Abadeen has released the whole-floor penthouse crowning its recently completed <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/buildings/park-residences-cremorne-2-sutherland-street-cremorne-nsw-2090">Park Residences</a> development in Cremorne, bringing the near-300 sqm residence to market for the first time.

Occupying the entire top floor of the boutique Lower North Shore development, the penthouse includes 221 sqm of internal living and a 74 sqm wraparound terrace, with a prized north-facing aspect taking in views across Middle Harbour.

The residence has been completed and fully furnished following a collaboration between Abadeen Executive Chairman Justin Brown and internationally recognised interior designer Jack Freeman, Founder and Managing Director of FREEMAN &amp; CO.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/abadeen">Abadeen</a> and Freeman approached the penthouse as a finished home, sourcing furniture, artwork, lighting and objects from Australia and overseas.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=114246 project_image_fid=378718]

Pieces from Parisian design house Pierre Augustin Rose sit alongside contemporary artworks and bespoke lighting, with Freeman drawing on recent visits to PAD Paris and Salone del Mobile Milano for the final collection.

Brown said the aim was to create a penthouse that felt more like a large-scale private home than a traditional apartment.

"The experience begins the moment the lift doors open. You're welcomed into an elegant dining room before the home opens into an extraordinary living space framed by sun-drenched harbour views.

"Every time someone walks through the front door they pause. It's not just the view, it's the incredible sense of space, the warmth created by the northern sunlight that fills the interiors, and the way every room connects so effortlessly.

"It has all the proportions of a luxury home, while delivering the effortless lifestyle and personalised experience of living in a world-class six-star hotel, combined with the simplicity and convenience of apartment living."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=114246 project_image_fid=378713]

A secure lift provides exclusive access to the penthouse level, opening to a dedicated arrival foyer and dining area before the residence expands into its main living and entertaining spaces.

Floor-to-ceiling glazing runs across the northern side of the home, connecting the interiors with the terrace and Middle Harbour outlook.

The penthouse also features a fireplace and substantial chef's kitchen, while the wraparound terrace has been designed to accommodate both everyday outdoor living and larger-scale entertaining.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=114246 project_image_fid=378720]

Freeman said the interiors had been deliberately kept restrained to complement the scale, natural light and outlook already established by the architecture.

"The penthouse is a serene study in quiet luxury," Freeman said.

"The interior pairs soft, sculptural forms with warm timber, pale stone and a restrained neutral palette. Curated artwork and metallic accents add depth, while abundant natural light creates a calm, effortlessly refined atmosphere. In my world, less is always more."

Freeman said the approach was centred around collecting individual pieces rather than simply decorating the apartment.

"Every material, every object and every piece of furniture has been curated with intention. I am a true believer in collecting versus decorating.

"The architecture already provided extraordinary natural light, remarkable volume and an uninterrupted connection to Middle Harbour. Our role was to complement those qualities with unique one-of-a-kind pieces of fine art and collectible design sourced from recent travels around the world."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=114246 project_image_fid=378694]

Among the collection are solid bronze sculptures by Lorenzo Quinn, alongside a curated crystalware collection and pieces sourced from international design fairs.

Park Residences sits opposite Cammeray Golf Club, Cammeray Croquet Club and Grand Slam Tennis Cammeray, around 300 metres from Neutral Bay Village and its established collection of restaurants, cafés and retail.

Brown said the combination of a whole-floor floorplan, northern aspect and proximity to Neutral Bay was becoming increasingly difficult to find on the Lower North Shore.

"Completed whole-floor penthouses with a sun-drenched north-facing aspect and sweeping Middle Harbour views are exceptionally rare," Brown said.

"Add a quiet position opposite golf, croquet and tennis facilities, a level walk to Neutral Bay Village and only minutes to the CBD, and you have a lifestyle that's incredibly difficult to replicate.

"This is a home that offers the privacy and generosity of a luxury residence together with the convenience of one of Sydney's best-connected harbourside locations."

The penthouse will be exclusively marketed by SRM Residential.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=114246]

Joel Robinson

Abadeen unveils penthouse at Park Residences in Cremorne

New Brisbane developer Dalcott has unveiled Marrone, the first of three residential projects it is planning in and around Browning Street in South Brisbane.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/marrone-south-brisbane-39-browning-street-south-brisbane-qld-4101">Marrone</a> will comprise 97 predominantly two- and three-bedroom apartments, with larger residences aimed squarely at the owner-occupier market.

