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Offers close tomorrow on the award-winning Brighton house, Compound House by March Studio architect Rodney Eggleston.
It has been listed with a $8.5 million to $9 million price guide three years after it was completed.
Marketed by Kay &amp; Burton Bayside agent Alex Schiavo, its edgy design was described by its architects as not being for conservatives.
It is a three-level, four-bedroom house made mostly of steel and metal,
The house won the esteemed Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award for best new residence at the 2018 Victorian Architecture Awards.
The Herald Sun also recently selected it as one of <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/top-50-homes-in-victoria-the-best-houses-from-kallista-to-kew-revealed-part-2/news-story/91644f6e5f42b6177e4ee06b18f7fb9a" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Victoria’s Top 50 Homes</a>.
The<a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-brighton-134792074" target="_blank"> 24 Victoria Street </a>property has a six-car garage with wow-factor allowing two cars to descend into the basement theatre.
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Compound House, Brighton listed with $9 million price guide

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A luxury waterfront at Palm Beach on Queensland's Gold Coast has been sold for a record price of $5.05 million.
The home at <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-qld-palm+beach-134590966" target="_blank">146-150 Tallebudgera Drive</a> fetched a record for canal front property in the suburb, according to Kollosche selling agent Rob Lamb.
It came with a six-bedroom, six-bathroom early 1980s house on the 2740 sq m holding.
The auction attracted 25 registered bidders including strong interest from interstate buyers, one of them picking up the keys having bid from a phone.
The agents fielded over 240 inquiries and had 136 inspections over the 35-day campaign, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported.
There were 25 registered bidders 
The block has 75 metres of water frontage.
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Palm Beach, Gold Coast trophy home sells for $5.05 million

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A Neil Clerehan-designed South Yarra home has been listed on Fairlie Court.
The cul-de-sac offering is mostly white and linear, with a high-walled garden.
There is a double-height entry foyer.
Marshall White Stonnington has the home with a basement with room for four cars as well as a gym room, sauna and a cellar/wine room.
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The expressions of interest for the four bedroom, four bathroom homes close December 8.</div>
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Neil Clerehan-designed South Yarra trophy listed

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The Regent Residence, designed by local architect William Smart, has been sold at an undisclosed price.
The Agency's Ben Collier and Daniel Adcocks had it listed at $6.5 million for its October auction.
It was listed by the upsizing lawyer power couple Grant Marjoribanks, partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, and his wife, Maurice Blackburn's Rebecca Gilsenan.
They paid $2.34 million in 2008 for what was a three bedroom 1890s terrace.
The Regent Street home renovation had light brought in to the characteristcally dark front rooms.
He increased ceilings heights, and added a skylight which spans the length of the kitchen.
The rear came with a new combined living space flowing directly on to the garden with an integrated barbecue and a day bed.
The plans took three years to get through council and two years to build, Domain noted before being completed in mid-2016.
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<a href="https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/aAmmCxngnBIjg0wRU8QZ_9?domain=smartdesignstudio.com" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/aAmmCxngnBIjg0wRU8QZ_9?domain%3Dsmartdesignstudio.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1599788969830000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHGDrlGDRUYAIqb46TfhEtWpXM8jQ">https://www.smartdesignstudio.com/architecture/residential/regent/</a>
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William Smart-designed Regent Street, Paddington terrace sale

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An annual land tax should replace the one-off financial sledgehammer of stamp duty on property purchases, the experts in this month's Finder RBA Cash Rate Survey™ said.
Of the 27 experts and economists that weighed in on stamp duty 9 in 10 experts (89%, 24/27) were in favour of the proposed stamp duty scrapping.
Earlier in November, the state government announced that NSW will lead the way on tax reform with its plan to make stamp duty optional, granting homeowners the ability to pay an annual land tax instead.
Graham Cooke, insights manager at Finder, said that stamp duty can be a dealbreaker for those looking to relocate, and this can impact property demand and supply.
“Buying a home in Australia is already an expensive affair and stamp duty makes it more so."
“It effectively raises the bottom rung of the housing ladder, burdens buyers with a huge up-front tax and inhibits the flow of property sales."
“In an ideal market, you buy when you can afford to and you sell when you want to. Stamp duty forces first-time buyers to save up for longer, and prevents current owners from upselling," Cooke stated.
Cooke said removing stamp duty may result in a short-term boost to property prices.
“Axing the tax now also means buyers who are currently saving can get more bang for their buck,” Cooke said.
All experts surveyed (40/40) are predicting the cash rate to hold this month.
Low rates are expected to stick around for a while, with 20% (8/40) of experts expecting the cash rate to increase within the next 2 years, and the earliest predicted rise occurring in Q3 2021.
According to John Rolfe of Elders Home Loans, we’re unlikely to see a negative cash rate in Australia.
"The Reserve Bank won't go to zero, but we will want to see a few quarters of positive growth before increasing the cash rate,” Rolfe said.
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Experts overwhelmingly support axing stamp duty nationally: Finder.com.au

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Hobart has had the lowest rate of loss making sales among the capital city markets since March 2018, according to the recent CoreLogic Pain and Gain report. 
The report notes this trend continued in the June quarter, as loss making sales comprised 3.2% of resales, compared with an average of 20.0% across the other capital cities.
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Despite having the lowest portion of loss making sales of the capital cities, the incidence of loss making sales did rise from 2.5% in the three months to March.
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The portion of profit making sales was 96.7% across houses, and 96.9% across units. 
While units had a higher incidence of profit making sales, the rate declined by a steeper 1.1 percentage points from the March quarter, the report noted. 
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2020/10/7/hobart%201.jpg" target="_blank">Click here</a> to enlarge: 
<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/2020/10/7/hobart%201.jpg" alt="">
Source: CoreLogic Pain and Gain report
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Hobart was also one of few areas in Australia that saw an increase in the number of loss making sales, from 16 in the March quarter, to 19 observed in the three months to June. 
The unit segment across Hobart has been one of the worst affected rental markets since the onset of the pandemic.
 Hobart unit rents fell 5.1% between March and August, driven by a fall in tourism which reportedly prompted an influx of short term accommodation supply into the long term rental market, and a fall in demand from locals working in the tourism industries. 
The significant decline in rental incomes may prompt more investor sales until interstate borders are reopened, the report noted. 
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2020/10/7/adelaide%202.jpg" target="_blank">Click here </a>to enlarge:
<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/2020/10/7/adelaide%202.jpg" alt="">
Source: CoreLogic Pain and Gain report
However, the chance of this leading to an increase in loss making sales may be offset by the increase in dwelling values.
 As with smaller markets such as Adelaide and the ACT, the Hobart dwelling market continued to increase in value from the onset of the pandemic. At August, dwelling values had risen 0.9% since the end of March.
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Hobart dwelling market continued growing from the pandemic's onset: CoreLogic Pain & Gain report

