Apartment buyers in New South Wales are set to gain a decade of insurance-backed protection against major building defects, after the NSW Parliament passed the Fair Trading and Building Legislation Amendment Bill 2026.&nbsp;

The Bill establishes decennial defect insurance, known in the market as Latent Defects Insurance (LDI), as an alternative to the existing two-year strata building bond. It cleared the Legislative Council with amendments on Tuesday evening (August 4, 2026), with the Legislative Assembly agreeing to those amendments shortly after.

Under the reform, eligible developers can satisfy their statutory bond obligation by taking out an approved decennial-style policy that gives owners 10 years of cover for major structural defects from completion, claimable directly, without first having to pursue developers or builders through costly legal action.&nbsp;

The change forms the final tranche of amendments arising from the 2021 statutory review of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 and related legislation.

Resilience Insurance, which originated the cover in Australia and has delivered it in NSW since 2022, welcomed the passage and credited the NSW Government for delivering it.

“This is protection apartment buyers have needed for a long time, and the credit for delivering it belongs to the NSW Government,”&nbsp;said Corey Nugent, CEO of Resilience Insurance.

“Minister Chanthivong and his team have shown real leadership in replacing an outdated two-year bond with cover that matches the lifespan of the buildings people are buying into. Reform like this is what good, evidence-based regulation looks like.”

Resilience has delivered LDI in NSW since 2022, protecting thousands of apartments, giving the State, and now the country, real-world evidence of how decade-long, no-fault protection works in practice.

The reform also places NSW within a wider national shift.

NSW is the third jurisdiction to put decennial cover into law. The ACT legislated for it in 2024, with the scheme taking effect in late 2025, and Victoria passed its own framework on 17 June. Between them, the three cover the majority of Australia's apartment market.

The reform commences once the legislation is proclaimed, which is expected in the coming weeks. From that point, developers of Class 2 residential apartment buildings can meet their statutory obligation with an approved decennial policy in place of the bond.

Buyers who purchased into projects that took out the cover early are among the first in the country to take keys to apartments carrying decade-long structural protection.

“With the legislation passed, the focus now turns to making it work for buyers,”&nbsp;Nugent said.

“There are already thousands of apartments in NSW covered by this insurance, bought by developers who moved early. The question every buyer should be asking in a display suite is a simple one: does this building come with 10-year defect cover, and who stands behind it?&nbsp;

“We look forward to working with the Government and the Building Commission in coming weeks as the framework moves to implementation, and to sharing what we have learned over the past four years so the protection reaches owners as smoothly and quickly as possible.”

Other states are working through their own reform programs. Western Australia has indicated that decennial cover is within consideration a later stage of its reform sequence, and Queensland has been examining the settings as it looks at the development pipeline ahead of the 2032 Olympics.

Resilience Insurance acknowledges the NSW Government’s continued focus on strengthening consumer protection while supporting housing delivery across the State.

Fast Facts: What the reform means

<ul style="color:#222222; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:small; font-style:normal; font-variant-ligatures:normal; font-weight:400; text-align:start; white-space:normal; background-color:#ffffff; text-decoration-thickness:initial; text-decoration-style:initial; text-decoration-color:initial">
	<li style="margin-left:15px; font-family:Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:#000000">Proven at scale:&nbsp;Decennial cover has operated in NSW since 2022, protecting thousand of apartments.</li>
	<li style="margin-left:15px; font-family:Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:#000000">10 years of cover:&nbsp;Protection for major structural defects runs for a decade from completion, claimable directly and with no legal action required.</li>
	<li style="margin-left:15px; font-family:Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:#000000">An alternative to the bond:&nbsp;Eligible developers can meet their statutory obligation with an approved decennial-style policy in place of the 2% strata building bond.</li>
	<li style="margin-left:15px; font-family:Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:#000000">Part of a national shift:&nbsp;The ACT has had decennial provisions in force since 2025 and Victoria passed its framework in June. NSW now joins them.</li>
	<li style="margin-left:15px; font-family:Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:#000000">No-fault, first resort:&nbsp;Owners corporations claim directly from the insurer without first having to establish who is liable for the defect.</li>
	<li style="margin-left:15px; font-family:Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:#000000">Cost-competitive:&nbsp;At approximately 1.8% of build cost, LDI is typically priced below the 2% bond while offering broader, longer protection.</li>
	<li style="margin-left:15px; font-family:Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:#000000">Market position:&nbsp;Resilience originated LDI in Australia and has delivered it in NSW since 2022.</li>
</ul>

Fast Facts: What is Resilience LDI?

<ul style="color:#222222; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:small; font-style:normal; font-variant-ligatures:normal; font-weight:400; text-align:start; white-space:normal; background-color:#ffffff; text-decoration-thickness:initial; text-decoration-style:initial; text-decoration-color:initial">
	<li style="margin-left:15px; font-family:Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:#000000">Resilience Latent Defects Insurance (LDI):&nbsp;Covers major structural defects for 10 years from completion.</li>
	<li style="margin-left:15px; font-family:Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:#000000">Consumer-first:&nbsp;Direct claim access, no need for lengthy legal action.</li>
	<li style="margin-left:15px; font-family:Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:#000000">Cost advantage:&nbsp;At approximately 1.8% of build cost, LDI is typically priced below the traditional 2% Strata Bond while offering broader protection.</li>
	<li style="margin-left:15px; font-family:Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:#000000">Market leader:&nbsp;&nbsp;Resilience Insurance originated LDI in Australia and is the national market leader.</li>
</ul>

Joel Robinson

NSW parliament passes 10-year defect insurance laws for new apartment buyers

Builder-developer <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/mcnab-developments">McNab</a> has wasted little time reshaping one of South Brisbane's most significant undeveloped apartment sites after acquiring the property earlier this year.&nbsp;

McNab has lodged plans to scrap an existing approval for two 30-storey towers and instead deliver a single 28-storey residential building, preserving part of the site for a future development opportunity.

The proposal, lodged over <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/64-peel-street-south-brisbane-qld-4101">64 Peel Street and 9 Cordelia Street</a>, is for a residential-led mixed-use development comprising 124 apartments above a landscaped podium, alongside a boundary realignment that preserves part of the land for a future residential project.

<img alt="First look: McNab resets decade-old South Brisbane approval with 124-apartment tower" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="743bf564-3f8f-45fc-b8d3-bbf18f5b628f" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/mcnab%20Peel%20st%20podium.png?VersionId=EhCxGrVn_VFH3qTbKnI4WppGwaMnOn0t" />

Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/hayball">Hayball</a>, the development will deliver 119 two-bedroom and five three-bedroom apartments across 23 residential levels. A five-level podium will accommodate 135 car spaces, while the ground floor will include a 66 sqm commercial tenancy, an activated residential lobby with work-from-home spaces, and a publicly accessible landscaped plaza linking Cordelia and Peel streets.&nbsp;

Communal amenities will span Level 6 and the rooftop, including indoor and outdoor recreation spaces, a swimming pool, barbecue facilities, kitchen and dining areas, lawn space, sauna, steam room and yoga facilities.

The application also proposes a boundary realignment to create a standalone 1,290 sqm development lot while retaining an adjacent parcel for future redevelopment, allowing the balance of the site to contribute additional housing over time.

Hayball said the architecture has been shaped by the site's elevated corner position at the intersection of Peel and Cordelia streets and Brisbane's subtropical climate.

The design incorporates generous landscaped setbacks, a masonry podium wrapped with planting, large north-facing balconies, and a slender tower profile intended to maximise natural light, cross ventilation and long-range views. The rooftop has been conceived as a wellness-focused retreat overlooking Brisbane, with amenities positioned to capture views towards Mount Coot-tha and the CBD.

<img alt="First look: McNab resets decade-old South Brisbane approval with 124-apartment tower" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c5f99e84-6ad8-4a87-82d1-869685b754d2" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/mcnab%20tower%20perspective.png?VersionId=Gw0IuJaSAlk.tvGBxInhZOcQAdIB..2b" />

The planning submission positions the proposal as a response to both changing market conditions and Brisbane's Kurilpa Sustainable Growth Precinct planning reforms.

McNab acquired the site after the previous approval was granted, with the existing scheme no longer reflecting current residential market demands, economic conditions, construction challenges, construction efficiencies or the quality of development outcome now being pursued, the planning report noted.

McNab continues to expand its residential development pipeline across Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The developer recently launched The Tannery in West End, securing more than 60 per cent of apartments before the project's public release. It is also delivering Elements Budds Beach in Surfers Paradise and Lucia Highgate Hill, an eight-apartment boutique development overlooking the Brisbane River.

McNab resets decade-old South Brisbane approval with 124-apartment tower

A steeply sloping Bellevue Hill site is set to accommodate a new mid-rise apartment development, with plans lodged for 20 homes that respond to the site's dramatic topography.

The proposal for the consolidated land at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/138a-140-bellevue-road-bellevue-hill-nsw-2023">138A-140 Bellevue Road</a> has been designed by Sydney architecture practice Common Office, which has used the site’s substantial fall to distribute the building’s scale and unlock 20 apartments without presenting the full height to the street.&nbsp;

“The unique design strategy leverages the site’s substantial topographical fall to facilitate increased density, presenting a seven-storey profile to Bellevue Road while rising to 10 storeys at the rear,” Common Office said in its architectural design report.