The project will sit in a quiet pocket of South Brisbane between South Bank and West End, close to the restaurants, cultural attractions and riverfront amenity that have driven the suburb's continued transformation.

Dalcott is targeting buyers looking for more space and amenity than has traditionally been offered in the inner-city apartment market, particularly downsizers and professionals wanting to remain close to the city.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149951 project_image_fid=377072]

Resident facilities will be concentrated around an extensive rooftop amenity offering, including a swimming pool, spa, infrared sauna, warm and cold magnesium plunge pools, private lounge, dining room and outdoor entertaining areas.

Dalcott Managing Director Lachlan Cottee said South Brisbane's combination of lifestyle, connectivity and established character had been central to the approach to Marrone.

“South Brisbane offers a combination of lifestyle, connectivity and character that’s difficult to replicate elsewhere in Brisbane,” Cottee said.

“Our focus has been on creating homes that feel connected to that environment while providing the level of design, functionality and quality that today's owner-occupiers expect.”

The residences will feature an expressive material palette. Italian Calacatta Viola marble, known for its deep burgundy veining, will be paired with aged brass tapware, Chestnut engineered timber flooring and Tuscan Oak joinery.

<img alt="Marrone" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b8d833da-3b30-496a-ae30-07bdff371b50" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-08-25%20at%2010.52.35%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=P6DAgOfaQzIXljKKK5j3e5NhWtrHIu9G" />

Bathrooms will feature Nara Japanese ceramics and glass bricks, while clay, walnut and brass lighting will be used throughout the apartments.

Dalcott has appointed Realm Projects, led by Managing Director Shane Foley, to handle sales and marketing following previous sold-out collaborations between the groups.

Foley said the Brisbane apartment buyer had become increasingly focused on the quality of the home itself rather than simply securing an inner-city address.

“We expect to see strong demand from buyers who still want all the advantages of inner-city living but aren’t prepared to compromise on the quality of their home,” Foley said.

“Many will be downsizers looking to leave behind the maintenance of a traditional family home without giving up the space they enjoy, while others are likely to be professionals wanting a residence that reflects the way they live today.”

“Marrone responds directly to that demand, with generous floorplans, exceptional resident amenity and a location that places some of Brisbane’s best dining, entertainment and cultural attractions within walking distance.”

<img alt="Marrone" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="61f7b22f-899e-4c0f-940a-7d3ab1bfb93a" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-08-25%20at%2010.52.44%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=PvN1JYxBgUpyCB7efKo52WGdSDs9nmim" />

Marrone will be the first project delivered as part of Dalcott's broader investment in the precinct.

It will be followed by La Terra, a boutique project comprising penthouse-style, single-level apartments on a northeast corner site with extensive resident amenity and city views.

Cottee said Marrone represented the first stage of the group's longer-term plans for the area.

Dalcott was established in 2025 by Lachlan Cottee and Ben Dalgliesh, combining development and construction capability under an integrated model and focusing on architecturally considered residential projects.

Marrone will initially be offered through a pre-release registration campaign ahead of its broader public launch.

Dalcott targets owner-occupiers with South Brisbane debut Marrone

Parnell Developments is the latest to seek significant uplift through the NSW Government's Housing Delivery Authority on a Strathfield site previously approved for a much smaller apartment development.

Parnell has sought approval for a 32-storey mixed use tower across&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/7-lyons-street-strathfield-nsw-2135">3-7 Lyons Street and 18 Parnell Street</a>, a&nbsp;1,857 sqm site around 400 metres from Strathfield Station. The building would yield 160 apartments, 15 per cent of which will be dedicated affordable as per the government mandate for buildings seeking additional uplift.

Approved previously was a nine-storey building back in 2022 with just over 30 apartments. That approval came prior to the project being&nbsp;progressively reconsidered as planning policy shifted toward greater density around transport hubs.

<img alt="Strathfield" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c5af5281-a643-4eb2-b8c4-0081b59c04c7" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-08-25%20at%209.16.48%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=37bd3mI7rHNpThOV_75VO8xsGFwWOi1u" />

Turner has designed the latest building that would replace&nbsp;existing detached homes across the four lots.

The apartment mix comprises 22 one-bedroom apartments, 107 two-bedroom and two-bedroom-plus configurations, and 31 apartments with three or more bedrooms. The scheme also includes 203 car spaces across six basement levels and 58 bicycle spaces.