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Adelaide has seen an increase in the portion of profit making resales, with 9.2% of properties seeing a nominal decline in the sale price, according to the recent CoreLogic Pain and Gain report. 
The report notes the June quarter was a reversal of the trend seen in the March quarter, where loss making sales had trended up to 9.9% of resales.
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The increase in profitability was faster across houses, which saw a 70 basis point increase in the rate of profit making sales from the March to June quarter, as opposed to a 20 basis point increase across units.
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93.2% of houses saw a nominal increase in price in the June quarter, compared with 79.9% of units. 
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The portion of loss making sales was highest across the Adelaide (21.6%), Playford (21.6%) and Mallala (21.4%) LGA regions, the report notes. 
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2020/10/7/adelaide%201.jpg" target="_blank">Click here</a> to enlarge: 
<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/2020/10/7/adelaide%201.jpg" alt="">
Source: CoreLogic Pain and Gain report
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The vast majority of loss making sales across the Adelaide LGA were investor-owned units, which may have been prompted by a decline in unit rent values since the onset of the pandemic. 
However, loss making sales were more varied in characteristics across Playford, and loss making sales across Mallala were off a very low base (13 sales).
 Mount Barker saw the highest level of profitability, with just 2.9% of properties selling for less than the previous sale price in the June quarter.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2020/10/7/adelaide%202.jpg" target="_blank">Click here</a> to enlarge:
<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/2020/10/7/adelaide%202.jpg" alt="">
Source: CoreLogic Pain and Gain report 
Greater Adelaide has seen an increase in dwelling values since the onset of the pandemic. 
This historically steady market will likely only see further rates of profitable sales in the second half of 2020, aided by low mortgage rates and greater consumer confidence amid low COVID case numbers, the report noted. 
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Greater Adelaide sees an increase in dwelling values: CoreLogic Pain & Gain report 

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GUEST OBSERVATION
The <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-11/sa-to-introduce-electric-vehicle-user-charge/12869302">South Australian</a> and <a href="https://www.drive.com.au/news/victoria-to-tax-electric-and-plug-in-hybrid-vehicles-from-2021-124619?trackLink=SMH1">Victorian</a> governments have announced, and <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/motoring/motoring-news/electric-car-tax-spreads-to-new-states/news-story/172ac67ccd8974566e3c65dc26c07048">New South Wales</a> is considering, road user charges on electric vehicles. This policy has drawn scorn from <a href="https://nb.tai.org.au/no_ev_tax?recruiter_id=194711">environmental advocates</a> and <a href="https://thedriven.io/2020/11/21/shameful-victoria-follows-south-australia-and-imposes-electric-car-road-tax/">motor vehicle lobbyists</a> who fear it will slow the uptake of less-polluting vehicles. But, from a longer-term transport policy perspective, a distance-based road user charge on electric vehicles is an important step forward.
Superficially, a charge on electric vehicle use seems misguided. Road sector emissions are the <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.pnas.org/content/107/8/3382">worst contributors to climate change</a>. Electric vehicles powered by clean energy offer the promise of near-zero emissions.
As electric vehicle and renewable energy costs decline we can expect a shift to <a href="https://aemo.com.au/-/media/Files/Electricity/NEM/Planning_and_Forecasting/Inputs-Assumptions-Methodologies/2020/CSIRO-DER-Forecast-Report">full electrification of urban vehicles over the next 30 years</a>. Surely accelerating this transition is an urgent climate task?
The downside lies not in the carbon benefits of these vehicles, but in their use as private passenger transport in congested urban areas and <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-new-pm-wants-to-bust-congestion-here-are-four-ways-he-could-do-that-102249">the costs</a> this use imposes on cities. As renewable energy becomes cheaper, the marginal cost of every kilometre driven is likely to decline. As driving becomes cheaper, more of it is likely to occur.
More driving means more congestion. Inevitably, that increases demand for increasingly expensive road projects, such as Sydney’s WestConnex, or Melbourne’s Westgate Tunnel and North East Link. It certainly will run against the recognition in urban plans such as <a href="https://www.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au/">Plan Melbourne</a> that we must shift to alternative transport modes.
If we don’t have a pricing regime that accounts for the cost of car use in cities, the transition to electric vehicles is likely to work against the wider goals of urban and transport policy.
 
