
Look closely at what your property is worth (there are plenty of online calculators) and keep track of how much similar local properties with one extra bedroom or bathroom sell for. That will give you a sense of the value-add to your home equity that a renovation might represent.
Be honest with yourself about the total cost of renovation. There are myriad expenses not always initially apparent. These may include:
<ul>
<li>
planning fees (the cost of getting a development assessed by council)
</li>
<li>
the cost of architectural drawings
</li>
<li>
consultants’ fees for environmental impact statements or arborists’ reports
</li>
<li>
extra costs due to a heritage listing
</li>
<li>
renting, if it’s not possible to live at home during renovation
</li>
<li>
the cost of protecting underground public assets such as water or sewerage pipes
</li>
<li>
extra costs caused by poor access or other limitations.
</li>
</ul>
Consider the possible long-term savings of retrofitting your home to be more energy-efficient. Proper insulation, secondary glazing, draught excluders and solar PV energy are expensive upfront but will save on long term running costs. It’s likely, as energy costs increase, homes that are at least partially off grid will be more attractive and valuable over time.
And remember that for some, even with help from HomeBuilder, renovation won’t stack up economically.
Some older people may eschew home renovation to put money aside to help children get a foot on the property ladder.
Others may decide potentially expensive renovation is worth it to hold onto a family home to which children return as they get older. It might sound sentimental but the idea of Christmas in the family homestead is worth it, for some.
Tax considerations
Find out what tax breaks, if any, you might be eligible for if you renovate to divide the family home into a smaller space (if you’re keen to downsize, or enhance the accessibility of your home, for example) and adding a self-contained granny flat.
However, if the granny flat is leased out, this section of the home would be considered income-producing. Your “main residence” is generally <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Capital-gains-tax/Your-home-and-other-real-estate/Your-main-residence/">exempt</a> from capital gains tax when it comes time to sell, but you may not qualify entirely for this exemption if a section of the property is income-producing.
You may also consider remodelling the family home into a duplex and, depending on council planning laws, convert the title into dual occupancy. However, these suggestions may complicate eligibility for the HomeBuilder grant (which seems to exclude property investors, although there’s no mention of partly converting the main place into a dual occupancy).
The best option here is to seek advice from a tax specialist.
Factors to consider if you’re thinking of selling up and buying elsewhere
Use a <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/home-loans/stamp-duty-calculator">stamp-duty calculator</a> and <a href="https://www.localagentfinder.com.au/selling-costs-calculator">cost-of-selling calculator</a> to get a rough idea of those costs.
How important is proximity to work? Particularly if the coronavirus pandemic has opened your (or your employer’s) eyes to working remotely, would you consider a move to a more remote area where you can afford a bigger house?
Chat with a range of real estate agents and get into the habit of reading market media coverage. Have a sense of what houses sell for that featured your desired attributes (such as more bedrooms or off-street parking).
As a chartered building surveyor, I’d advise would-be downsizers to be cautious when buying a brand new high-rise apartment, due to risks of potentially costly defects that might become apparent over time.
And remember, even if you do sell and buy a new place, very few are able to find the perfect home. You may decide to make renovations anyway.
There are no easy answers. It comes down to your individual circumstances, your attitude to risk and ensuring you have a good grasp of the relative costs of each option.
Talk to a financial adviser, tax accountant, real estate agents, builders, architects and others who have been through each process about what they’d do differently next time.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sara-wilkinson-14186">Sara Wilkinson</a>, Professor, School of the Built Environment, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/hera-antoniades-229521">Hera Antoniades</a>, Associate Professor, School of the Built Environment, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a>
This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-adds-value-to-your-house-how-to-decide-between-renovating-and-selling-140627">original article</a>.
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What adds value to your house? How to decide between renovating and selling