The apartment mix spans one, two, three- and four-bedroom residences. Four two-bedroom apartments are designated as affordable housing, while the plans also include two adaptable dwellings. The mix is majority three-beds, with the typical three-bed apartment offering around 144 sqm internally, with balconies of around 15 sqm.

The affordable housing component represents 15 per cent of the residential floor area and allows the project to access additional height and floor space under the NSW Government’s in-fill affordable housing provisions. The site also falls within the inner area of the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy because it is within 400 metres walking distance of Double Bay Town Centre.

<img alt="First Look: Plans lodged for topography-led affordable housing project in Bellevue Hill" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b1230d0f-3bfa-4a11-abaf-0928c66ef345" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Bellevue%20da.png?VersionId=dZeMK3P.OutGjN8ycjsxm8uNsj_QFWQv" />

Common Office has arranged the building around a masonry podium and a lighter upper volume, drawing on two recurring elements of Bellevue Hill’s established architecture: sandstone bases and the vertical proportions of local Inter-war Art Deco apartment buildings.

“The proposal is governed by a holistic design language that reconciles the solid horizontal masonry of the neighbourhood’s podiums with the elegant verticality of its Art Deco heritage,” the architect said.

“The building maintains a consistent rhythmic logic utilising deep recesses and a sophisticated material transition to break down the 10-storey scale into a series of articulated, human-scale volumes.”

<img alt="First Look: Plans lodged for topography-led affordable housing project in Bellevue Hill" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="0147f503-1af1-4d51-97fb-c2f1cba63a9d" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Bellevue%20bldg.png?VersionId=GoW7q3NlK67OpnePXhk7zvklrlKb72Qc" />

Large-format sandstone tiles will define the lower levels, establishing a robust base that negotiates the change in elevation from Bellevue Road. Above, red-tinted precast concrete frames, recessed balconies, anodised aluminium screens and expanded metal details will create a more vertically expressed façade. Integrated planter beds will introduce greenery across balcony edges and recessed sections of the building.

The elongated northern façade has been divided into three recessed vertical masses to reduce its perceived length. Triangular window elements and metal privacy screens reference the geometry of nearby Art Deco buildings while controlling overlooking toward surrounding homes. The southern elevation will incorporate further privacy screening, landscaped edges and deep balconies to maintain light and ventilation.

<img alt="First Look: Plans lodged for topography-led affordable housing project in Bellevue Hill" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="e8679cf1-18bc-4447-8a0f-0052b94ab83c" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Bellevue%20da%20rooftop.png?VersionId=5SQqQqRFf76rvE2p1TbxJSweMN70AIbc" />

Private and communal landscaping is distributed throughout the development. A landscaped garden apartment is positioned within the lower portion of the site, while a communal terrace on Level 5 will include a central timber deck, barbecue facilities, resident planting plots and areas for outdoor dining and informal gatherings.

Common Office described the terrace as an elevated sanctuary designed to capture district views and sunlight. Its planting strategy incorporates endemic species associated with the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub, extending the landscape vertically through the building and providing habitat for local flora and fauna.

A second communal outdoor area is proposed at roof level, with built-in seating, paved gathering areas and perimeter planting.

Bellevue Hill is enjoying renewed momentum in the new apartment market, with several boutique developments recently launched and currently under construction. Positive Investment Enterprise is delivering the 16-apartment Kew Palm House on Birriga Road, while Chanine Developments is also under construction at Florian, a 36-apartment project on Banksia Road.

&nbsp;

Bellevue Hill is enjoying renewed momentum in the new apartment market, with several boutique developments recently launched and currently under construction.

First Look: Apartment development pitched for Bellevue Hill, Double Bay fringe

South Brisbane's apartment pipeline continues to build momentum, with <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/trk-property-group">TRK Property Group</a> lodging plans for a 161-apartment tower on Montague Road as developers accelerate investment across the Kurilpa Sustainable Growth Precinct.

The proposal for 176–186 Montague Road would replace an existing office building with a 20-storey residential tower designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/cox-architecture">COX Architecture</a>, adding to a growing pipeline of high-density projects reshaping one of Brisbane's fastest-evolving inner-city precincts.

The project has been conceived as a "living building", featuring a flowing tower form, extensive vertical landscaping, and generous communal spaces that respond to the evolving Kurilpa Sustainable Growth Precinct.

TRK Property Group Development Director Matt Kan said the project reflected the confidence developers have in South Brisbane's long-term future.

"South Brisbane is entering an incredibly exciting period, and we see Montague Road sitting right at the heart of that evolution," Kan said.

"With the former Visy site directly opposite us and significant investment planned throughout the broader Kurilpa precinct, there is a real sense of momentum around this part of the city and what it will become over the coming years.

"For TRK, this is an opportunity to be part of that next chapter and deliver a project that responds to where the precinct is heading, while contributing to the continued evolution of Brisbane's river edge."

<img alt="First look: TRK Property joins South Brisbane apartment surge with Montague Road tower plans" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="590fe1ad-f892-4446-a679-80e33a16d029" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/TRK%20tower%20facade.png?VersionId=uOJStrcKpyHFcPE1w6_9SMAFzVMCcZll" />

The scheme includes a mix of one, two, three and four-bedroom apartments, incorporating multi-purpose rooms in selected residences to provide additional flexibility for home offices or expanded living areas. The proposed mix comprises 15 one-bedroom, 13 one-bedroom plus MPR, 73 two-bedroom, 26 two-bedroom plus MPR, 30 three-bedroom, and four four-bedroom apartments.

Rather than adopting a conventional rectilinear tower, COX Architecture has developed a sculpted form inspired by the movement of the Brisbane River.

"The proposal has been designed by COX Architecture as a 'living building' that responds to the site's riverine setting, floodplain history and evolving urban context within the Kurilpa Sustainable Growth Precinct," the planning report states.

"The architectural form draws from the fluid nature of the Brisbane River, with a curved and undulating tower form that creates a varied architectural edge and avoids a conventional rectilinear tower expression."

The podium has also been designed as an architectural feature rather than a conventional parking structure, with cascading planting, screening and natural-toned materials softening its appearance. Resident parking is elevated above ground level to address the site's flood constraints, while habitable apartments sit above flood planning levels. Upper-level communal facilities are designed to accommodate shelter-in-place arrangements during major flood events.

<img alt="First look: TRK Property joins South Brisbane apartment surge with Montague Road tower plans" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="01fa15d0-90df-46c7-9555-7941fc45373c" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/TRK%20podium.png?VersionId=mHyua.w1pHGBt9qEdWzrlsv.leztUCwO" />

Communal amenity is a major focus of the proposal. Around 1,815 sqm of shared resident space is proposed across the ground floor, level 19 and the rooftop, including co-working areas, indoor and outdoor recreation spaces, wellness facilities, dining and gathering areas, lawn spaces, a rooftop pool and spa, and extensive landscaping. At street level, a landscaped forecourt and approximately 345 sqm of publicly accessible open space along Montague Road are intended to improve the pedestrian experience while activating the building's frontage.

The development will provide 163 car spaces, including 152 resident bays and 11 visitor spaces, together with 144 bicycle spaces incorporating resident storage, visitor parking, bicycle maintenance facilities and e-mobility charging infrastructure.

The site sits within one of Brisbane's fastest-changing inner-city precincts, less than two kilometres from the CBD and within easy reach of South Bank, West End, the Queensland Cultural Centre and extensive public transport connections. The Kurilpa Sustainable Growth Precinct planning framework is encouraging higher-density residential development to help meet Brisbane's housing supply targets while supporting walkable, transit-oriented neighbourhoods.

TRK Property joins South Brisbane apartment surge with Montague Road tower plans

Article summary

<ul data-end="785" data-start="311">
	<li data-end="459" data-section-id="5hbcyr" data-start="311">Pikos Group has released the five-penthouse collection at Skye Kangaroo Point, headlined by a two-storey sky home spanning more than 1,000 sqm.</li>
	<li data-end="561" data-section-id="1p7lq8n" data-start="460">Early buyer interest suggests the residences could set a new Queensland apartment price record.</li>
	<li data-end="667" data-section-id="1y70z0l" data-start="562">The collection includes four move-in ready penthouses and the highly customised Skye One residence.</li>
	<li data-end="785" data-section-id="yvm0y1" data-start="668">The release caps one of Bri​sbane's most ambitious luxury apartment developments overlooking the Brisbane River.</li>
</ul>

<hr data-end="790" data-start="787" />
Pikos Group has released the five-penthouse collection at its <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/buildings/skye-residences-by-pikos-kangaroo-point-8-river-terrace-kangaroo-point-qld-4169">Skye by Pikos</a> development in Kangaroo Point, with early buyer interest indicating the flagship residences could eclipse every apartment sale previously recorded in Queensland.