How would distance-based charging work?
Many urban transport policy advocates have called for distance-based road-user charging to be imposed on all vehicles in cities. This sounds great in theory, but in practice is difficult for technical and political reasons of privacy and surveillance. Such concerns will diminish over time as cars increasingly incorporate automated <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telematics">telematics</a> that necessarily track their movement.
Distance-based road-user charging efficiently matches road use to its costs – of infrastructure, congestion, noise, pollution and deaths. It improves on fuel excise, which drivers can nearly completely evade by using a highly efficient vehicle. It also goes beyond tolling to fund major roads, which typically apply only to specific links.
Second, road-user charging can be varied in response to demand that exceeds road capacities. Higher rates can be applied at peak times to ensure free-flowing traffic and shift travel to other times and modes. Various taxation reviews, including the 2009 <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-10/afts_final_report_part_2_vol_2_consolidated.pdf">Henry Taxation Review</a> and <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/productivity-review/report/productivity-review-supporting9.pdf">Productivity Commission</a> reports, have promoted such policies.
Exactly how big would the disincentive be?
Would imposing such charges on electric vehicles retard their uptake?
Based on our work with <a href="https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0966692320309443?utm_campaign=elsOnboarding_Published&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_dgroup=STMJ_AUTH_SERV_PUBLISHED&amp;utm_acid=79567271&amp;SIS_ID=&amp;dgcid=elsOnboarding_Published&amp;CMX_ID=&amp;utm_in=DM82577&amp;utm_source=AC_">ABS Census journey-to-work data</a>, in Melbourne the average daily round-trip commuting distance by car is about 25 kilometres. The proposed Victorian charge is 2.5 cents per kilometre. Thus, in Melbourne the average daily commuter’s road user charge is likely to be 63 cents – $3.13 for a typical five-day working week. Over a 48-week working year that totals A$150, hardly a large sum for most people.
By comparison, a commuter in a conventional vehicle with the average current fuel efficiency of 10.9 L/100km will use about 2.73 litres of fuel on which they pay 42.3 cents per litre in fuel excise. That’s about $1.15 a day, or $5.75 a week.
The average tax saving for electric vehicles compared to conventional vehicles will be about 2.1 cents per kilometre. Electric vehicle drivers will be taxed about 53 cents a day, or $2.64 a week, less for their car work travel. They’ll be about $126 a year better off.
Commuting trips make up about 25% of car use, so electric car users’ overall savings are likely to be even greater.
It is difficult to see how such savings on excise tax are a disincentive to electric vehicle uptake. Fears of a “<a href="https://medium.com/@TheAustraliaInstitute/11-reasons-why-a-great-big-new-tax-on-electric-vehicles-is-a-bad-idea-6bf89c99e688">great big new tax</a>”, as the Australia Institute puts it, seem unfounded, as are concerns that road-user charges would “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/commentisfree/2020/nov/22/tax-on-electric-vehicles-in-south-australia-and-victoria-would-slam-brakes-on-sales">slam the brakes on sales</a>”.
Let’s be clear, the big barrier is the upfront cost of electric vehicles, about <a href="https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/projects/electricvehicles/about/compare">$10,000 more</a> than their conventional equivalents. Advocates for electric vehicles should focus on that difference, and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/22/well-be-left-behind-australias-electric-car-inertia-is-getting-it-nowhere">failures in Australian government policy</a>, not state road-user charges.
Why taxing actual road use matters
It needs to be recognised that, with lower marginal costs, electric vehicles are likely to be used more than conventional cars. That would increase pressure on urban road capacity. So while the new road-user charge of 2.5 cents per kilometre is flat across the time of day or the route driven, this will likely need to change.
Distance-based road-user charges have been politically controversial. Imposing a tiny charge on a <a href="https://theconversation.com/electric-car-sales-tripled-last-year-heres-what-we-can-do-to-keep-them-growing-131372">minority vehicle type</a> is an expedient way of introducing a needed reform. Fewer than <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/industry/tourism-and-transport/motor-vehicle-census-australia/latest-release">1.8%</a> of vehicles in Australia are currently electric or hybrid. But as all cars become electric, distance-based road charges will become an increasingly powerful policy tool.
Thanks to advancing telematics, transport planners will eventually be able to impose variable road-user charging by time of day and route, similar to ride-hailing companies’ “surge” pricing. We could then apply novel approaches such as a cap-and-trade system. A city could allocate its motorists an annual kilometres quota, which is then traded to create a market for excess urban road use.
The private car could also be integrated into <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-mobility-as-a-service-maas-to-solve-our-transport-woes-some-things-need-to-change-105119">mobility-as-a-service</a> models.
Road-user charges could be regressive for people with few alternatives to the car. But telematic tracking could allow for lower charges for less affluent households in dispersed outer suburbs with few other options.
Beyond fuel, private cars have high environmental costs in <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/green-guide/buying-guides/car/environmental-impact/">steel, plastic, aluminium, glass and rubber use</a>. And <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-elephant-in-the-planning-scheme-how-cities-still-work-around-the-dominance-of-parking-space-87098">about one-third of our increasingly valuable urban space</a> is given over to cars in the form of roads and parking.
To reduce this demand on resources and space, car use could be priced to shift travel to, and fund, more sustainable and city-friendly modes such as public transport, walking and cycling. We could even price the car out of cities completely. The most environmentally sustainable car, after all, is no car at all.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150644/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/jago-dodson-2359">Jago Dodson</a>, Professor of Urban Policy and Director, Centre for Urban Research, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tiebei-terry-li-1180745">Tiebei (Terry) Li</a>, Research Fellow, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</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/think-taxing-electric-vehicle-use-is-a-backward-step-heres-why-its-an-important-policy-advance-150644">original article</a>.
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Think taxing electric vehicle use is a backward step? Here's why it's an important policy advance