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As government restrictions are eased and Australian businesses prepare to reopen, employers, in accordance with the government’s ‘return to work’ roadmap, are beginning to ask their employees to return to the workplace. The question remains: what will the post-pandemic workplace look like and how will businesses and their respective employees adapt to a post-COVID office model?   
In light of this, global design and workplace strategy firm, <a href="https://www.unispace.com/projects" target="_blank">Unispace</a>, with a varied suite of clients including ANZ Bank, Optus, Coca Cola, EY and Deloitte, has recently surveyed 237 companies among their clientele to gather data and insights on the global impact of remote working and what the workplace future holds for these high-profile companies.  
The survey results shed light on what workplaces of the future will look like and emerging cultural and behavioural trends to be taken into consideration for future office design.  
As told by Unispace’s suite of clients:  
1.       The overall office footprint will shrink  
2.       Staff will work from home at least two to three days per week  
3.       Companies will send staff back in waves  
4.       Video conferencing will replace most audio conferencing, phone calls, and F2F external meetings 
5.       Employees will use more collaboration spaces within the office than before, and focus work will predominately be conducted at home  
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2020/6/12/9_Unispace.jpg" alt="" width="448" height="308">
Productivity 
Interestingly, 45 per cent of respondents have found themselves more productive while working remotely while 36 per cent have found it more difficult to maintain productivity as a result of ineffective setups and caregiving requirements. On top of this, 37 per cent have witnessed a decrease in productivity due to the increased need to communicate more regularly with colleagues. 
Internal/external changes  
The primary challenges from both an internal (63 per cent) and external (55 per cent) standpoint has been around connecting with peers and clients. Participants in the survey have seen challenges arising when talking to external parties with 42.7 per cent of respondents indicating some frustration with a mismatch of software and being unfamiliar with their client’s tools, which may have been better solved in a face-to-face office environment.   
Returning to the workplace  
Although respondents feel the office will go back to normal within three to six months (27 per cent), they also believe the overall office footprint will shrink (36 per cent) and staff will work from home at least 2-3 days per week (68 per cent).  
Remote working arrangements  
In line with higher in-office rates, 25 per cent of respondents in APAC have indicated that they don’t have a suitable home internet arrangement. While 70 per cent of organisations were prepared to work remotely, 30 per cent already had some teams working from home and were more equipped with this change to remote working. 
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Global companies weigh in on remote working and office return

Savers squeezed again as ANZ cuts rates

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The disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic has led to real estate transaction numbers coming to a standstill across the globe, and had a significant impact on the industry, according to the latest study from Savills Research. 
Savills Research has carried out a sentiment survey of Savills global residential network to assess how Covid-19 is changing the residential property market. 
Across all respondents, 47% anticipate vendors keeping their properties on the market at current prices, though 48% anticipate some level of price reductions. 
Titled the Savills Residential Global Market Sentiment Survey, 50 experts from across the globe took part. 
90% of respondents stated that 30% or fewer of their buyers had stopped actively looking. 
Only 6% of vendors have or are considering removing their property from the market, according to the report.
30% of markets have reported legal changes to better facilitate business performance.
The survey also found that, on average, buyers felt that they were likely to priorities home offices, Wi-Fi, and green spaces in future properties.
In Australia, Paul Craig, CEO of Savills Australia &amp; New Zealand said it is predicted that a shortage of supply will continue for some time, due to the uncertainty in the market, however this last weekend marks an easement in home open restrictions which is a step in the right direction.
“If you are a qualified buyer, this is a great time to be on the lookout for a residential property, due to record low interest rates and attractive pricing,” Mr Craig said.
“Given the encouraging progress with limiting COVID-19 in our country, why wouldn’t you want to own a piece of Australia!”
According to Chris Orr, Director of Residential at Savills Australia, prices have the potential to rebound strongly. 
“Time will tell however, but the common belief amongst the industry is that we will see residential values rebound very strongly due to the lower volatility compared to other markets, lower borrowing costs for housing and the Government’s comments around the importance of both construction employment and the housing market” he said. 
Mr Orr said his team are seeing buyers looking to upsize while it is cheaper to do so as well as luxury assets with unique/timeless appeal and off-the-plan inquiry is increasing (with delayed settlements)        
Mr Orr believes that the rest of this year and into early next will see a rise in distressed sales (to what extent is unknown) however these will come to market in a staggered approach and likely not until the deferred payments offered by banks come due. 
“It will be interesting to see what the increase in supply will look like and the effect it has on pricing, however, I’d expect to see an upward trending run on the market” he concluded.
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Covid-19 pandemic driving significant industry changes: Savills