The collection crowns the luxury riverfront development with five residences, including four completed penthouses and Skye One, a two-level sky home spanning more than 1,000 sqm that will be tailored to its eventual owner.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=90059 project_image_fid=374075]

Wanting to offer a fully customisable home, Pikos is offering Skye One as a blank canvas, allowing the buyer to work alongside the developer's design team to customise the home's layout, finishes and internal spaces.

The residence will feature a 247 sqm private rooftop terrace with its own swimming pool, sauna, steam room, outdoor kitchen and multiple entertaining areas overlooking the Brisbane River and CBD skyline.

The remaining four penthouses have been completed and are ready for immediate occupation, each offering four bedrooms, expansive open-plan living areas, soaring ceilings and private lift access.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=90059 project_image_fid=374059]

One of the defining features throughout the project is its use of Roman Classic Travertine, with more than 20,000 sqm of the natural stone imported from Italy after being personally selected by Pikos Group Founder and Executive Director Pedro Pikos, interior designer Julie Williamson and third-generation stone specialist Mario Caucci.

Pikos said the penthouse collection represented the culmination of the company's long-term vision for Skye.

"True legacy isn't measured by what we build today, but by what endures tomorrow," Pikos said.

"Our ambition is to create places that become more valuable with time, enrich the lives of generations, and stand as timeless landmarks long after we've stepped away."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=90059 project_image_fid=374060]

Williamson said the interiors were inspired by the natural character of Kangaroo Point and the Brisbane River rather than international design trends.

"Materiality tells the story of a place," Williamson said.

"We looked to the movement of the Brisbane River, the texture of the cliff face and the warmth of the surrounding landscape to create interiors that feel understated, enduring and unmistakably Brisbane."

Positioned above the Kangaroo Point cliffs, Skye places residents within walking distance of Howard Smith Wharves, South Bank and James Street while offering uninterrupted river and city views.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=90059]

Brisbane's next apartment price record? Pikos unveils Skye's exclusive penthouse collection

Sydney’s property market is known for high prices, competitive bidding, and mounting pressure on first home buyers. But change is on the horizon.

From late 2025, eligible first home buyers in New South Wales will have access to a new federal government initiative aimed at addressing affordability: the Help to Buy Scheme.&nbsp;

<h2>What is the Help to Buy Scheme?</h2>

The program introduces a shared equity model intended to reduce the upfront cost of entering the property market, particularly in high-demand urban areas such as Sydney.

The scheme operates under a shared ownership structure in which the federal government takes an equity stake of up to 40 per cent for new homes, or 30 per cent for existing dwellings. This arrangement allows eligible buyers to significantly reduce their loan size and avoid the added cost of Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI).

Under this model, purchasers can enter the property market with as little as a two per cent deposit, well below the traditional 10 to 20 per cent usually required. The government’s contribution is not a loan but a co-ownership stake in the property. As such, there is no interest or rent charged on its portion.

Because the government’s equity combined with the buyer’s deposit typically meets or exceeds the 20 per cent threshold, LMI does not apply. The remaining balance, generally between 60 and 70 per cent of the property’s value, is financed through a standard home loan with a participating lender.

The government's equity in the property remains in place until the buyer chooses to repay it voluntarily or until the property is sold. Buyers can buy back the government’s share over time, in increments of at least five per cent, depending on their financial situation.

There is no fixed repayment timeline, but the amount to be repaid will be based on the property's market value at the time of repayment, not the original purchase price.

<h2>How do you qualify for the&nbsp;Help to Buy Scheme?</h2>

To qualify for the Help to Buy Scheme, applicants must meet the following conditions:

<ul>
	<li>Be an Australian citizen at least 18 years of age.</li>
	<li>Be a first-home buyer who does not currently own property.</li>
	<li>Intend to live in the property as their primary residence.</li>
	<li>Earn less than $100,000 per year for individuals, or $160,000 for couples.</li>
	<li>Purchase a property within the regional price caps, currently $950,000 in Sydney, though this is expected to rise to approximately $1.3 million ahead of the program’s launch.</li>
</ul>

While the Help to Buy Scheme does not solve affordability challenges across the board, it does offer a more accessible pathway for a defined segment of the market, particularly younger buyers with moderate incomes who have been priced out of traditional lending routes.

The scheme is expected to commence in NSW in late 2025, as part of a national rollout.

Under the new model, purchasers can enter the property market with as little as a two per cent deposit, well below the traditional 10 to 20 per cent usually required

Help to Buy Scheme: What first home buyers in NSW need to know

The First Home Owners Grant (FHOG) is a government initiative designed to help eligible first-time home buyers by offering financial assistance towards the purchase or construction of a new home.

While the FHOG is a nationwide program, it is administered separately by each state and territory, meaning the eligibility criteria, grant amounts, and property requirements can vary depending on your location. This means that the amount available and the conditions attached to the grant will differ, so it is important to check the specific guidelines for your state or territory.

It’s important to note that the FHOG is just one of several incentives available to first home buyers. In most states and territories, the grant is not linked to stamp duty exemptions or concessions, with the exception of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The FHOG is typically a one-off payment, reducing the overall cost of purchasing or building a new home before any stamp duty concessions are applied.

Below, we provide a breakdown of the First Home Owner Grants available across Australia, outlining the specific details for each state and territory.

<h2>New South Wales First Home Owner Grant</h2>

First Home Owner Grant: Offers a $10,000 grant for new homes valued up to $600,000. For land purchases and owner-builders, the threshold extends to $750,000.

Stamp Duty Benefits: Provides full stamp duty exemption for homes valued up to $800,000, with concessions available for properties up to $1 million.

<h2>Victoria South Wales First Home Owner Grant</h2>

First Home Owner Grant: Provides a $10,000 grant for first-home buyers purchasing or building new homes valued up to $750,000.

Stamp Duty Benefits: Offers full stamp duty exemption for properties up to $600,000, with concessions available up to $750,000.

<h2>Queensland First Home Owner Grant</h2>

First Home Owner Grant: Offers $30,000 for contracts signed between 20 November 2023 and 30 June 2025. The FHOG applies to new homes valued up to $750,000.

Stamp Duty Concessions: Provides additional concessions for properties valued up to $800,000.

<h2>Western Australia First Home Owner Grant</h2>

&nbsp;

First Home Owner Grant: Offers a $10,000 grant for new homes valued up to $750,000 in the southern regions and up to $1 million in the northern regions.

Stamp Duty Concessions: Available for homes valued up to $600,000 for transactions entered into on or after 9 May 2024.

<h2>Australian Capital Territory First Home Owner Grant</h2>

First Home Owner Grant: Replaced by the Home Buyer Concession Scheme, offering full stamp duty concessions for eligible buyers.

<h2>South Australia First Home Owner Grant</h2>

First Home Owner Grant: Provides up to $15,000 for new homes, including houses, apartments, and townhouses. As of 6 June 2024, there is no property value cap for eligibility.

Stamp Duty Relief: Available for new homes and vacant land purchases.

<h2>Tasmania First Home Owner Grant</h2>

First Home Owner Grant: Offers a $10,000 grant for new homes and off the plan purchases.

Stamp Duty Exemption: Between 18 February 2024 and 30 June 2026, first home buyers of established homes valued up to $750,000 receive a full exemption on property transfer duty.

<h2>Northern Territory First Home Owner Grant</h2>

First Home Owner Grant: The Northern Territory provides a $10,000 grant for new homes only. Additional government grants and concessions are available for first home buyers.

Stamp Duty Exemption: The only stamp duty exemption available to property buyers is the House and Land Package Exemption (HLPE).

Eligibility criteria and application processes differ across states. Prospective buyers should refer to their respective state revenue offices for full details on grant availability, conditions, and additional concessions.

Every First Home Owner Grant for new property by state

In the ever-evolving landscape of sustainable architecture and environmentally conscious design, systems and ratings in place can help determine the energy efficiency of residential buildings in Australia.

Australia has multiple building rating systems that evaluate energy efficiency and sustainability in existing and new building designs.

Some systems assess individual building components, while others provide an overall rating for the entire structure.

A rating system ensures that homes are comfortable and energy-efficient, whether you are buying, renovating, or building.

NatHERS (Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme) is a common way for new homes to meet energy efficiency requirements.

As new developments continue to shape the urban environment, understanding NatHERS ratings becomes essential for developers and homeowners. This article delves into the concept of NatHERS ratings, their significance, and how they contribute to creating energy-efficient homes.

<h2>What is NatHERS?</h2>

NatHERS is a national initiative implemented by the Australian government to promote energy efficiency in residential buildings. The scheme aims to provide a standardised method for assessing the thermal performance of homes, considering factors such as insulation, orientation, ventilation, and building materials.&nbsp;

NatHERS ratings are the most common way new homes meet the National Construction Code's (NCC's) minimum energy efficiency requirements.&nbsp;

NatHERS assessments provide thermal and whole-home ratings for new homes, townhouses, and apartments.

The rating helps evaluate the energy performance of buildings, guides homeowners and developers to make informed decisions about the energy efficiency of their properties, and encourages the construction of more sustainable, comfortable, and cost-effective homes.