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GUEST OBSERVER
There is no doubt the COVID-19 crisis has incurred widespread economic costs. There is understandable concern that stronger measures against the virus, from social distancing to full lockdowns, worsen its impact on economies.
As a result, there has been a tendency to consider the problem as a trade-off between health and economic costs.
This view, for example, has largely defined the approach of the US federal government. “I think we’ve learned that if you shut down the economy, you’re going to create more damage,” said US Treasury Secretary <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/11/treasury-secretary-mnuchin-says-we-cant-shut-down-the-economy-again">Steve Mnuchin in June</a>, as the Trump administration resisted calls to decisively combat the nation’s second COVID wave.
But the notion of a trade-off is not supported by data from countries around the world. If anything, the opposite may be true.
Data from 45 nations
Let’s examine available data for 45 nations from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, using <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data">COVID-19 data</a> and <a href="https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?queryid=350">economic indicators</a>.
The COVID-19 statistics we’ll focus on are deaths per million of population. No single indicator is perfect, and these rates don’t always reflect contextual factors that apply to specific countries, but this indicator allows us to draw a reasonably accurate global picture.
The economic indicators we’ll examine are among those most widely used for overall evaluations of national economic performance. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is an index of national wealth. Exports and imports measure a country’s international economic activity. Private consumption expenditure is an indicator of how an economy is travelling.
Effects on GDP per capita
Our first chart plots nations’ deaths per million from COVID-19 against the percentage change in per capita GDP during the second quarter of 2020.
The size of each data point shows the scale of deaths per million as of June 30, using a logarithmic, or “log”, scale – a way to display a very wide range of values in compact graphical form.
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<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371240/original/file-20201125-16-y0lvcd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""> Log(deaths per million) by percentage change in Q2 2020 GDP per capita.
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If suppressing the virus, thereby leading to fewer deaths per million, resulted in worse national economic downturns, then the “slope” in figure 1 would be positive. But the opposite is true, with the overall correlation being -0.412.
The two outliers are China, in the upper-left corner, with a positive change in GDP per capita, and India at the bottom. China imposed successful hard lockdowns and containment procedures that meant economic effects were limited. India imposed an early hard lockdown but its measures since have been far less effective. Removing both from our data leaves a correlation of -0.464.
Exports and imports
Our second chart shows the relationship between deaths per million and percentage change in exports.
If there was a clear trade-off between containing the virus and enabling international trade, we would see a positive relationship between the changes in exports and death-rates. Instead, there appears to be no relationship.
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<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371241/original/file-20201125-15-75nr66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">Log(deaths per million) by percentage change in Q2 2020 exports.
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Our third chart shows the relationship between deaths per million and percentage change in imports. As with exports, a trade-off would show in a positive relationship. But there is no evidence of such a relationship here either.
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<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371248/original/file-20201125-15-x21mry.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">Log(deaths per million) by percentage change in Q2 2020 imports.
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Consumer spending
Our fourth chart shows the relationship between deaths per million and percentage change in private consumption expenditure. This complements the picture we get from imports and exports, by tracking consumer spending as an indicator of internal economic activity.
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<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371247/original/file-20201125-23-1rglhox.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">Log(deaths per million) by percentage change in Q2 2020 private consumption.
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Again, no positive relationship. Instead, the overall negative relationship suggests those countries that succeeded (at least temporarily) in suppressing the virus were better off economically than those countries adopting a more laissez-faire approach.
National wealth
As a postscript to this brief investigation, let’s take a quick look at whether greater national wealth seems to have helped countries deal with the virus.
Our fifth and final chart plots cases per million (not deaths per million) against national GDP per capita.
<hr>
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371246/original/file-20201125-24-yiv8un.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">Log(GDP per capita) by log(cases per million).
<hr>
If wealthier countries were doing better at suppressing transmission, the relationship should be negative. Instead, the clusters by region suggest it’s a combination of culture and politics driving the effectiveness of nations’ responses (or lack thereof).
In fact, if we examine the largest cluster, of European countries (the green dots), the relationship between GDP per capita and case rates is positive (0.379) – the opposite of what we would expect.
 
It’s not a zero-sum game
The standard economic indicators reviewed here show, overall, countries that have contained the virus also tend to have had less severe economic impacts than those that haven’t.
No one should be misled into believing there is zero-sum choice between saving lives and saving the economy. That is a false dichotomy.
If there is anything to be learned regarding how to deal with future pandemics, it is that rapidly containing the pandemic may well lessen its economic impact.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150533/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/michael-smithson-122837">Michael Smithson</a>, Professor, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</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/data-from-45-countries-show-containing-covid-vs-saving-the-economy-is-a-false-dichotomy-150533">original article</a>.
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Data shows containing COVID vs saving the economy is a false dichotomy

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GUEST OBSERVER
From the 1980s right through to the global financial crisis, the standard response in Australia and elsewhere to too weak or too strong an economy has been <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/monetarypolicy.asp">monetary policy</a> — the manipulation of interest rates by a central bank, in our case the Reserve Bank.
Rates can be moved quickly, and central banks are seen to be independent and to behave responsibly, while governments are seen as making decisions for political rather than economic reasons.
But since the global financial crisis (in much of the world) and since COVID (in Australia) managing the economy has come to be seen once again as the role of the government through spending and tax decisions — so-called <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/insights/what-is-fiscal-policy/">fiscal policy</a>.
One reason is interest rates have fallen so low there’s been little left to cut.
After the 1990s recession, the Reserve Bank cut its cash rate from 17% to 7.5%. After the financial crisis it cut it from 6% to 3.25%. By the time COVID came around the rate was already at a record low of 0.75%
The bank did cut, as much as it could — first to a new record low of 0.5%, then to 0.25% and now to <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-ways-the-reserve-bank-is-going-to-bat-for-australia-like-never-before-149311">0.1%</a>, but there’s little more it can do, at least with the cash rate.
Rate cuts have been used up
And there’s little that whatever cuts it could make could do to boost the economy. Their immediate impact would be to push up the prices of houses and other assets and worsen inequality.
So the government has turned to fiscal policy. Since the onset of the pandemic the Commonwealth has provided A$257 billion in direct economic support; about 13% of GDP.
By comparison, in response to the global financial crisis it spent $72 billion; about 6% of GDP.
It will help, but it will do little about the underlying reason why rate cuts have become ineffective, which is an excess of savings over opportunities to invest them.
We’re in a savings glut
As far back as the mid-2000s the then chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, was talking about a savings glut: too many savings chasing too few opportunities to invest.
For a while the US and other economies remained strong as the downward pressure of excess savings on demand was held at bay by households borrowing ever increasing amounts in order to spend.
That escape valve closed after the global financial crisis, and numerous (mostly American) economists began talking about ongoing slow economic growth, which they described as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/have-australian-bankers-bought-the-secular-stagnation-theory-29765">secular stagnation</a>”.
There are two suggested explanations. One involves <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/supply.asp">supply</a>. It might be that the ability of the economy to supply more of what we want is slowing.
The other involves <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/demand.asp">demand</a>. It might be that we not demanding enough of the things the economy can produce.
Potential supply might be slowing because modern-day technological progress, principally in the form of information and communications technology, is having <a href="https://rootsofprogress.org/summary-the-rise-and-fall-of-american-growth">less of an impact</a> than previous new technologies such as electricity, the internal combustion engine or the automated production line.
 