The proposal has been designed around a three-storey podium addressing Lyons Street, with the tower rising above and stepping toward its upper levels.

Turner said the podium was deliberately scaled to respond to the existing street, while the taller element has been designed as part of the emerging skyline anticipated around Strathfield Town Centre and the wider Homebush transport-oriented development precinct.

The Lyons Street frontage would have a more active, pedestrian-focused character, incorporating the commercial tenancy, landscaping and a brick-framed podium with an awning.

<img alt="Strathfield" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="14b20874-b8c3-4ac7-bc03-92be9a69fb78" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-08-25%20at%209.17.48%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=av.9TxtqIRTC6v3PkSuu1rL9rreWoe2h" />

Parnell Street, which faces the railway corridor, has been given a different architectural treatment, with double-height breeze blocks, landscaping and communal areas used to soften the interface with the rail infrastructure.

The tower itself uses curved and recessed facade elements, with wave-like indentations across the northern elevation breaking the building into three vertical forms.

A palette of grey concrete, brick and breeze blocks is complemented by clay and terracotta accents, while the upper tower adopts a lighter expression through articulated slab edges, vertical fins and recessed glazing.

Residents would have access to 467 sqm of communal open space spread across three levels. The ground floor would accommodate the more active resident areas, including barbecue and group gathering spaces and an internal communal room capable of being used for working from home.

A more passive viewing deck is proposed at level three, overlooking the ground-level landscaping and neighbouring tennis courts, while a rooftop "sunset deck" at level 30 would provide another social and relaxation space.

<img alt="Parnell" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c3dce401-a80f-4682-8471-4caa01180880" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-08-25%20at%209.17.34%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=Xyo8JVqbOhSJXNy6Ih.1cHL.O6i0bGR." />

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Strathfield has been earmarked for substantial change through the Strathfield Town Centre planning work and the nearby Homebush TOD precinct.

Turner's report says the project has been designed to act as a transition between the existing low and mid-rise development surrounding the site and the taller built form expected to emerge across the town centre.

The proposal is being assessed as State Significant Development under the HDA pathway, alongside the concurrent request to amend the Burwood Local Environmental Plan.

First look: New apartment tower pitched for Strathfield Town Centre precinct

An $18 million penthouse has hit the market in Main Beach as construction tops out on La Mer, the $155 million apartment development rising just metres from the beach.

Spanning around 600 sqm across the top two levels of the 29-storey tower on Main Beach Parade, the four-bedroom penthouse is one of the latest eight-figure residences to test the upper end of the Gold Coast apartment market.

Its launch comes amid continued activity at the very top of the market, following the $30 million off-the-plan sale of a Burleigh Heads penthouse earlier this year, which surpassed the Gold Coast's previous $24 million apartment record set in 2023.

The <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/la-mer-main-beach-3580-main-beach-parade-main-beach-qld-4217">La Mer penthouse</a> has been designed as a private residence in the sky, with 360-degree views spanning the ocean, Broadwater, hinterland and Gold Coast skyline.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=95606 project_image_fid=378731]

All four bedrooms have ensuites, while the ocean-facing master retreat occupies around half of the upper level and includes its own lounge, private balcony, two walk-in wardrobes and an oversized ensuite with a freestanding stone bath positioned to take in the views.

The residence also features a kitchen designed to accommodate a private chef, a 3.6-metre island bench, expansive butler's pantry, wine cellar and integrated bar.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=95606 project_image_fid=378732]

A rooftop pool and substantial outdoor entertaining area with its own kitchen sit above the residence, while a grand staircase connects the two internal levels. The penthouse also has its own express lift.

OTP Group Director James Elliott, who is marketing La Mer, said the penthouse was expected to appeal to high-net-worth buyers seeking either a permanent Main Beach residence or Gold Coast holiday home.

“The La Mer penthouse represents exceptional value, considering its quality design, size, privacy and location, not to mention the 360-degree views capturing the beach and Gold Coast Broadwater,” Elliott said.

“We’re anticipating interest from high-net-worth individuals and couples seeking a residence or holiday home in the sought-after village enclave of Main Beach, taking advantage of the unprecedented growth underway in the area and neighbouring The Spit.”

[smartcode_project:default project_id=95606 project_image_fid=378736]

La Mer is being developed by developer-builder ODUS and Nazero, in partnership with funder Metrics Credit Partners.

ODUS Director Byron Sakha said topping out the tower had provided the opportunity to release the project's most significant residence.