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GUEST OBSERVATION
 
As COVID-19 slows in developed countries, the virus’s spread is speeding up in the developing world. Three-quarters of new cases detected each day are now in <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/06/04/the-pandemic-is-still-gathering-pace-in-most-of-the-world">developing countries</a>. And as the pandemic spreads, governments face juggling the health consequences with economic ones as this shifts to becoming an economic crisis.
Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.35188/UNU-WIDER/2020/834-4">research</a> shows that the poverty impact of the crisis will soon be felt in three key ways. There is likely to be more poverty. It is likely to become more severe. And as a consequence, the location of global poverty will also change.
Having looked at estimates from a range of sources – including the Asian Development Bank, Goldman Sachs, IMF and OECD – we considered <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2020-77.pdf#page=4">three possible economic scenarios</a> stemming from COVID-19, where global income and consumption contracted by 5%, 10% or 20%. We found that the economic shock of the worst-case scenario could result in up to 1.12 billion people worldwide living in extreme poverty – up from 727 million in 2018.
This confirms our earlier estimates that the coronavirus could push up to 400 million people into extreme poverty, defined by the World Bank as living on less than US$1.90 per day – the average poverty line in low-income developing countries. This number rises to over 500 million if using the World Bank’s higher average poverty lines for lower middle-income (US$3.20) and upper middle-income (US$5.50) developing countries.
The potential increase is driven by millions of people living just above the poverty line. These people are likely to be badly affected because many of them work in the informal sector, where there is often little in the way of social security. Such a rise in extreme poverty would mark the first absolute increase in the global count since 1999 – and the first since 1990 in terms of the proportion of the global population living in poverty.
On the intensity of the poverty, the resources needed to lift the incomes of the poor to above the poverty line could increase by 60%, from US$446m a day in the absence of the crisis to above US$700m a day. For the existing extreme poor and those newly living in extreme poverty, their loss in income could amount to US$500m per day.
In terms of where poverty is located, it is likely to increase dramatically in middle-income developing countries in Asia, such as India, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines. This points to the fact that much of the previously poor population in these countries moved to just above the poverty line. In other words, these countries’ recent economic progress has been relatively fragile. We’ll also likely see new poverty in countries where it has remained relatively high over the last three decades, such as Tanzania, Nigeria, Ethiopia and the DRC.
How to respond to the poverty pandemic
COVID-19 poses a significant threat to developing countries, as their health systems tend to be weaker. More severe cases have also been linked to <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/41/22/2058/5851436">high blood pressure</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-and-diabetes-the-different-risks-for-people-with-type-1-and-type-2-139079">diabetes</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200427-how-air-pollution-exacerbates-covid-19">air pollution</a>, all of which are prevalent in developing countries. Meanwhile, there are suggestions that COVID-19 could hinder the treatment of other illnesses <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/197257/covid-19-pandemic-could-significantly-increase-hiv/">such as TB, HIV/AIDS and chronic malaria</a>.
But developing countries generally have a lower proportion of people at high risk from COVID-19 in terms of age (&gt;70 years). As such, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/31eb2686-a982-11ea-a766-7c300513fe47">economic shocks</a> may pose a greater relative risk to their populations. The question emerges as to whether <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/africa%E2%80%99s-lockdown-dilemma">lockdowns</a> are the best option to contain the virus in developing countries if they entail severe income losses. Estimates of the share of jobs that can be <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w26948">performed at home</a> is less than 25% for many developing countries – much lower than the ~40% recorded in, for example, the USA and Finland. It’s as low as ~5% in countries such as Madagascar and Mozambique.
Consequently, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/voices/coronavirus-poverty-economic-crisis-imf-world-bank-g7-a9561161">there’s also a clear need</a> for a range of social safety-net policies. These already exist in many developing countries, but their coverage and funding needs to be expanded substantially. <a href="https://www.ugogentilini.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SP-COVID-responses_June-12.pdf">Such policies</a> include cash transfer programmes, universal one-off cash payments, in-kind food/vouchers, school feeding schemes and public works programmes. In middle-income developing countries, these are funded by the national government, whereas in low-income countries these are often co-funded by donors. Any set of policies should also incorporate “pay to stay home” or “pay to get tested” schemes.
The long crisis
Looking further ahead, the poverty impacts beyond 2020 are closely related to if or when an effective vaccine is developed. Even if we take the best-case scenario and a vaccine is discovered later this year, it’s uncertain how long it would take to reach the entire global population. It could take years.
There is no guarantee developing countries would get access to the vaccine at a reasonable cost, or if everyone in developing countries would get the vaccine for free. We could end up living in a new COVID-19 apartheid, with the vaccinated and non-vaccinated residing in separate areas and working in different labour markets. This is a startling but <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/long-reads/coronavirus-vaccine-latest-cure-covid-19-oxford-university-trump-who-america-a9493966">very real possibility</a> that no one is talking about much yet.
While this might sound far off, there are already some countries – <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-chile/chile-to-push-ahead-with-coronavirus-release-certificates-despite-who-warning-idUSKCN2280NW">such as Chile</a> – issuing “immunity passports”. Such passports might determine what work people can do by determining where they can go. This could leave the poorest without access to earning opportunities or only with lower-income opportunities if their movement is restricted.
The crisis is increasingly looking like a long crisis. If so, it will have repercussions on global poverty for years to come.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140662/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/andy-sumner-1124293">Andy Sumner</a>, Professor of International Development, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/kings-college-london-1196">King's College London</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/christopher-hoy-1124330">Christopher Hoy</a>, Research and Policy Fellow, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/eduardo-ortiz-juarez-1124325">Eduardo Ortiz-Juarez</a>, PhD Student, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/kings-college-london-1196">King's College London</a>
This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/global-poverty-coronavirus-could-drive-it-up-for-the-first-time-since-the-1990s-140662">original article</a>.
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Coronavirus could drive up global poverty for the first time since the 1990s