Australia’s treasury has also suggested the Australian economy might be <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/speech/s2019-396067">less dynamic</a>, with lower levels of firm entry and job switching, slower adoption of frontier technologies and processes, and less labour reallocation of resources from low to high productivity firms.
It is these supply-side constraints that have captured the attention of the Australian authorities.
On the other hand, in the US, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers has pointed out that if supply-side constraints were the principal problem, <a href="http://larrysummers.com/2016/02/17/the-age-of-secular-stagnation/">inflation would have been expected to accelerate</a> as capacity to supply fell short of demand, whereas in fact it has decelerated.
Low spending means low investment
What’s more likely is there’s insufficient demand for the goods and services the economy is able to supply.
This would explain why firms are reluctant to invest (and invest in new technology) to make more goods and services, a reluctance that might itself be slowing technological progress and the rate of increase in potential supply so that it better matches the slow increase in demand.
It would also explain why interest rates have been falling. Businesses don’t need funds to invest on the scale they once would have, however widely available those funds are.
According to Australia’s <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/speech/policy-and-evolution-uncertainty">treasury secretary</a> Steven Kennedy, this savings glut is the reason the neutral interest rate (the real cash rate that is neither <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-zero-interest-rates-are-here-to-stay-149523">expansionary or contractionary</a>) has been falling over the last 40 years.
He attributes these lower rates to “some combination of population ageing, the productivity slowdown and lower preferences for risk among investors”.
Given the international literature, it is surprising he hasn’t also identified changes in the distribution of incomes.
As is well known, higher income families tend to have a higher propensity to save than low income families.
Our incomes are becoming more skewed
This means changes in the distribution of incomes can drive changes in demand.
In Australia’s case — and Australia is far from the worst among the advanced economies — over each of the decades in the 1990s and 2000s male real earnings grew by about <a href="/news">30%</a> at the top of the distribution, while at the bottom of the distribution they grew not at all in the 1990s only by 10% in the 2000s.
For females, real earnings grew by about 15% for women on below median earnings in each of the decades, while at the top of the distribution, female real earnings grew by 25% in the 1990s and <a href="/news">35%</a> in the 2000s.
Although the available data doesn’t show any further increase in income inequality during the 2010s, it shows the previous increases haven’t been reversed.
In addition, the unequal distribution of wealth has <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/finance/household-income-and-wealth-australia/latest-release#key-findings">worsened dramatically</a>.
For fiscal policy to be effective from here on it will need to be directed toward Australians with high propensity to spend and away from Australians with a high propensity to save. This means it will have to adopt as a goal a more egalitarian distribution of incomes, and perhaps wealth.
We’ll need to boost low incomes
So far, the government response to the COVID crisis has been good in this respect.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-key-to-the-success-of-the-130-billion-wage-subsidy-is-retrospective-paid-work-135042">JobKeeper</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/scalable-without-limit-how-the-government-plans-to-get-coronavirus-support-into-our-hands-quickly-134353">Coronavirus supplement</a> for job seekers have both been of most benefit to lower income Australians.
Looking to the future, a sustained recovery in demand is unlikely to come from <a href="https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/mccormack/media-release/morrison-government-delivers-75-billion-boost-transport-infrastructure-across-nation">extra spending on infrastructure</a>. These projects typically employ few people and have either no business cases or business cases of dubious value.
Nor will it come from general fiscal support, <a href="https://theconversation.com/top-economists-back-boosts-to-jobseeker-and-social-housing-over-tax-cuts-in-pre-budget-poll-146914">including income tax cuts</a> for high earners with high propensities to save.
Long-term, it will have to involve boosting the earning potential of low earners.
Education and services are the places to start
This will mean, as a first priority, boosting spending on education and training in order to improve skills and earning power and better suit skills to needs.
The second priority has to be improving the quality of and access to government services.
Services such as aged care have suffered from under-funding, denying employment opportunities to low earners and denying others support.
 
In addition, cutting the cost of childcare and a revamping its means tests would encourage many women to increase their hours of work and thus their family income, as well as creating more jobs for carers.
One of the great benefits of fiscal policy is that it can be targeted in this way, refashioned to improve income distribution and consumer demand.
It is another reason for preferring it over monetary policy for some time to come.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150081/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/michael-keating-528224">Michael Keating</a>, Visiting Fellow, College of Business &amp; Economics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</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/from-here-on-our-recovery-will-need-more-than-fiscal-policy-itll-need-redistribution-150081">original article</a>.
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Recovery will now need more than fiscal policy, it’ll need redistribution

Luxury apartment developer Abadeen has recorded $19.25 million in apartment sales across two of its Lower North Shore developments in the lead-up to the end of the financial year, headlined by the sale of a $6.75 million penthouse at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/buildings/koyo-crows-nest-5-rodborough-avenue-crows-nest-nsw-2065">KOYO in Crows Nest.</a>

The transactions also included the sale of a newly completed three-bedroom apartment at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/buildings/park-residences-cremorne-2-sutherland-street-cremorne-nsw-2090">Park Residences in Cremorne</a> for $6.35 million, with the residence selling shortly after the project's first public inspections following completion.

The sales come as completed, owner-occupier-focused apartments continue to attract strong demand across Sydney's Lower North Shore, particularly from buyers looking for certainty and immediate occupancy.