“We’ve worked with internationally-recognised studio Sici Design on the penthouse interiors, with a focus on ensuring it isn’t luxury for luxury’s sake. Every element has been thoughtfully designed to enhance quality of life for those who call it home,” Sakha said.

“The views are the hero of virtually every space, but we’ve given equal attention to the fittings and finishes, so every detail exudes elegance and refinement.”

Sici Design Founder and Director Maria Papadopoulos said the extensive views became an integral part of the interior design rather than simply something the residence was designed around.

“The views weren't something we designed around, they became part of the design itself, with the true luxury of La Mer in its feeling of peace, calm and wellbeing,” Papadopoulos said.

“Luxury isn't defined by how something looks, but how it makes you feel, and we believe a luxurious home should be beautiful to live in, not stressful to maintain.”

The interiors combine Austral Dream Dolomite natural stone and travertine with timber flooring and a restrained coastal palette.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=95606 project_image_fid=378734]

Designed by Plus Studio, La Mer is one of the more boutique additions to the rapidly changing Main Beach apartment market.

The tower comprises just 24 full-floor, three-bedroom plus multipurpose room apartments below the two-level penthouse, giving the project a considerably lower density than many of the larger towers being developed across the Gold Coast.

Residents will have access to a pool and spa, gym, sauna, barbecue facilities, private sun lounges, yoga lawn and outdoor beach shower.

The penthouse has been released as part of the final collection of residences at La Mer, with remaining apartments priced from $4.3 million.

Construction is expected to complete later this year, with a fully furnished display apartment now open on level four.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=95606]

ODUS releases $18 million penthouse crowning La Mer Main Beach

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/far-east-consortium">Far East Consortium</a> is preparing to commence construction on <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/640-bourke-street-melbourne-640-bourke-street-melbourne-vic-3000">640 Bourke Street</a> this October, marking the next milestone for the Melbourne CBD development and its higher-end Eliza Collection.

Spanning levels 44 to 68 of the 68-storey <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/rothelowman">Rothelowman</a>-designed tower, the Eliza Collection has been conceived as a lower-density offering within the broader development, with only five apartments on each floor, dedicated lift access and a collection of resident spaces reserved exclusively for Eliza Collection residents.

The Eliza Collection forms part of Far East Consortium's broader move toward larger-format residences at 640 Bourke Street, where the number of apartments was reduced from earlier plans as apartment sizes increased.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=509 project_image_fid=365685]

"What it's meant for 640 Bourke is we've actually reduced the number of apartments. We've increased the overall size of the apartments. We don't have any studios in here, and what that does for a project is it elevates it," Far East Consortium Director of Sales and Marketing Lauren Sheldon said.

Rothelowman Associate Jun Chang said the design process provided an opportunity to create more generous floorplans.

"We were given the opportunity to be more generous. The apartments became bigger and squarer than any other apartments which had been designed in the CBD before that."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=509 project_image_fid=368869]

That thinking carries through to the Eliza Collection, where the residences have been designed around the space and functionality associated with a larger home, but positioned high above the centre of Melbourne.

Kitchens are equipped with Gaggenau appliances, a butler's pantry, temperature-controlled wine cabinet and sculptural pendant lighting, while engineered timber flooring, stone and porcelain finishes and custom cabinetry feature throughout the broader interiors.

Privacy and security are another point of distinction. Eliza Collection residents have dedicated lift access, while 640 Bourke Street will provide concierge services and secure resident parking. Short-stay accommodation, including Airbnb, will not be permitted within the development.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=509 project_image_fid=365689]

Eliza Collection residents will also have exclusive access to selected amenity spaces across levels one and three of the restored Eliza Tinsley building. These include the Salon with grand piano, an art therapy room, private dining rooms and treatment rooms.

They sit within more than 3,000 sqm of amenity planned across 640 Bourke Street, alongside facilities including a pool, gym, whisky lounge and further social and wellness spaces.

The Eliza Tinsley building itself is central to the wider project's identity. Rather than treating the existing Eliza Tinsley façade as a separate element, Rothelowman used it as a starting point for the architecture of the new tower, with the historic building to accommodate the project's gallery and lobby.

"It's a significant asset and wants to be celebrated and experienced by all residents every single time they go in and out of the building," Rothelowman Principal Stuart Marsland said.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=509 project_image_fid=368872]

The tower will rise behind the retained heritage building at 640 Bourke Street, placing residents within walking distance of Southern Cross Station, Flagstaff Gardens, Queen Victoria Market and the Docklands waterfront.