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EXPERT OBSERVATION
Three years have passed since a cladding-fuelled fire claimed 72 lives in Grenfell Tower, London, on June 14 2017. The construction industry and its regulators around the world are still grappling with how to create effective regulations to ensure dwellings are built to keep their occupants safe.
The New South Wales Parliament passed two important bills last week: the Design and Building Practitioners Bill 2020 and the Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Bill 2020. This put in place two important pieces of the “jigsaw puzzle”, as NSW Better Regulation Minister Kevin Anderson put it.
The Residential Apartment Buildings Bill in particular could be a game changer and is the focus of this article. The law is expected to take effect on September 1 2020.
New powers to order serious defects be fixed
The centrepiece of the legislation is an ability for the Secretary of the Department of Customer Service to order the correction of “serious defects” in residential apartment buildings. In practice, the NSW building commissioner and his staff will apply these orders, according to the bill’s second reading speech. Developers can be ordered to rectify building work “if the secretary has a reasonable belief that building work was or is being carried out in a manner that could result in a serious defect”.
The “was” is significant here. These powers of intervention can be used up to ten years after an occupation certificate is issued.
And, to make sure defects are fixed before residents take possession of their apartment, the secretary can issue a “prohibition order” to delay an occupation certificate.
The definition of “serious defect” includes:
failure to comply with performance requirements of the Building Code of Australia
defects likely to deny habitability or use of the building for its intended purpose
use of banned building products.
Other states and territories have in place various provisions to order rectification. However, none of these are as extensive as the new regime in NSW.
In particular, the express power to order rectification after apartments are completed addresses the issue that frustrated the Victorian Building Authority’s 2017 attempt to have the builder rectify non-compliant cladding at the Lacrosse Building in Melbourne. So, the rectification powers are likely, along with the statutory duty of care in the Design and Building Practitioners Bill – also a NSW innovation – to attract interest across the country.
How much will the industry push back?
These measures to rectify defects go to the heart of the commercial drivers that underpin our largely privately delivered apartment stock in Australia. Without an occupation certificate, developers can’t settle the sale of the apartments (usually off-plan). Likewise, their building contractors will typically remain “on the hook” for a raft of obligations under their contracts.
By making defects correction a precondition for issuing the occupation certificate, the new law embraces the “prevention is better than cure” mantra that underpins reforms in Australia and beyond.
To what extent will the industry support this shift? Time will tell.
What can be said is that the reforms add a high level of intervention in the commercial drivers of apartment construction when the industry is already operating under the shadow of COVID-19 and its gathering recession. So it is something of a “wildcard” in an already fraught commercial landscape.
This means developers who do not have adequate measures in place to pass the costs of rectification and delayed occupation down the contractual chain are likely to resort to the extensive appeal measures in the legislation. Likewise, when contractors, subcontractors, consultants and suppliers do “carry the can” for such liability, they will look hard at the relief provisions in their contracts.
The disputes and delays that inevitably result can leave apartment owners and renters in limbo, despite the intent of the legislation to protect them.
Regulators need adequate resources
Another crucial “time will tell” aspect is whether the regulator will have enough resources to inspect buildings – and issue prohibition and rectification orders when needed – in a timely manner across the industry.
The legislation largely leaves it to the Department of Customer Service to appoint “authorised officers”. The minister has indicated these officers will be the building commissioner and his staff.
The commissioner was reported in February to be recruiting up to 60 construction professionals as “auditors” for a scheme that looks similar to what is now enshrined in legislation. They will need to move rapidly to have it ready for the extensive interventions that the legislation anticipates.
A game changer?
Ever since the Grenfell tragedy, politicians around the world have at least paid lip service to the aspiration that “occupants of buildings deserve to feel safe and secure within their walls”. In saying this to the NSW parliament last week, Anderson was able credibly to put forward the Residential Apartment Buildings Bill as a vital piece in the regulatory “puzzle” to achieve that goal.
The issues discussed here are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg as the industry absorbs the implications of the new law (and its forthcoming detail by way of regulations). But recent activity by NSW lawmakers suggests there is at last strong impetus to achieve meaningful and comprehensive reform.
Matthew Bell is a Senior Lecturer and Co-Director of Studies for Construction Law at the University of Melbourne.
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New NSW building law could be a game changer for apartment safety: Matthew Bell