<h2>How NatHERS Ratings Work</h2>

NatHERS ratings are determined through four accredited software tools (AccuRate, BERS Pro, FirstRate5, HERO) using a calculation engine CSIRO developed to predict building temperature based on various factors.

The tools can model complex effects of building mass, insulation, window size, and other elements.

The outcome is a star rating that reflects the building's overall thermal efficiency, indicating how well it can maintain a comfortable indoor temperature without excessive reliance on heating or cooling systems.

The star rating scale ranges from 0 to 10, with a 6-star rating being the minimum requirement for compliance with the National Construction Code (NCC).&nbsp;

Achieving a higher star rating demonstrates a commitment to energy efficiency and sustainability, as the building is better equipped to minimise its environmental impact and reduce long-term energy costs.

Anyone can use NatHERS tools, but accredited assessors can provide certified ratings and professional advice.

<h2>Benefits of Higher NatHERS Ratings</h2>

Energy Efficiency: Buildings with higher NatHERS ratings are more energy-efficient, requiring less heating and cooling energy. This reduces the structure's carbon footprint and lowers occupants' energy bills.

Cost Savings: Homes with higher NatHERS ratings are generally more energy-efficient, resulting in reduced energy consumption for heating and cooling. This translates to lower energy bills for homeowners, making sustainable living environmentally friendly and economically viable in the long run.

Environmental Impact: Lower energy consumption directly translates to a reduced environmental impact. Buildings with higher NatHERS ratings contribute to the overall goal of mitigating climate change by lowering greenhouse gas emissions associated with heating and cooling systems.

Improved Comfort: Buildings with high NatHERS ratings offer better thermal comfort to occupants. Proper insulation, well-designed ventilation, and optimal orientation maintain a consistent and comfortable indoor temperature, providing occupants with a more enjoyable and healthier space.

Market Value and Desirability: Higher NatHERS ratings can enhance the market value of a property. As energy efficiency becomes a more significant consideration for homebuyers, a well-rated building may attract a premium price and stand out in the real estate market.

Compliance with Building Codes: NatHERS ratings are a vital component of the National Construction Code (NCC), and compliance with these ratings is often a mandatory requirement for new developments. Local councils and planning authorities may set minimum energy efficiency standards that must be met to obtain development approval.

The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) is a crucial initiative shaping the future of energy-efficient, resilient, and cost-effective homes. With its recent upgrades, NatHERS has evolved into a world-leading tool for the building sector, supporting the global commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Staff Writer

What is a NatHERS rating in new off the plan apartment developments?

Mixed-use developments have gained significant popularity across Australia in recent years due to their unique blend of residential, commercial, and recreational spaces.

Unlike traditional single-purpose developments, mixed-use projects offer a harmonious integration of various functions within a single locale.

Residential units seamlessly coexist with commercial establishments, retail outlets, dining venues, entertainment hubs, and recreational facilities, with the combination not only enhances convenience but also fosters a vibrant lifestyle and a sense of community.

<h3>Convenience and accessibility</h3>

Mixed-use developments are designed with convenience in mind. They often integrate residential units with commercial spaces, retail outlets, restaurants, and recreational facilities, creating a self-contained community.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=114215 project_image_fid=204874]

The proximity allows residents to enjoy the convenience of having essential amenities and services within walking distance. Whether it's grabbing a cup of coffee, going grocery shopping, or accessing healthcare services, everything is conveniently located, saving residents time and effort.

<h3>Vibrant lifestyle and community</h3>

One of the major advantages of mixed-use developments is the vibrant lifestyle they offer. With a diverse range of amenities and communal spaces, residents have ample opportunities to interact, socialise, and build a sense of community.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=107714 project_image_fid=214122]

The presence of parks, community centres, and shared spaces fosters a lively atmosphere, encouraging residents to engage in various activities and events. The vibrant lifestyle within these developments creates a unique sense of belonging and camaraderie among the residents.

<h3>Potential for higher rental yields and property value appreciation</h3>

Mixed-use developments tend to attract a broad range of tenants and buyers due to their versatile nature. This high demand can result in higher rental yields for investors and potentially lead to property value appreciation over time.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=139989 project_image_fid=212887]

The integration of commercial and retail spaces attracts businesses, which can provide a stable rental income stream. Additionally, the popularity of mixed-use developments often drives up property values, making them a potentially lucrative investment in the long term.

<h3>Enhanced security and maintenance</h3>

Mixed-use developments typically have comprehensive security measures in place. With controlled access points, CCTV surveillance, and professional security staff, residents can enjoy enhanced safety and peace of mind.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=108019 project_image_fid=212658]

Additionally, these developments often have dedicated maintenance teams responsible for the upkeep of common areas, landscaping, and infrastructure. This ensures that the overall appearance and functionality of the development are well-maintained, creating a pleasant living environment for residents.

<h3>Live-work-play balance</h3>

One of the key attractions of mixed-use developments is the ability to achieve a desirable live-work-play balance. The integration of residential and commercial spaces allows residents to live closer to their workplaces, reducing commuting time and improving work-life balance.

The proximity to various amenities and recreational facilities encourages an active and healthy lifestyle. Residents can easily access fitness centres, parks, restaurants, and entertainment options, all within the same development, leading to a more fulfilling and convenient way of life.

alisonwarters@gmail.com

The top five reasons to buy in a mixed-use development

When buying a property, everyone needs to be aware of the additional costs that come as part of the buying process.

Often the largest outlay, after the deposit which goes to the bank, is stamp duty.

<h2 style="line-height: 1.38;">What is Stamp Duty?</h2>

Stamp duty is an extra tax to pay the government when you buy land, a property, and other certain assets.

It happens when the legal ownership is transferred. It can also be known as property transfer duty or transfer duty.

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C32BWkB5--c" title="YouTube video player" width="660"></iframe>

<h2>Who pays Stamp Duty?</h2>

In some circumstances, you may get an exemption. For some states, you won’t have to pay for stamp duty if you are a first home buyer or a pensioner for houses under a particular price. There are also stamp duty concessions, where you may be entitled to a discount.

<h2>How much does Stamp Duty cost?</h2>

Each state has different rules which affect how much you need to pay. These rules can affect the rate you pay, and the timeframe you will need to pay in. Before you buy land or a property, make sure you check the up-to-date information for your state’s stamp duty.

You can use a free stamp duty calculator online to see approximately how much you’ll need to pay. Find out if you’re eligible for an exemption by enquiring on a project via Urban!

Overall, the stamp duty you need to pay will depend on:

<ul>
	<li aria-level="1">How much your land/property is worth</li>
	<li aria-level="1">Where your land/property is located</li>
	<li aria-level="1">What type of land/property it is</li>
</ul>

Want to find out more? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@UrbanAustralia?utm_source=YouTube&amp;utm_medium=Video&amp;utm_campaign=Subscribe&amp;utm_id=Subscribe">Subscribe to our YouTube channel</a> for more property videos.

Ellen Walker

Off-the-plan property explained: What is stamp duty?

When buying an apartment, most people compare the big-ticket items first. Floorplans. Kitchens. Balcony size. Natural light. The view.

But there's one everyday consideration that often doesn't come up until after moving in: how parcels are delivered.

As online shopping has become part of everyday life, parcel deliveries have shifted from an occasional event to a regular occurrence. Australians spent a record $82.6 billion shopping online in 2025, with almost one in every four retail dollars now spent digitally.

For apartment residents, that can present a challenge.

If nobody is home to accept a delivery, parcels may be redirected to a nearby Post Office, left in a building lobby or common area, or require building management to step in. In higher-density buildings, where dozens or even hundreds of residents may receive deliveries each day, parcel management has become an increasingly important part of everyday living.

That can create a range of frustrations. A missed delivery often means making time to collect a parcel elsewhere, while packages left unattended in foyers or mail areas can create clutter and increase the risk of theft. What seems like a minor inconvenience can quickly become a recurring issue for residents who shop online regularly.

It's one of those details that rarely features in a display suite but can have a noticeable impact once residents move in.

As a result, buyers are beginning to look beyond traditional apartment features and consider how a building supports day-to-day convenience, including whether there are secure options for receiving deliveries.

Australia Post's Parcel Lockers provide one solution.

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CkF2oKmlACg?si=C50sDaoUUn2nuLmq" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>

Rather than having a parcel delivered directly to an apartment, eligible deliveries can be sent to a nominated Parcel Locker. Once the parcel arrives, residents receive a notification through the AusPost app or SMS and can collect it using a QR code or one-time PIN at a time that suits them.

The Parcel Locker network now includes more than 1,500 locations nationwide, with installations at Post Offices, shopping centres, transport hubs and an increasing number of residential developments. By providing a secure collection point, Parcel Lockers help reduce missed deliveries and avoid parcels being left unattended in common areas.

For developers, parcel infrastructure is becoming another way to improve the resident experience. Rather than relying on concierge staff or leaving parcels in communal spaces, secure collection points help streamline deliveries while preserving the presentation and functionality of shared areas.

For buyers, it's a reminder that the best apartment features aren't always the most obvious.

A generous floorplan or quality finishes might help narrow the shortlist, but the conveniences that simplify everyday life, whether that's EV charging, secure bike storage or reliable parcel delivery, often become the features residents appreciate most once they're living there.