The penthouse at KOYO spans 491 sqm across a single level and was designed by architect Koichi Takada. The development is one of Abadeen's flagship boutique projects in Crows Nest.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=108800 project_image_fid=370093]

Abadeen Executive Chairman and Founder Justin Brown said buyer activity lifted noticeably in the lead-up to the end of the financial year.

"We saw a clear increase in enquiry levels, inspection numbers and buyer engagement across our completed projects leading into the end of the financial year," Brown said.

"Buyers have become far more decisive over the past six months. The combination of improving confidence, limited supply and the ability to physically inspect completed residences is creating strong competition for premium apartments in the best locations."

Brown says the&nbsp;response to Park Residences following completion has been particularly strong.

"Buyers want certainty and are responding positively to the opportunity to walk through a finished product, inspect the quality firsthand and move in immediately," Brown suggested.

"Projects such as Park Residences and KOYO demonstrate that when the product is exceptional and the location is irreplaceable, buyers are prepared to act quickly."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=114246 project_image_fid=370116]

Abadeen CEO Joe Tack said quality continued to differentiate projects in the current market.

"Today's buyers are incredibly discerning," Tack said.

"They are seeking larger floorplans, premium finishes, walkability, lifestyle amenity and confidence in the developer delivering the project. Well-designed boutique developments continue to outperform because they offer something genuinely difficult to replace.

"The enquiry we are seeing across our completed and recently completed Lower North Shore portfolio is very encouraging, and we expect this momentum to continue into spring."

The sales follow increased enquiry across Abadeen's Lower North Shore portfolio which also includes <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/buildings/northcote-collective-naremburn-2-northcote-street-naremburn-nsw-2065">Northcote Collective in Naremburn</a> which also completed recently.

Joel Robinson

KOYO penthouse headlines Abadeen's $19.25 million EOFY sales flurry

The City of Sydney has approved plans for <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/billbergia">Billbergia Group</a> and Metrics Credit Partners’ $3.5 billion Castlereagh Place project in the heart of the Sydney CBD

The towers will be among the tallest in <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/sydney-nsw-2000">Sydney</a>'s CBD, with more floors than any other residential tower in the city.&nbsp;

The 6,000 sqm site was acquired by the joint venture partners in 2024. It is the largest amalgamated land parcel in the Sydney CBD and comprises eight individual sites fronting Castlereagh, Pitt and Liverpool Streets.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/castlereagh-place-sydney-324-348-pitt-street-sydney-nsw-2000">Castlereagh Place</a> will transform an underutilised city block into a landmark mixed-use destination, anchored by two 82-storey towers comprising 607 luxury residences above an 8-level podium housing a 209-room luxury hotel. A 1,000 square metre civic park on ground level features a curated mix of food, beverage and retail.

The plans have been refined over the past year to rebalance the residential and hotel offering, and reconfigure the retail footprint to create a stronger, more dynamic dining experience.

A three-level flagship building on the prominent corner of Pitt and Liverpool Streets will be the gateway to the Castlereagh Place lifestyle precinct. Set to become a Sydney icon, the building is capable of housing multiple hospitality venues.

“Castlereagh Place is designed to be the City's next great urban oasis - an energetic mixed-use precinct that pulses with life, day and night,"&nbsp;said Joseph Kinsella, Group Director of Billbergia.

"It will bring the vibrancy of places like Barangaroo and Darling Quarter into a more accessible, central destination at the very heart of Sydney."

Kinsella said the project will build on&nbsp;Sydney’s growing laneway culture with the City’s largest network of new activated lanes - an expanded, next-generation take on precincts like Angel Place, Palings Lane and Ash Street in Wynyard.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134477 project_image_fid=374401]

Castlereagh Place has been designed by architects <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/fjc-studio">fjcstudio</a> in collaboration with Trias Studio, Aileen Sage and Polly Harbison Design, joint winners of an international design competition in 2018.&nbsp;

Signature design elements from the original scheme remain unchanged, while the public domain has been significantly enhanced, delivering 60 per cent more open-to-sky space.

Pedestrian access will also be enhanced through new laneways linking Pitt, Liverpool and Castlereagh Streets, drawing people into a new civic park with outdoor seating, landscaping and integrated public art.

With activated laneways supported by strong hospitality offerings, Castlereagh Place is tipped to become a vibrant new dining destination in the heart of Sydney’s CBD.

It marks the largest undertaking to date for the Billbergia and Metrics Credit Partners partnership. Together they are developing other underutilised Sydney sites into mixed-use precincts, including the $2.2 billion Concord Central and the $1.3 billion Chatswood Grand Residences.

Metrics Managing Partner and Group CEO Andrew Lockhart said Castlereagh Place is a landmark project that will redefine Sydney’s skyline.

"As the tallest residential high-rise development, the revitalised site will offer panoramic views across the CBD and surrounds. We are excited to partner with Billbergia to reinvigorate an underutilised site and create a sophisticated and contemporary mixed-use offering situated in the heart of Sydney.”

Total apartments within the towers have increased to 607 dwellings, with a focus on larger floorplans. Aligned to growing market demand, Castlereagh Place now comprises 299 three-plus-bedroom apartments, 198 two-bedroom units and 110 one-bedroom configurations.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134477 project_image_fid=374402]

Resident amenities will include an exclusive residents club containing a gym, rooftop pool, dining rooms, co-working spaces, library, golf simulator, games room, cinema room, and access to an exclusive concierge service. There will be around 500 basement car spaces below the towers.

The development will also include a state-of-the-art wellness centre, set to feature a bathhouse with magnesium pools, hot/cold plunge pools and premium amenities.

&nbsp;

According to fjcstudio, the towers will feature distinctive yet elegant architectural design reflecting Sydney’s geometry and urban character, with a network of through-site links and intimate public spaces activating the streetscape.

"Castlereagh Place is a city-making project of significant scale and ambition," said Richard Francis-Jones, Design Director at fjcstudio.