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EXPERT OBSERVATION 
There is no shortage of repugnant and dangerous ideas in the world. An age old question is whether free speech will see good ideas win out over bad.
The proposition that good ideas eventually triumph in “the marketplace for ideas” dates at least to 1644, when John Milton wrote in his anti-censorship tract Areopagitica:
Let [Truth] and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?
But it was perhaps first explicitly stated by United States Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1919, in his dissent to a 7–2 ruling in the Abrams v United States case involving the first amendment right to freedom of speech.
Holmes wrote:
the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas – that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market.
Old though this question may be, it is one that confronts us time and again. Is it more dangerous to stifle expression of a seemingly dangerous idea, or to let it be freely expressed?
It is central to the controversy over the New York Times publishing on June 3 an idea many found repugnant.
That idea was “an overwhelming show of force to disperse, detain and ultimately deter lawbreakers” as a response to widespread Black Lives Matter demonstrations and isolated outbreaks of violence and looting.
It was advocated in an op-ed piece by a US senator from Arkansas, Tom Cotton.
Editorial page editor James Bennet resigned as part of the paper’s mea culpa. A champion of the “marketplace of ideas” might argue the New York Times did the right thing, or at least nothing wrong.
So what would an economist, whose job is to understand market behaviour, say?
Economists and markets
The most celebrated result in all of economics – the “First Welfare Theorem” formalised by Nobel laureates Kenneth Arrow and Gerard Debreu – states that with the right conditions competitive markets will allocate resources with maximum efficiency.
Yet economists – especially and including Arrow and Debreu – are all too aware that markets don’t always function well in reality. Information is often “asymmetric”, such as a seller knowing more about a product’s quality than the buyer. There are “externalities”, costs incurred by third parties, such as environmental harms not factored into market prices. Plenty of markets are not sufficiently competitive.
The failure of markets for insurance, used cars and many other things has been well-documented.
Why, then, why should we have faith in the marketplace for ideas?
Ideas are not products
Over the past two decades economists have been developing formal models that can speak to competition in ideas.
The stepping-off point is to note the nature of competition in an ideas market is fundamentally different from competition in a product market.
With products, sellers compete for customers by setting the price for their products. As the economists Matthew Gentzkow and Jesse Shapiro put it:
Two firms compete [in the product market] if their products are substitutes from the perspective of consumers. A change in the price of one affects the purchasing behaviour of the other’s customers. This kind of competition is important because it limits firms’ ability to raise price above marginal cost.
Ideas differ in the following way:
Two firms compete in [an information market] if 1) they cover the same events and 2) at least some consumers will learn the facts reported by both. A change in the set of facts one reports affects the information of the other’s customers. This kind of competition limits firms’ ability to control consumers’ beliefs.
A form of prisoner’s dilemma
The cleanest formal model of competition between parties trying to control people’s beliefs comes from a 2017 paper by Matthew Gentzkow and Emir Kamenica (a former classmate and University of Chicago colleague of mine).
The “marketplace for ideas” notion holds that when there are more senders of information, more information will be communicated to consumers.
Gentzkow and Kamenica showed this is not necessarily so. It all depends on the nature of the strategic interaction between the senders of information.
Senders might be caught in a kind of Prisoner’s Dilemma, the game theory concept made famous by the movie A Beautiful Mind. It would be socially productive for more information to be revealed, but the private incentives of the senders lead to less revelation.
For example, consider two pharmaceuticals makers with drugs only they know the effectiveness of. One half of their market is customers who will only buy pharmaceuticals they believe likely to work well. The other half wants their drugs to work too, but they’ll also buy if it might only partially work.
In this case each maker has an incentive to withhold information about the efficacy of their product, even though they and the consumers would be better off if they and the rival revealed more information. It’s just like the consequences of unilateral action as shown in A Beautiful Mind.
If strategic interaction in the marketplace for ideas takes this form then competition does not lead to good arguments winning out.
Gentzkow and Kamenica show the crucial condition for competition to lead to more information being revealed is this: each sender must be able to unilaterally deviate to some outcome more informative for consumers. In the drug example, this would be each maker disclosing the efficacy of their own drug and that of their competitor.
Whether this happens in practice depends on important details about the nature of the ideas being discussed, what types of information are permissible by law, and of course whether those receiving information are rational.
In short, the answer to whether the marketplace for ideas leads good ideas to win out is: it depends.
Open discussion is not enough
Just because the marketplace for ideas doesn’t always work doesn’t mean it never works. There are deeply important non-economic reasons to value freedom of speech that extend beyond how much information gets revealed.
But modern economics teaches us that competition in the marketplace for ideas is different than competition in the market for ordinary goods and services. We should not always conclude that odious ideas will be consigned to the dustbin of history simply through open discussion.
Richard Holden is a Professor of Economics at UNSW
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Why ‘the marketplace for ideas’ can fail – from an economist’s perspective: Richard Holden

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/broadbeach-qld-4218">Broadbeach</a> offers plenty of reasons to live vertically, but moving from a substantial family home into an apartment can expose the compromises of high-density living. Privacy, room for guests and usable living space tend to matter more when an apartment is intended as a permanent home rather than an occasional coastal base.