The apartment feature many buyers don't think about, until their first missed delivery

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A Melbourne man is fighting to reverse the sheriff’s extraordinary $1,000 sale of his six-bedroom Braybrook home.
Zhiping Zhou's house was repossessed by the sheriff. It still remains in Zhou’s registered name, according to a title search, although there are warrants of claim registered on title.
The ABC reported today the Victoria Supreme Court heard the imposing two-storey brick house had an estimated value of $630,000 but was sold at auction without a reserve.
The highest bidder bought the Wirraway Avenue home for $1,000, apparently beating off a $200 bidder.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/auctions/sheriff-selling-%24630000-braybrook-house-for-%241000-had-duty-to-obtain-fair-price-court-told/2012021053330" target="_blank">Zhou's lawyers told the court </a>the sale was "absurd", ABC court reporter Sarah Farnsworth writes.
They have called on the judge to reverse the sale and to find the sheriff in breach of duty, the ABC reported.
"[The sale is] so short of the mark it's not a real sale," barrister Paul Hayes reportedly told the court.
He said it was hard to imagine lawmakers had intended for people like Zhou to lose out so badly.
The judge was asked to invalidate the sale or award damages. Justice Vickery is listed to continue the hearing on Friday February 10 in the Commercial and Equity division.
The man who bought the home is also being accused of taking advantage of Zhou, however his lawyer told the court the sale was legal and legally it could have been sold for one cent.
The property had been briefly listed in 2007 through Barry Plant Sunshine, according to the Australian Property Monitors auction data base. It was then listed with different agents in June 2010 with $650,000-plus hopes for its slightly postponed July 2010 auction, according to the APM report on the property.
There was a subsequent $660,000 auction offer, but it fell short of the $750,000 reserve price when listed through Burnham Real Estate.
Details and timing of the eventful sheriff's auction were not initially available, but its understood to have been about five months after the property's July listing. 
There was $465,000 owing on the property.
Burnham listing agents Khuong Vien and Tony Gerace marketed it in July 2010 as a modern double-storey family home with bedrooms for all the family to enjoy.
“Situated in a quiet residential location and nestled amongst all modern brick homes and an area to surely enjoy a bright future,” the marketing suggested.
The home comprises six bedrooms with built-in wardrobes, master with ensuite, plus study and three bathrooms and double garage.
“It was complemented with polished floor, spa, reverse cycle split systems, high ceilings and much more,” the marketing said.
The block cost $170,000 in 2003. 
Lawyers for the sheriff's office say it had no obligation to get a fair price.
The directions hearing between Zhiping Zhou versus the buyer, Ronald Geoffrey Kousal and others began with direction hearings last June in the Victorian Supreme Court.
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

Melbourne vendor goes to court over $1,000 no-reserve sheriff's auction of his $630,000 Braybrook home

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Stockland is charging a higher price for smaller property lots in its residential developments, according to 2012 interim results.
During the second half of 2011, the developer charged about $469 per square metre for a lot measuring 451 square metres compared with $447 per square metre for a lot measuring 481 square metres.
Over this period the average price of its lots has remained virtually unchanged at $212,000 ($215,000 for the 2011 financial year) despite a 6% reduction in land size.
Click to enlarge
<a rel="shadowbox" href="/images/stories/smaller.gif" title="Click to enlarge"><img src="/images/stories/smallerthumb.gif"></a>
This trend of rises and smaller lot sizes dates back to 2010 financial year, when Stockland reduced its average lot size from 569 square metres to 510 square metres but pushed up the price from $362 per square metre to $403 per square metre.
Stockland has also managed to maintain profit margins on land sales despite reducing its average lot size:
<img src="/images/stories/margins.gif">
 
 
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lschlesinger-FZcF9M3vE6

The latest property trend - higher prices for smaller blocks

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The Citigate Mount Panorama hotel, which overlooks the Bathurst race track, has been sold to Avi Rubinstein from St Ives in Sydney and Andrew Schwartz from Hawthorn in Melbourne.
Rubinstein is a former managing director of FAI Property Services Ltd and has been active for many years in the accommodation industry in Australia and New Zealand.
Andrew Schwartz is the former Babcock &amp; Brown Australian property head.
The four directors of the purchasing company are listed as Rubinstein, Andrew Schwartz, Alan Schwartz from Toorak and the Abacus head, Frank Woolf from Cammeray in Sydney. Andrew, Alan and his wife Carole, are all on the board of the private equity Qualitas Property Partners.
The hotel was listed for sale in May last year by the court-appointed receivers, The Royal Bank of Scotland subsidary, BOS International (Australia) Ltd held the first of three registered mortgages. Babcock &amp; Brown held the third registered mortgage.  
Bathurst councillor Ross Thompson told the Western Advocate in November last year that the hotel was available for a “steal”.
The four-star hotel, which features 135 residential apartments over seven levels, has been in receivership since opening its doors to the public in September 2009, “a period marred by the economic downturn,” according to the investment report.
The accommodation was entirely sold out for last year’s Bathurst 1,000.
Rydges has taken over as managers of the resort and is promoting it as the “new Rydges Mount Panorama Bathurst” on the front page of its website, with bookings available from the end of February. Rooms start at $160 per night.
Mirvac Hotels previously managed the hotel as the Citigate Mount Panorama. It had been listed through CRBE agent Rob Cross. The court appointed receivers date back to 2007.
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Bathurst’s Citigate Mount Panorama sold to Avi Rubinstein-Andrew Schwartz consortium in RBS sell-off

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Expectations that the Gold Coast is heading for a massive oversupply  of apartments have been greatly overstated, according to Andrew Bell, CEO of Ray White’s Surfers Paradise Group, who believes the market is beginning to turn around.
“Over the past two years all forecasters and researchers predicted an oversupply of high-rise apartments, with one prediction of five years’ oversupply,” says Bell.
“These forecasts completely misread the market,” he says.
Coming on the back of an attack from <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/hotspots/kochie-s-right-stay-away-from-the-gold-and-sunshine-coasts-sqm-director-louis-christopher/2012020153218" target="_blank">Channel 7’s David Koch, who called the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast “catastrophes”</a>, Bell says there has been no shortage of buyers at the start of 2012, with his office notching up 50 sales in Oracle, the luxury apartment development on Broad Beach, in the first six weeks of the year.
Bell also highlights research by the Midwood Group showing there were 73 apartment sales in the quarter to November 2011, the highest in 15 months, leaving only 552 apartments available for purchase – the lowest level of stock in nine years.
<img src="/images/stories/gcstock.jpg">
He says the issue is not current sales rate, “as that can change rapidly – and is”, but “dwindling stock supplies that take years and years to turnaround”.
According to Bell, Queensland unit development approvals are at levels last seen in the 1980s, with no super high-rise buildings under construction.
“All remaining stock for sale is in completed buildings – there is only one medium high-rise building under construction – Eclipse (a 56-apartment building on Broad Beach) due for completion in 2012,” he says.
“There is no official start date for construction of any new high rises, although plans have been approved for several developments.
“Any new building will be anywhere from three to five years until completion – longest void of construction in Gold Coast’s recent history,” he says.
According to Bell, there are many indicators the market is turning around, including declining unemployment (down from a peak of 8.1% to 6.4% in November 2011), the economic stimulus from winning hosting rights for the 2018 Commonwealth Games (Bell equates this to the impact of the mining boom on nearby towns), a 9.5% increase in daily visitors from Brisbane and a relaxation of student visa requirements that will boost the local education industry.
In addition, he says foreign investment, which has declined over the past five years, is on the rise.
He quotes recent Colliers research that shows that Chinese buyers accounted for nearly a third of foreign purchases of Queensland residential real estate during the 2010-11 financial year, with record amounts spent on Gold Coast property.
“Chinese were the strongest with 32%, followed by Japan, NZ, Russia, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Africa,” he says. 
Bell says Chinese investment in the Gold Coast is tipped to snowball after China-based Ridong Group secured a $1 billion triple-tower project at Surfers Paradise. 
Year-on-year figures to August 2011 released by the Midwood Group record 242 apartment sales on the Gold Coast compared with 236 over the previous 12 months.
For more on Asian investors in Australian property,<a target="_blank" href="http://propertyobserver.com.au/ebooks/free-ebook-foreign-investment-in-australian-property-markets"> download our free eBook.</a>
 
 
 
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Gold Coast property market turning around strongly as stock levels fall: Andrew Bell