"It will create a rich urban complex of public open spaces, landscaped gardens, and vibrant laneways. Defining these new public spaces and the important streetscape of Castlereagh Street is a sequence of fine-grained, diverse retail and hotel architecture designed in collaboration with Aileen Sage, Polly Harbison Design and Trias.

“Rising above the tree-lined, human-scale streetscape are two slender residential towers that will transform the city skyline and look towards the Harbour, Hyde Park, and the Royal Botanic Garden.”

Demolition and early construction works have commenced onsite at Castlereagh Place.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=134477]

Billbergia, Metrics, approved for $3.5 billion Sydney skyscrapers

International developer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/spg-land">SPG Land</a> is preparing to re-launch its long-awaited $1.5 billion <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/paradiso-place-surfers-paradise-103-ferny-avenue-surfers-paradise-qld-4217">Paradiso Place</a> development at Budds Beach, bringing a new price point to the Surfers Paradise apartment market.

The developer will release one-bedroom apartments from $825,000 and two-bedroom apartments from $1.24 million in the three-tower development.

According to Urbis, the starting price for the two-bedroom apartments is more than $400,000 below the weighted average sale price for comparable two-bedroom apartments in Surfers Paradise during 2025, which was pinned at $1.7 million.

&nbsp;

Urbis reported quarterly average sale prices for new two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments ranged from around $1.2 million to $1.7 million throughout 2025, peaking in the December quarter.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=106566 project_image_fid=185853]

Paradiso Place is now moving into its formal sales campaign, with a limited early-release opportunity available ahead of the public launch.

The development will comprise 845 apartments across three towers rising 40, 41 and 44 storeys from a 1.15-hectare site spanning an entire city block. The towers will sit above a new retail precinct.

"Paradiso Place represents a rare opportunity in today's market, offering premium apartments at a price point that is significantly more competitive than anything else currently available," SPG Land Sales Director Brad McMahon said.

"When you look at comparable new developments across Surfers Paradise, Main Beach and the Southern Beaches precinct, buyers are typically paying hundreds of thousands more for a similar product.

"The scale of this project and the developer-builder construction model allows us to unlock efficiencies that smaller developments simply cannot achieve. We are passing those benefits directly to buyers, while still delivering a five-star residential experience with an unmatched lifestyle."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=106566 project_image_fid=374280]

Each of the three towers designed by Rothelowman will have its own podium, connected by an elevated skybridge network to create a beachside village for residents. The resident amenity has been designed to rival a five-star hotel, with private dining rooms, resident lounges and entertainment spaces.

McMahon said the pricing strategy was a deliberate response to the current market.

"What Paradiso Place offers is a unique balance, genuine value within a premium market. Buyers are not compromising on quality, design or amenity, they are gaining access to it at a more competitive price point at a time when prices across the Gold Coast continue to reach new highs."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=106566 project_image_fid=362498]

Located around 100 metres from the beach and within walking distance of the Surfers Paradise North light rail station, Paradiso Place occupies one of the Gold Coast's most tightly held beachfront precincts.

Construction is continuing to progress, with eight of the project's 112 foundation piles now complete. Excavation has also commenced on the first diaphragm wall panel, with the first concrete poured on 15 June, marking a key milestone in the project's early works program.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=106566]

SPG Land launches $1.5 billion Paradiso Place at attractive price point

Luxury developer-builder <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/lowe-living">Lowe Living</a> has achieved a new Victorian benchmark for an off-the-plan apartment, with the sale of two penthouses at its ultra-exclusive Maison Savoy development in Brighton.

The two penthouses achieved a combined sale rate of $49,926 per sqm. Both transactions eclipsed the previous identified Victorian off-the-plan price-per-square-metre benchmark, set by the 449 sqm apartment at Como Toorak, which sold at $46,659 per sqm.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=140818 project_image_fid=366473]

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/maison-savoy-brighton-150-esplanade-brighton-vic-3186">Maison Savoy</a>, Lowe Living's redevelopment of the former Brighton Savoy Hotel on absolute beachfront land at 150 The Esplanade, Brighton, has gained significant momentum since launching just eight weeks ago. Around 30 per cent of the project's 19 residences have already been secured, generating approximately $45 million in sales.

"Securing two of the three penthouse sales at this stage, within eight weeks of launching to market speaks to the confidence our clients place in Lowe Living," Lowe Living co-founder Emma Lowe said.

"They know we'll be with them through every stage of the journey, and that assurance is something we've worked hard to earn and never take for granted."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=140818 project_image_fid=366474]

Lowe said Maison Savoy was conceived as a genuine alternative to a prestige Brighton home, combining house-scale proportions with the convenience, security and lock-up-and-leave appeal of apartment living.

Lowe Living co-founder Tim Lowe said the early sales success demonstrated the resilience of Melbourne's prestige market and highlighted the growing demand for house-sized apartments among ultra-high-net-worth buyers.

"The Melbourne market has definitely been tested in recent years, with interest rates and global economic factors all creating a period of uncertainty across the real estate sector. The sales success at Maison Savoy however demonstrates that confidence remains exceptionally strong at the top end of the market.

"The prestige market is being driven by long-term lifestyle decisions rather than short-term market sentiment, which continues to create a level of certainty that befits an absolute beachfront property in a blue-chip location like Brighton.

"Brighton's fundamentals remain among the strongest in Melbourne, with limited new supply, enduring demand from an overwhelmingly local owner-occupier market, and a rare combination of beachfront amenity and proximity to the CBD."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=140818 project_image_fid=374378]

According to Cotality, Brighton remains one of Melbourne's most tightly held prestige suburbs, with an average ownership tenure of 15.3 years for houses and 12.3 years for units, while more than 73 per cent of homes are owner-occupied.

Tim Lowe said selling two of the project's three penthouses so early in the campaign was an uncommon result.

"This sales result is a reflection of quality and understanding the local market. It's incredibly rare to transact the penthouses so early in a sales campaign in any project so to have sold two of the three penthouses at Maison Savoy so soon after launch, all in-house without any external sales agency appointed, is reflective of our careful consideration of our buyers' needs and lifestyle.