A typical residential floor at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-eveleigh-broadbeach-7-9-surf-parade-broadbeach-qld-4218">The Eveleigh</a>, on Surf Parade,&nbsp;contains just four apartments. The 94-residence development by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/hirsch-faigen">Hirsch &amp; Faigen</a> is predominantly made up of expansive three-bedroom homes, with a limited collection of half-floor penthouses above.

Across the apartment floors, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/rothelowman">Rothelowman</a> has used the relatively limited number of residences to give each home greater access to natural light and outlook. Living spaces extend towards full-height glazing, while a series of bay windows frame selected views across the Pacific Ocean, city and hinterland rather than treating the building edge as a continuous wall of glass.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360965]

“The apartment floors deliver a collection of homes that embrace controlled outlook via a series of bay windows deliberately framing moments of view,” Rothelowman Director Kim Lowman said.

From outside, those projecting forms contribute to the tower’s faceted profile. Strong horizontal and vertical elements establish its proportions, while the changing position of the sun alters the light, shadow and reflection across the façade throughout the day.

The same attention moves inside the apartments, where the material palette combines warm timber, natural stone, metallic detailing and softer curved forms. Kitchens sit within the main living zone, with stone island benches, integrated joinery and European appliances, before the living areas extend towards the glazing and the outlook.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360981]

Three genuine bedrooms provide room to accommodate family and guests, while two secure car spaces and storage address some of the practical considerations that can become more noticeable when moving from a larger home. Feedback from the display suite has centred on the warmth and restraint of the interiors, with buyers commenting that the residences feel like homes rather than conventional coastal apartments.

A limited collection of half-floor penthouses occupies the upper levels, increasing the scale of the living spaces and adding private balconies and elevated finishes. From this position, the outlook extends between the ocean and hinterland.

Outside the private residences, The Eveleigh separates its shared spaces between the podium and rooftop. The podium is centred on wellness, with subtropical landscaping surrounding a swimming pool and pool terrace, yoga garden, private gymnasium, sauna and hot and cold plunge facilities. Landscaped retreats and pavilions provide additional places to sit away from the main recreation areas.

&nbsp;

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Higher in the building, a rooftop pavilion and private dining suite sit alongside resident lounge, barbecue and outdoor dining areas, opening towards panoramic views across the ocean, city and hinterland.

“Buyers are no longer just looking for an apartment, but a lifestyle where they can relax, reset, and enjoy a balanced way of living,” Hirsch &amp; Faigen Director of Sales Matt George said.

Interest to date has come from established owner-occupiers and interstate lifestyle purchasers, including buyers planning a future move to the Gold Coast. Many are coming from larger homes and want to reduce ongoing maintenance without giving up space for family and guests, privacy, two car spaces or the ability to entertain at home.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360969]

Much of that daily life can also take place beyond the building without requiring a drive. Kurrawa Beach and Pratten Park are an easy walk from Surf Parade, while Pacific Fair, Oracle Boulevard, The Oasis, restaurants, cafés, entertainment and public transport are also within walking distance.

The Eveleigh is Hirsch &amp; Faigen's fourth Gold Coast development since entering the market in 2021, following The Hemingway at Palm Beach, The Emerson at Kirra and Yves at Mermaid Beach. Each of the preceding projects sold out before completion.

“Broadbeach had been on our radar throughout our time operating on the Gold Coast,” the developer said. “Following our projects in Palm Beach, Kirra and Mermaid Beach, Broadbeach represented the natural next step for the business.”

The Surf Parade site brought together proximity to the beach, protected coastal outlooks and walkability to dining, shopping and recreation. Hirsch &amp; Faigen also identified the street as an emerging premium residential address, with enough separation from Broadbeach's busier destinations to retain a quieter environment at home.

The Eveleigh is now under construction by Maxcon, with completion forecast for mid-2028. Three-bedroom residences are currently available from $2.87 million.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=149670]

Joel Robinson

The Eveleigh brings house-like apartments to Broadbeach

A long-stalled Campbelltown development site is back in play, with new plans for 139 apartments set to supersede a mixed-use scheme approved almost a decade ago but never built.