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Time is running out for pre-Easter auction listings.
Any marketing campaign prior to Easter has to be ideally photographed within the next fortnight, and Sydney’s weather is causing problems for vendors.
“Some agents are complaining of a shortage of stock,” Richardson &amp; Wrench Mosman agent Robert Simeon says.
He says it is noteworthy that Mosman has just 108 houses listed at the moment, given it peaked at 168 last spring.
Across the harbour Laing + Simmons Double Bay agent Sally Hampshire says her last auction before Easter was Tuesday, April 3, and the deadline for advertising was Wednesday, March 7.
Every year record sa rush to pre-Easter listings with huge numbers – and the year’s first super Saturdays – in both Sydney and Melbourne.
Agents often have noted that Easter, like the Christmas break, can also present a pause to the market, which can shift market momentum – positively or negatively – for the remainder of the year.
Both Melbourne and Sydney agents typically experience autumn auction overload, with hectic scheduling to beat the calendar deadline.
With lovely light and deciduous trees adding colour to backyard, March can be a great time to photograph your property – and even file the pictures away for listing in the future.
Bart Doff from Laing + Simmons Double Bay says its best for vendors to plan well ahead.
“I'd get the photography and copy done as early as possible – and get it up on the internet as a forthcoming auction to generate enquiry – and if you’re lucky maybe sell prior to the start of the formal campaign,” he advises.
Christies International agent Ken Jacobs says he has listings ready to go to market.
“We can’t get the ads going because we are awaiting photography,” Jacobs says.
Sam Triggs at the rural agency Meares &amp; Associates says farmers would “need to be pushing buttons now if they’d like to sell before Easter”.
“We are reasonably busy with new listings, and most people have returned from their summer break, so begin now to revisit the market.
“The weather … short term, the northern part of New South Wales has obviously been heavily flooded, which would prolong any marketing programs in those flooded areas.
“The south of the state (NSW) has experienced a mild summer with ongoing rain events, so it presents in good condition …   but the wet summer resulted in a lot of downgraded wheat, … so lower prices received by farmers,” Triggs says.
LH Hooker Palm Beach agent Peter Robinson says Sydney northern beaches clients need to sign up by February 27 in order to secure an early April auction, given the lead in time for adverts to be booked.
“We have a few good campaigns coming up pre-Easter, which should stimulate some demand, however there certainly are not as many as in previous years, so there will be less stock on the market leading up to Easter.
“It’s probably a good thing.
“The last few weeks have been strong, we have had sales in Palm Beach and Whale Beach of $865,000, $1.6 million, $1,625,000, $1.7 million, $2,365,000, $5.4 million, and there are a few enquiries out there, especially sub-$2.5 million,” Robinson says.
Balmain McGrath agent Sarah Lorden says the weather had “been a bit of pain for photography” although some properties can get around it and use more twilight shots. “But I have had two campaigns pushed back by two weeks, one in the country and one as a waterfront, as they completely rely on brilliant blue sky to maximise their positions,” Lorden notes.
The first auction marketing campaign for 2012 <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/auctions/clearance-rates-up-but-volumes-down-in-auction-season-opener/2012020653264" target="_blank">has gotten off to a slow start</a>, with volumes down in both Sydney and Melbourne.

In Sydney there were 80 scheduled auctions last weekend. Clinton McNabb, research analyst at Australian Property Monitors, notes the number rises to 198 auction listings over progressive weekends to 429.

Melbourne had 112 reported auctions last weekend, which rises to 850 on the last Saturday of February, according to Robert Larocca, communications manager at the Real Estate Institute of Victoria.

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Vendors must hop to it to secure Easter auctions in spite of the weather

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<table style="width: 436px;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody>
<tr>
<td width="64" valign="top">
				Rank 2011
			</td>
			<td width="45" valign="top">
				Rank 2012
			</td>
			<td width="69" valign="top">
				Location
			</td>
			<td width="96" valign="top">
				Occupancy Cost (€/sq.m/year)
			</td>
			<td width="100" valign="top">
				Occupancy Cost US $/sq.ft/year
			</td>
			<td width="62" valign="top">
				Rental growth/decline (%)
			</td>
		</tr>
<tr>
<td width="64" nowrap valign="bottom">
				1
			</td>
			<td width="45" valign="bottom">
				1
			</td>
			<td width="69" valign="bottom">
				Hong Kong
			</td>
			<td width="96" nowrap valign="bottom">
				2026
			</td>
			<td width="100" nowrap valign="bottom">
				244
			</td>
			<td width="62" valign="top">
				1
			</td>
		</tr>
<tr>
<td width="64" nowrap valign="bottom">
				2
			</td>
			<td width="45" valign="bottom">
				2
			</td>
			<td width="69" valign="bottom">
				London (West End)
			</td>
			<td width="96" nowrap valign="bottom">
				1978
			</td>
			<td width="100" nowrap valign="bottom">
				239
			</td>
			<td width="62" valign="top">
				8
			</td>
		</tr>
<tr>
<td width="64" nowrap valign="bottom">
				3
			</td>
			<td width="45" valign="bottom">
				3
			</td>
			<td width="69" valign="bottom">
				Tokyo
			</td>
			<td width="96" nowrap valign="bottom">
				1635
			</td>
			<td width="100" nowrap valign="bottom">
				197
			</td>
			<td width="62" valign="top">
				7
			</td>
		</tr>
<tr>
<td width="64" nowrap valign="bottom">
				7
			</td>
			<td width="45" valign="bottom">
				4
			</td>
			<td width="69" valign="bottom">
				Moscow
			</td>
			<td width="96" nowrap valign="bottom">
				1223
			</td>
			<td width="100" nowrap valign="bottom">
				148
			</td>
			<td width="62" valign="top">
				41
			</td>
		</tr>
<tr>
<td width="64" nowrap valign="bottom">
				n/a
			</td>
			<td width="45" valign="bottom">
				5
			</td>
			<td width="69" valign="bottom">
				Beijing
			</td>
			<td width="96" nowrap valign="bottom">
				1082
			</td>
			<td width="100" nowrap valign="bottom">
				130
			</td>
			<td width="62" valign="top">
				75
			</td>
		</tr>
<tr>
<td width="64" nowrap valign="bottom">
				5
			</td>
			<td width="45" valign="bottom">
				6
			</td>
			<td width="69" valign="bottom">
				New York (Midtown)
			</td>
			<td width="96" nowrap valign="bottom">
				992
			</td>
			<td width="100" nowrap valign="bottom">
				120
			</td>
			<td width="62" valign="top">
				4
			</td>
		</tr>
<tr>
<td width="64" nowrap valign="bottom">
				6
			</td>
			<td width="45" valign="bottom">
				7
			</td>
			<td width="69" valign="bottom">
				Sydney
			</td>
			<td width="96" nowrap valign="bottom">
				987
			</td>
			<td width="100" nowrap valign="bottom">
				119
			</td>
			<td width="62" valign="top">
				6
			</td>
		</tr>
<tr>
<td width="64" nowrap valign="bottom">
				4
			</td>
			<td width="45" valign="bottom">
				8
			</td>
			<td width="69" valign="bottom">
				Rio de Janeiro
			</td>
			<td width="96" nowrap valign="bottom">
				904
			</td>
			<td width="100" nowrap valign="bottom">
				109
			</td>
			<td width="62" valign="top">
				-8
			</td>
		</tr>
<tr>
<td width="64" nowrap valign="bottom">
				9
			</td>
			<td width="45" valign="bottom">
				9
			</td>
			<td width="69" valign="bottom">
				Paris
			</td>
			<td width="96" nowrap valign="bottom">
				875
			</td>
			<td width="100" nowrap valign="bottom">
				106
			</td>
			<td width="62" valign="top">
				5
			</td>
		</tr>
<tr>
<td width="64" nowrap valign="bottom">
				10
			</td>
			<td width="45" valign="bottom">
				10
			</td>
			<td width="69" valign="bottom">
				Zurich
			</td>
			<td width="96" nowrap valign="bottom">
				809
			</td>
			<td width="100" nowrap valign="bottom">
				98
			</td>
			<td width="62" valign="top">
				-3
			</td>
		</tr>
</tbody></table>
 Source: Cushman &amp; Wakefield 2011
David Woolford, Cushman &amp; Wakefield managing director, Australia, emphasised that although Sydney fell by one place in the rankings, it is clearly a world-class city.
“A comparison of occupancy costs between Sydney, New York and London shows the strength of the property market in Sydney. It is important to understand however that this is an average occupancy cost calculation across the numerous city submarkets, each of which has the capacity to vary significantly depending on building grade and location,” Woolford says.
“These variations can be quite dramatic, so it’s important to understand these submarkets before any location decisions are made.”
 
Technical notes: For comparison purposes, since rents are often quoted on a different measurement basis in different markets, occupancy costs in the chart above are inclusive of office rents that have been standardized by adjusting the rent to a net internal area basis. In addition, total occupancy costs take into account service charges and local taxes to allow direct comparisons between countries.
 