"This is knowledge that is accumulated not just from data and demographic analysis, but via a deeply embedded understanding of how this type of buyer wants to live and feel in their home. We pride ourselves on getting to know our clients personally, and over the last 10 years we have been able to refine our product offering by talking one-on-one with our clients about their design and floorplan preferences.

"Being a fully integrated developer-builder with an in-house design and sales team allows us to lead every part of the process and ensure the highest quality of product and service at every touchpoint. It's a really important part of our DNA and the recent sales success at Maison Savoy indicates that our clients and purchasers are resonating with this point of difference.

"It reinforces that demand remains strong for thoughtfully designed residences that offer rarity, lifestyle and long-term value in tightly held locations, which ultimately validates Maison Savoy's positioning as creating a new benchmark for house-scale, wellness-led apartment living on Brighton's beachfront."

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=140818 project_image_fid=366480]

The residences at Maison Savoy start from 295 sqm, with most enjoying uninterrupted views across Port Phillip Bay. The project sits moments from the Brighton Bathing Boxes, Royal Brighton Yacht Club, Middle Brighton Baths and Church Street's retail and dining precinct.

A key feature of the development is its private residents-only bathhouse, curated by the founder of Aurora Spa &amp; Bathhouse and modelled on traditional European bathing rituals and the award-winning Sorrento bathhouse.

The wellness offering includes a hydrotherapy pool, salt room, sauna, steam room, cold plunge pool, foot activation zone and a Vichy rainfall bed, one of only a handful in Australia. Residents will also have access to a Technogym studio, lounge spaces and a dedicated concierge service offering everything from morning coffee delivery and restaurant bookings to dry cleaning and home coordination.

"Wellness-led design has become a defining factor for luxury buyers," Emma Lowe said.

"Purchasers increasingly value homes that enhance wellbeing through thoughtful design, private amenity, privacy and liveability."

The penthouse purchasers are now undertaking a bespoke customisation process curated personally by architect Pete Kennon and the Lowe Living team, one of the developer's signature service offerings.

Construction on the $160 million transformation of the former Brighton Savoy Hotel site commenced last month, with completion expected in early 2028. The project has secured funding from NAB alongside development partner Monark.

Just one penthouse remains available, along with a limited number of two and three-bedroom residences starting from $3.75 million.

Lowe Living currently has eight projects on the market across Melbourne and recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, having grown a $1 billion development pipeline alongside a $350 million construction pipeline.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=140818]

Lowe Living set new Melbourne off the plan apartment record

For more than three decades, Hyecorp has been delivering residential projects across Sydney's Lower North Shore, building a portfolio centred on design-led apartment living in some of the city's most established neighbourhoods.

Hyecorp recently launched the latest in its long line of apartment developments, Celine, a 29-storey tower on Archer Street in Chatswood. Like the majority of the developer's projects, Celine caters to a broad buyer demographic, offering a mix of one, two, three and four-bedroom apartments, all designed with owner-occupiers in mind.

Functionality and flexibility are often buzzwords in the new apartment market, but they sit at the core of Hyecorp's design philosophy.

Hyecorp Joint Managing Director Stephen Abolakian says the developer understands it isn't designing apartments for today's needs alone, but for how buyers will live several years into the future.

"When we launch our projects we need to be aware that these developments aren't finished for several years," Abolakian says.

"That home office in the here and now might be a nursery by the time the project completes for a prospective buyer, so we need to think about how the apartment spaces function for future uses so there's longevity in the ownership."

Celine's architects, Fuse, followed the same philosophy, saying the design extends well beyond aesthetics.

"Celine focuses on timeless architectural form and functionality, with a strong emphasis on light, proportion and materiality. The design responds to the urban context of Chatswood while delivering calm, highly liveable interiors that feel both contemporary and enduring. The floorplans have been carefully resolved to maximise usability and outperform typical market offerings in terms of efficiency and liveability."

Most apartments incorporate multipurpose rooms designed for flexibility. Each includes an integrated desk and a standard Murphy pull-down single bed, allowing the space to transition from a home office or study to guest accommodation as needs change. The layouts have also been designed to maximise natural light, storage and overall functionality.

One and two-bedroom apartments feature Miele appliances, while three and four-bedroom residences are appointed with integrated Gaggenau appliances and Taj Mahal stone benchtops.

Buyers who purchase early in the construction process can also take advantage of Hyecorp's "Live Your Way" interior design service, allowing them to personalise finishes and tailor elements of their home to suit their own lifestyle. It's a feature designed to appeal to owner-occupiers who want their apartment to feel uniquely theirs from the day they move in.

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While flexible floorplans have become a hallmark of Hyecorp's apartment design, the developer has also continued to place significant emphasis on resident amenity.

As buyers increasingly expect more from apartment living, shared spaces have evolved beyond a gym and barbecue area. They are now an extension of the home, providing spaces to relax, exercise, entertain and connect with neighbours.

At Celine, the resident amenity has been designed with a focus on wellness, centred on the level six podium. An infinity-edge swimming pool, spa, sauna and fully equipped gym are complemented by barbecue facilities and a residents' lounge, creating a range of spaces for relaxation, recreation and social connection above the streets of Chatswood.

Practical conveniences have also been integrated throughout the building, including EV charging provisions, smart parcel lockers, bicycle storage, a pet wash station and dedicated car wash bays, reflecting the project's focus on making everyday living as seamless as possible.

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"Celine has been designed to deliver a refined residential experience that reflects the evolution of Chatswood into a premium urban centre,"&nbsp;Abolakian says.

"With over 30 years of experience delivering projects across Sydney's Lower North Shore, Hyecorp brings a deep understanding of what local buyers value. Every detail has been considered to balance luxury, functionality and long-term liveability. This is not just about apartments, but about creating a lasting residential address for discerning buyers."

Hyecorp, vertically-integrated builder-developer, is anticipating construction commencement later this year.

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