The new proposal for 28 Cordeaux Street would deliver 116 market and 23 affordable apartments in a part 14-storey building, bringing a substantial new project into a Campbelltown market where new apartment supply remains limited.

Plans have been filed over the 3,092 sqm corner site at Moore-Oxley Street, around 600 metres from Campbelltown Railway Station and the city-centre retail core.

The site already carries a mixed-use residential approval dating to 2016. Doroch Architects has now been engaged on a larger replacement scheme, which is progressing as a State Significant Development Application following a Housing Delivery Authority determination in August 2025.

The apartment mix comprises 39 one-bedroom, 72 two-bedroom and 28 three-bedroom residences. Two-bedroom apartments make up just over half of the project, while three-bedroom homes account for 20 per cent.

<img alt="First look: New 139-apartment plans revive long-stalled Campbelltown city centre site" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="136dd5b9-3791-4da6-9e31-76f533f5b4de" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Campbelltown%20da2.png?VersionId=LgOSy9nwf5u.MGswBBwaGGxuX8QpHSl_" />

Of the 139 apartments, 23 will be delivered as affordable housing under the in-fill affordable housing provisions of the Housing SEPP. The affordable component represents 15 per cent of the residential gross floor area and will be managed by a registered Community Housing Provider.

Doroch has sought to break the scale of the building into two distinct elements, with a masonry podium of around four storeys establishing the street edge before the residential tower steps back above.

The corner position has shaped that approach. Cordeaux Street faces toward the commercial and civic centre, while Moore-Oxley Street leads into the lower-scale residential neighbourhood to the south, and the design verification report describes the site as "bridging the commercial core to the north and established residential areas to the south."

The podium will be expressed predominantly in face brick, while the upper levels shift to brushed and grooved concrete cladding with darker metal detailing. Recessed sections, deep balcony edges and landscaping break down the upper form, with an approximately 11.8-metre setback to the northern boundary addressing the adjoining St Peters Anglican School.

<img alt="First look: New 139-apartment plans revive long-stalled Campbelltown city centre site" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c8b3d2d3-c561-4bfc-a5d9-a68c0c10dac1" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Campbelltown%20da1.png?VersionId=AeAEyJU02Gk2k5noUj2StziCvdQ7fW4B" />

Campbelltown has been starved of new residential developments in the last decade.

The only other notable development set to come to market this year is ALAND's Queen Square, a mixed-use precinct on over two hectares that will comprise apartments above a vibrant ground-level retail and hospitality dining precinct.

First look: New 139-apartment plans revive long-stalled Campbelltown city centre site

First Look: Sherlock Construction pitches apartments for low-rise Deception Bay

Queensland builder-developer MAYD has revealed the first look at its major North Kirra beachfront development, lodging amended plans that reduce the number of apartments and increase the proportion of larger residences.

The project is planned across a substantial 4,742 sqm amalgamated site spanning seven lots at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/2-6-pacific-parade-bilinga-qld-4225">2-6 Pacific Parade</a> and 27-33 Golden Four Drive in Bilin​ga, directly opposite Nor​th Kirra Beach.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/mayd-group">MAYD</a> secured the site for $32.5 million in 2025, in what was one of the Gold Coast's largest property transactions of the year.

The development will be delivered across two stages, with the first stage carrying an estimated gross realisation value of around $360 million.

The latest amendments seek to reduce the overall apartment count and shift the project further toward the owner-occupier market, with larger residences designed for buyers wanting considerably more space than traditionally offered in a beachfront apartment.

The residential mix will include townhomes, oversized two-bedroom apartments, substantial three-bedroom residences and four-bedroom homes.

MAYD has appointed Cera Stribley to lead the architecture and interiors, with the Melbourne-based design practice drawing on the beachfront setting through a series of ocean-facing terraces and heavily landscaped balconies.

Strong horizontal forms and curved balconies will define the exterior, with subtropical landscaping integrated throughout the building to soften the built form and increase the connection between the residences and the beachfront.

The project will also include an extensive collection of resident wellness and lifestyle facilities, continuing the broader shift across the Gold Coast's luxury apartment market toward larger homes supported by resort-style amenity.

<img alt="MAYD" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="d1bcbb05-e659-4b47-8bd4-1e595315e2ad" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-08-27%20at%202.05.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=jj0XEud1X1DuLt7_KyElhjMdZGOXmLHP" />

MAYD Founder Todd Mould said North Kirra was increasingly appealing to buyers attracted to the more established, lower-density character of the southern Gold Coast.

"North Kirra presents one of the most compelling luxury residential opportunities currently emerging in Australia, combining absolute beachfront with the character and authenticity that buyers are increasingly seeking, and the same sense of tight-knit community that defined Burleigh and Currumbin perhaps 10 or 15 years ago," Mould said.