 
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Sydney slips to seventh on list of world’s most expensive office locations 2012

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Commercial property investors should be looking to acquire CBD office assets, which will soon deliver “extraordinary returns” because of a shortage of available space and not enough new stock in the pipeline, according to BIS Shrapnel chief economist Frank Gelber.
Gelber describes the current depressed state of the market as the “lull” before the storm.
He is says it is investors’ jobs to “take advantage of this current quiet patch before the undersupply becomes chronic, when markets are mispriced”, allowing them to buy office stock that will provide “extraordinary returns three to five year from now”.
Gelber bases this forecast on expectations that employment will pick up “solidly” this year on the back of strong minerals investment driving demand for new office space.
Currently though, he says corporate Australia is so risk-averse that it is looking to minimise expenditure at the cost of future growth potential and “delaying leasing commitments”.
“I am not nervous. This is the quiet part of the cycle, marking time, when there is still enough space to satisfy demand. But the writing is on the wall.
“I am not worried about demand – I am worried about supply. The real point is that we are not building enough to satisfy even moderate demand,” he writes in The Australian.
Click to enlarge
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According to Gelber, large swathes of the economy that are not exposed to the effects of the high Australian dollar, such as housing, are still feeling the effects of the GFC but these will recover “as we run into capacity constraints and again start to invest”.
“That time,” he says, “is not far away”.
In line with the two-speed nature of the economy and the skewed impact of the resources boom, Gelber says the recovery will not be uniform.
“Western Australia was the first cab of the rank with only a slight pause in investment following the GFC. Queensland flatlined for two years after the GFC as investment fell between one round of projects and the next.
“But now an extraordinary surge of investment is committed underpinning future growth so that Queensland will be a strong market in a year’s time and booming in two.”
Gelber also expects a pick-up in South Australia on the back of the Olympic Dam project, and the Northern Territory and NSW will benefit from the next round of mineral projects.
“The Australian economy is not facing the problems of Europe and the US. We didn’t have a financial crisis. Our banks are strong and there is little excess capacity in the system.
“Sure, consumers and businesses are cautious, but there is little likelihood of a major downturn. Indeed I expect solid growth,” Gelber says.
 
 
 
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CBD offices to deliver 'extraordinary returns' in three to five years: BIS Shrapnel's Frank Gelber

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Before the global financial crisis, Australia had a diverse and highly competitive financial system. The four major banks went head-to-head with the likes of St George, Bankwest, Bendigo Bank, Aussie, Adelaide Bank, RAMS, Wizard and Challenger.

Today every single one of these entities has disappeared as a genuinely independent concern, wholly or partly acquired by the majors (with competition concerns waived by the ACCC), or merged with one another.

Before the crisis, Australia's banks were not explicitly government-backed. And taxpayers had never guaranteed bank deposits before (or conceived of providing such guarantees for free as they currently do), nor had they ever guaranteed the banks' institutional debts.

The taxpayer-owned central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), had also never lent to the banks on the much longer-dated and more flexible terms that it offered as the financial markets meltdown started to gather momentum, and continues to offer to this day.

The reason taxpayers had not got into the business of bailing-out private banks was because of a well-founded fear of "moral hazard". That's the concern that once you start insuring away a private company's risk of failure, you remove the critical disciplining influence of free markets. And executives will, over time, start behaving less responsibly, and expose taxpayers to even greater risk of loss.

Banks have nevertheless always been different to private companies because they perform a vital social function: they take our short-term savings and transform them into long-term loans. They run this constant "mismatch" between the term of the funding they receive from depositors (e.g., mums and dads) and the length of the loans they give to businesses and households.

As a result, banks have always risked insolvency if their funders rapidly withdraw their money. In the 1890s, before the RBA existed, most of Australia's private banks failed. That's why we now have a public "central bank" that lends directly to the private banks. And it's the reason we have a banking regulator, APRA, to ensure that the banks hold enough "capital" to cover liquidity shocks.

We were compelled to write this op-ed because we're convinced that the policymaking surrounding Australia's banking system has been predicated on a flawed and risky paradigm: the frequently-referenced – by APRA and the RBA – trade-off between "competition" and "financial stability", which ends up favouring a more concentrated industry.

Today Australia's prosperity relies on four colossal banks – or "oligopolists" – worth about $50 billion each. They control 80% to 90% of all financial transactions executed across the country. Importantly, the introduction of government guarantees for the first time during the GFC bequeathed them with a unique comparative advantage.

In contrast to their smaller rivals, the four majors are now regarded by credit rating agencies and investors alike as "too big to fail". The majors get the benefit of credit ratings that have been explicitly lifted "two notches" higher than they would otherwise be because Standard &amp; Poor's thinks they alone can depend on "extraordinary government support" in a crisis.

This helps them raise money much more cheaply than their smaller peers, which in turn means it is almost impossible to compete effectively against them. Size thus begets more size.

Some recent advertising campaigns have claimed that "the banks are at war for your home loan". Both the new head of the ACCC, Rod Sims, and we disagree. A few weeks ago Sims concluded,

Normally four players in a market should lead to a lot of competitive activity. In the banking sector it seems to need more because even though there are four of them there is a lack of full and effective competition.

While they rank amongst the 30 largest banks in the world, Australian policymakers have worked surprisingly hard to have the four majors excluded from the extra capital charges that global regulators are sensibly insisting the biggest, and most "systematically important", banks hold.

For a number of years we've suggested this is misguided and symptomatic of a worrying oligarchy between Australian banks and their policymakers. Last month the IMF agreed with us, arguing that Australia's major banks should, in fact, be forced to hold extra capital as systematically important institutions. More capital means less leverage and less taxpayer risk. So why exempt the majors, particularly when they have designs on higher-risk growth strategies overseas?

An additional capital buffer for systematically important banks would also be an intelligent disincentive to becoming too big to fail. And it recognises a point we've made for some time: in many ways the catastrophic risks posed by smaller and simpler banks, like Bendigo &amp; Adelaide, Bank of Queensland, and Members Equity, are a fraction of those threatened by the majors.

In all properly functioning financial markets there is an inexorable trade-off between risk and return. The higher the risks you take, the higher the returns you generate. But in Australia this maxim has been turned on its head: in Australia, the supposedly lowest risks banks with the highest credit ratings – the majors – are somehow able to yield the highest shareholder returns. In contrast, the smallest banks, with the lowest credit ratings, produce much lower returns on equity. This complete reversal of the inverse relation between risk and return is the purest possible illustration that taxpayer subsidies are being used for the benefit of the banking oligarchy to the detriment of meritocratic democracy.

During the GFC, most of the smaller banks did not use the taxpayer guarantees of wholesale debts because the premium paid for the guarantee was, ironically, based on the banks' credit ratings. This made it cheapest for the major banks to use the government’s insurance, which they did in vast volumes. It was peculiar that Treasury decided to price its insurance using the same rating agencies that had missed so many of the moral hazards that triggered the crisis in the first place.
A more subtle example of how the system encourages extreme size is the terms on which the banks borrow from the RBA. When doing so, banks have to pledge an asset as collateral to get RBA funding. Included in the list of "eligible" assets the RBA will accept as collateral is any senior debt issued by an Australian bank. But historically that debt had to have a credit rating – yes, there it is again – of A- or higher, which excluded the debts issued by smaller regional banks and building societies. Since the major banks were among the few that qualified for the RBA's funding, this helped further support investor demand for their bonds, and thus lowered their cost. While this month the RBA cut the minimum rating to BBB+, this still excludes several smaller banks and building societies.
 
<hr class="system-pagebreak">
 
A final example of the unanticipated consequences flowing from recent policy decisions is the advent of so-called "covered bonds".

In the past, the first-ranking creditor to any Australian bank has been depositors. It was illegal to issue a debt security that subordinated depositors, which precluded covered bonds. When a bank raises money from an institutional investor, it normally issues an "unsecured" loan. This means that if the bank goes belly-up, the investor must queue up behind mum and dad depositors when getting paid out.

In contrast, a "covered bond" allows banks to issue loans to investors that are secured by specific bank assets. The investors thus have a claim on these assets that ranks ahead of everybody else, including mums and dads. Securing their covered bonds with billions of dollars of home loans has allowed the four AA- rated major banks to win rare AAA ratings for their funding.

The problem for the smaller banks is that they do not have the major banks' credit ratings, which, as noted earlier, are lifted higher because the majors are regarded as too-big-to-fail. And since the smaller banks have far lower credit ratings, they would have to pledge many more assets to secure a AAA-rating for their covered bonds. The bottom line is that this makes it, in the words of one bank CFO, "non-economic" for them to do so, much like it was non-economic for them to use the government guarantees during the crisis.

In the last four months the major banks have raised about $17.5 billion of new funding via their AAA-rated covered bonds. None of their competitors has followed suit.

Setting aside the fact that allowing the majors to issue covered bonds has provided them with another fund-raising advantage over their rivals, there has been a second, perhaps more damaging, consequence: it has significantly increased their competitors' cost of funding.

CBA and Westpac's sale of about $7 billion worth of covered bonds to Australian investors has created a new ultra-safe, domestic asset-class. By doing so, it has made every other bond, including the unsecured, more lowly rated bonds offered by smaller banks and building societies, more expensive.

The former head of capital markets at Standard and Poor's, Phil Bayley, concludes, "The bad news coming out of CBA's covered bond issue is that all other debt issues in the market will be more expensive … One of the hardest hit asset-classes will be securitised home loans, which has been a key source of funding for smaller lenders."

That, frankly, is a short-strokes summary of the policy problems we are focused on. While resolving them will require leadership, we believe that there are tractable solutions. Here are three:

1) Change the policy paradigm: It is often said in financial markets that neither APRA nor the RBA care much about banking competition, and would prefer it if there were only one bank to regulate. Policymakers have been captive to the idea that there is an unavoidable trade-off between improving competition and reducing financial system risks. They are wrong.

As a matter of pure logic, a financial system reliant on four $50 billion banks that are regarded as implicitly government-guaranteed (much like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in the US) is surely less secure, and more prone to moral hazard, than one based on, say, 10 banks of $20 billion, each small enough to fail without causing widespread damage. Think of 10 pillars as opposed to four.

We learnt from the US experience with Fannie and Freddie that there is a threshold beyond which size becomes a massive "contingent liability" for taxpayers. Like the major banks, Fannie and Freddie could raise money more cheaply than their competition because investors believed they were government-backed. And they were right. Both institutions are now owned by US taxpayers.

The learning from this is that we need to remove the regulatory incentives that actively encourage size of the too-big-to-fail variety. And we should consider, at the very least, explicit breaks on banks becoming too big, and then using this size advantage to horizontally consolidate other industries, such as funds management, financial planning and insurance.

One policy option is a progressive financial taxation regime, such as that being proposed in Europe, which attempts to price the too-big-to-fail subsidy: i.e., the bigger you get, the higher the price you pay. Today the system is stacked in the opposite direction: as a bank’s size increases, all its costs decline.

2)  Guarantee the assets, not the institutions: Australia's financial system already suffers from moral hazard writ large. Taxpayers are guaranteeing billions of dollars of bank deposits for free, and the majors have artificial fund-raising advantages through their credit ratings and new devices like covered bonds.

There is, however, one solution, which we’ve advocated in the past. All these financial subsidies come back to the fact that there is a catastrophic risk that only governments can insure. That's why the government guarantees bank deposits and bank debts. That's why the government's central bank — the RBA — explicitly refers to itself as the "lender of last resort" to private banks during crises.

Moral hazard emerges when this taxpayer insurance is not properly priced. So let's allow the taxpayer to earn a fair return and iron out the dysfunctions at the same time. The simplest and most conceptually elegant way to do this would be to offer a permanent government-guarantee of bank-issued, asset-backed securities. This would allow any bank, irrespective of size, to issue asset-backed bonds that had the highest possible credit rating.

So long as the underlying asset quality met the required criteria, this would in turn mean that minnows like ME Bank and Bendigo &amp; Adelaide could raise funding at the same price as CBA or Westpac. It would immediately level the competitive playing field, and remove many of the majors' regulatory advantages. And, as the current chairman of ASIC, Greg Medcraft, leading economist Dr Nicholas Gruen, and we have argued before, there is a compelling precedent: Canada. The Canadian government offers exactly this type of insurance to its lenders. So why can't we?

3)  Back the government's banking regulator, not the rating agencies: the cost of the RBA's lender of last resort facilities, and the price of government guarantees (determined by Treasury), has been based on a bank's credit rating. This confers immediate fund-raising benefits on the majors. Yet Australia's banking regulator, APRA, is responsible for setting the banks' capital requirements, and overseeing their risk management, with powers to intervene directly with a bank if it thinks something is wrong.

Since the government licences the banks, controls their risk management, and can directly remedy any issues it identifies, the government should be willing to rely on itself when determining the price of taxpayer support. We believe that the cost of government insurance should be the active and intrusive regulation of APRA, and generally priced the same, irrespective of an institution's size. If APRA is doing its job properly, ME Bank should pose no more risk to taxpayers than CBA (and vice versa).

Australia can build both a more stable and competitive financial system. All it requires is real leadership. That is the challenge politicians and policymakers now face.

Mark Bouris is executive chairman of the ASX-listed Yellow Brick Road, which is not a bank or building society. Christopher Joye is a leading financial economist and a director of YBR Funds Management and Rismark International.
This story originally appeared on The Drum.
 
 
 
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Our banks are too big to fail, too few to be competitive: Mark Bouris and Christopher Joye

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Australia has one of the strongest banking systems in the world because our banks didn’t play the silly overseas banking games of lending to people, organisations or governments who were unable to repay loans. But we have a weakness – our so-called ‘funding gap’ – and it's time to bring that weakness into the open, given that ANZ is this week deciding whether to lift mortgage interest rates.
Australian banks’ funding gap is the money they need to raise from the expensive overseas inter-banking market. It’s expensive because global banks no longer trust each other, as no one knows the extent of bank exposure to high-risk securities. 
To determine the size of the Australian funding gap I needed help, and not everyone will agree with the method of calculating the difference between bank loans and deposits (excluding wholesale deposits). But the methodology shows that we have a massive $625 billion funding gap.
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In times gone by this funding gap could be filled overseas at interest rates that were lower than Australian rates. Now the overseas borrowing costs have risen sharply and are slightly above the local term deposits rates. It is the rising cost of filling the funding gap that is causing the banks to think about lifting mortgage rates despite the Reserve Bank’s latest steady interest rate stance.
At the moment, all the focus is on overseas borrowing maturities because when the old low-cost loans mature they must be replaced by higher-cost loans. And there have been periods where the overseas markets are not open, which requires banks to hold liquidity to see them through.
The graph above shows that Westpac has the largest funding gap, followed by the Commonwealth Bank, partly reflecting the major drive both banks undertook to increase housing market share some years ago. Both slightly improved their position in the last six months.
ANZ and NAB have a lower exposure but both edged up the size of their funding gap in the last six months – particularly ANZ. But both banks are smaller than CBA and Westpac.
The sharp rise in ANZ exposure underlines the importance to ANZ of having mortgage rates that reflect costs.
As I have written many times before, the Commonwealth government can borrow that $625 billion far less expensively than the banks can. If the federal government borrowed the money and loaned it to the banks, Canberra would make a healthy profit but would inevitably have greater influence over bank operations and levels of profit.
Alternatively, the banks could become much more aggressive at raising local term deposits. But to do that requires higher interest rates and major promotions. Currently, along with the falling official interest rates, term deposit rates are falling. The banks are offering in the vicinity of only 5% for one-year money. A few months ago it was over 6%.
On the other hand they are aggressive in bidding for four and six-month money and are offering between 5.7% and 5.8%. The banks are clearly punting on lower interest rates. But if they want to tackle the funding gap on a permanent basis they will have to lift their rates, because at around 5% superannuation money will start to drift away from banks to infrastructure, bank shares and other high-yielding securities.
This article originally appeared on<a href="https://www.businessspectator.com.au/" target="_blank"> Business Spectator</a>. 
 
 
 
 
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Government can borrow and lend to banks to keep interest rates down: Robert Gottliebsen

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I’m not going to talk about interest rates and the RBA’s decision not to cut them this week because every man and his dog has an opinion on that right now.  Rather, I’m going to talk about being present in your investing.

Being present is what you experience when you are completely focused on this very moment. Often our thoughts and feelings are focussed on the past, which has already gone, or the future, which hasn’t yet happened.
The way I see it, our cash rate is 4.25% at present and that’s pretty damn good in the scheme of things.  Yes, it would be nicer at 4%, but let’s not worry about a few dollars in extra costs if you can make a great rental return like most investors are doing right now – in the present.
Australia has escaped a lot of the wrath of the GFC (round one anyway) and we are lucky to have our mineral resources to thank for that.  Yes the cash rate is only 0.25% in the USA, but its housing market is up the creek without any paddles. Yes, the cash rate is only 1% in Europe, but Europe is waiting for the GFCs round two, and there is a 10.4% unemployment rate in the 17 countries of the eurozone as reported by Reuters.
Look, I’m no economist, I really can’t comment on what’s happening overseas, and it is unfair to compare our interest rate or economies right now with theirs.  All I can comment on is what’s happening in the regional towns Property Bloom is developing in presently.
If I were to give you a quick overview on these towns in the Hunter Region of NSW this is how it go: strong, diverse economies, low unemployment, high demand for rental property, decent quarterly increases in median prices and awesome average annual growth of median prices of more than 12%.
I was taught that paying interest is a cost of doing business and as long as we’re not paying 18% like my parents did in the late ‘80s then I’m happy.
When it comes to property development funding you might (but not always) need to pay a little more, but if you get good accounting advice (and I’m not an accountant) the interest you pay should be a tax deduction together with paying an experienced project manager to manage your development. Consultant costs such as this and others can be taken up in the depreciation schedule.
When it comes to analysing the rental returns once you have completed your development it’s pretty simple.  If you are getting a higher net yield than the cost of your borrowings – the interest rate plus any fees – then you are out front.  If you decide to lock into a fixed rate and think that your rental return can be increased slowly over time while your rate is kept steady, you will find peace of mind in holding your dwellings and taking advantage of the depreciation benefits that a new build will bring and hopefully some good capital growth to come.
My advice right now – in the present – is not to get caught up in external (and particularly global) events that you have no influence over. Focus on the area you want to invest in and study it. Find out what is happening that will boost the local economy (infrastructure projects, new employment opportunities, etc.) and become an expert in that area. Look at what’s already happened or planned for the short term. Become present in your town and understand the dynamics of now, not of what may be.
Jo Chivers is director of <a href="https://www.propertybloom.com.au/" target="_blank" title="Property Bloom">Property Bloom</a>, which manages property development.
 
 
 
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