"With Gold Coast Airport on its doorstep, it also offers a level of accessibility that broadens its appeal across almost every market demographic."

The project comes as the southern Gold Coast continues to attract an increasing share of high-end apartment development and buyer activity.

Kirra in particular has emerged as one of the region's more tightly held beachfront markets, with its relatively low-density character, established surf and hospitality scene and proximity to Gold Coast Airport differentiating it from the higher-density markets further north.

Mould said those characteristics had informed the approach MAYD and Cera Stribley had taken to the project.

"We've worked closely with Cera Stribley to create a vision that is deeply connected to its surroundings," he said.

"Inspired by the coastline itself, the architecture has been shaped around space, privacy and resort-style living, creating a collection of homes that reflects the next generation of luxury on the southern Gold Coast."

MOTIV Managing Director Carly Cottam, who has been appointed to market the project, said buyer attention had continued to move south along the Gold Coast.

"Purchasers who may once have defaulted to Broadbeach, Main Beach or Surfers Paradise are increasingly recognising the value of a genuine beachfront location that offers lower density, strong amenity and a more established sense of community," Cottam said.

"Kirra has a powerful combination of growing demand and genuine scarcity. Beachfront supply is inherently constrained, the area remains relatively low density, and buyers are increasingly placing a premium on locations that feel established, uncrowded and authentic rather than heavily developed."

Cottam said the proximity to Gold Coast Airport was also proving increasingly important for interstate and second-home buyers.

"Being minutes from Gold Coast Airport makes it particularly compelling for interstate buyers, frequent travellers and second-home purchasers who can access an authentic coastal lifestyle almost immediately after stepping off a flight."

The acquisition takes MAYD's active development portfolio to more than $500 million, with the North Kirra project representing one of its largest undertakings to date.

MAYD is targeting an early 2027 launch.

First look at MAYD's North Kirra mixed-use precinct

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Castle Hill, the longtime hub of the Hills District, has been one of the major beneficiaries of Sydney's Metro expansion, with improved connectivity helping drive continued population growth, development and buyer demand across the Hills District.

But despite that growth, the suburb has seen relatively few major new apartment projects brought to market over the past 18 months.

Hills District developer Reve Group is looking to fill that gap with <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/nova-r-ve-castle-hill-2-garthowen-crescent-castle-hill-nsw-2154">Nova Rêve</a>, a major new mixed-use precinct on the corner of Garthowen Crescent and Old Castle Hill Road, a short walk from Castle Hill Metro Station and Castle Towers.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377679]

The project will comprise three residential towers alongside a hotel, restaurants, cafes and a skybar, more than 1,600 sqm of ground-floor retail and almost an acre of landscaped gardens.

It represents the largest project undertaken by Reve Group, the development arm of the Kassis family, which has been building across the Hills District for more than 30 years through Kassis Homes.

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Nova Rêve also represents a significant step up from the family's first apartment development, Grand Rêve, which was delivered nearby on Garthowen Crescent.

Grand Rêve introduced larger, house-like apartment layouts and premium inclusions including Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances to the Castle Hill market.

Nova Rêve takes that approach to a precinct scale, combining the residential component with hospitality, retail and substantial public and resident landscaping.

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Reve Group Managing Director Sam Kassis said the project reflected the family's three decades of building in the Hills, which has evolved from trophy homes on quarter-acre blocks to larger-scale apartment development.

"Grand Rêve was our first apartment project here and it showed us what this pocket of Castle Hill could be. Nova Rêve is the refinement of that idea: not just apartments, but a place the whole suburb can use," Kassis said.

A key part of that approach is the hotel, which has been designed to operate as an amenity for the wider Castle Hill community rather than solely hotel guests.

It will include restaurants, cafes, skybars and all-day dining, alongside conference and event facilities catering to business functions, community groups and private events.

At ground level, more than 1,600 sqm of shops and cafes will open onto the surrounding streets and landscaped areas.

Almost an acre of gardens designed by Land and Form Studios will run through the precinct, incorporating pathways, seating, barbecue areas and children's play spaces.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377680]

Reve Group's Romio Georges said creating an active ground plane had been central to the planning of Nova Rêve.

"There are gardens with pathways, barbecues, seating and play areas, shops and cafes opening onto the street, and a hotel with restaurants and a skybar that anyone in Castle Hill can walk into," Georges said.

The project's elevated position on one of Sydney's highest ridgelines will also provide apartments with outlooks toward the Sydney skyline, surrounding parkland and the Blue Mountains.

More than 80 per cent of the apartments will occupy corner positions, with Turner responsible for both the architecture and interiors.

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[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=152737]

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