With construction scheduled to begin in October, Far East Consortium has established an onsite display gallery at 640 Bourke Street, including fully built apartments that allow the project's layouts, materials and finishes to be inspected at full scale.

A fully built Eliza Collection apartment is also available to view at the display suite by appointment ahead of the planned October construction commencement.

Eligible purchasers who buy before construction commences can secure the full available off-the-plan stamp duty savings, subject to eligibility and applicable conditions.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=509]

Far East Consortium brings Eliza Collection to 640 Bourke Street ahead of October construction start

Australia

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/57114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
We live in a global age of cities. Australia’s major urban regions are expanding rapidly. Melbourne took in a further 91,600 residents in 2014-15, giving an annual growth rate of 2.1 percent. It’s one of the fastest-growing cities in the developed world.
Australia’s other large cities also grew quickly in the past year – Sydney at 1.7 percent and Perth and Brisbane at 1.6 percent. Together the five largest cities added more than 250,000 residents in 2014-15. Projected over the next decade, that’s 2.5 million, the equivalent of adding an extra Brisbane.
Behind the gloss of ‘liveability’
In providing for the well-being of the next three million urban Australians, we need to take unvarnished stock of our situation. Australia’s cities have a reputation for being highly liveable, but such corporate metrics obscure many malign facets.
After three decades of market-driven urbanisation, our cities have become engines of social inequality. The rich have been lifted, inflating housing markets and capturing sites with the best government services and infrastructure and near to high-paid jobs. The poor are displaced to cheaper distant sites where employment, infrastructure and services are lean.
Our cities are socially divided. We’re doing little to redress these failures. 
Our cities are also machines for environmental degradation and climate change. Buildings and transport systems are overwhelmingly powered by fossil fuels. Expanding fringes continue to consume vulnerable habitats and precious agricultural land. Even infill development adds to urban land-clearing as backyard trees are bulldozed for townhouses and apartments.
We run our urban systems so that every new resident adds to environmental harm. We need to decouple urban growth from environmental loss.
We waste public resources on grand transport infrastructure for individual private motor vehicles. Our neglected public transport networks either struggle to meet demand, or are absent and so mire whole communities in costly car dependence. Car parking – ubiquitous, spatially hungry and inefficiently underpriced – consumes valuable urban space.
Our governance arrangements are mismatched to the scale of our urban problems. Financing arrangements favour the federal government, an absent actor in urban policy, save for election campaigns when infrastructure baubles are showered from on high. Meanwhile states struggle with their urban service responsibilities.
None of our cities have democratic processes that operate at the level of whole metropolitan areas. Brisbane comes close but is only one council among ten in the urbanised southeast Queensland region.
We urgently need to move beyond our failed model of urbanisation and development.
A fourth phase of urban growth?
Australian cities began as congested 19th-century administrative port towns. As the problems of housing and poverty emerged, we spent the 20th century suburbanising our cities. Via post-WWII reconstruction, we solved housing deficits with new residential suburbs linked to nearby manufacturing as a model of public welfare.
A third phase of urbanisation emerged in the 1980s as we offshored manufacturing. Our cities were reworked to the dictates of global capital by reorienting our inner-urban industrial cores around symbolic work and leisure complexes while deregulating planning and privatising infrastructure.
We began to infill our cities, but in a haphazard way, missing many of the assumed gains from consolidation. The reliance on markets has only added to our urban woes by reducing democratic influence on urban decisions.
With the failures of past planning now apparent, the unruly threat of a damaged and depleting planet is ushering us toward a fourth era of urban restructuring. What urban futures await? What might “City v4.0” look like?
Priorities for 21st-century cities
The problems are vast and complex, but here are some brief starting points.
The first big task for City v4.0 is rapid and radical decarbonisation of our urban systems to reduce our outsized consumption of planetary resources. We need to urgently reduce the use of fossil-fuelled automobiles by shifting to public transport and active travel modes.
Transport decarbonisation can be achieved by a combination of registration costs, road user charging, road space removal and expansion of public transport, though necessarily calibrated around progressive cost structures to avoid social harms. Walking and cycling, the cheapest and most sustainable modes, need an order-of-magnitude leap in the funding and support they enjoy.
We can’t wait for electric cars to be adopted en masse. That prospect is still decades away if it can be achieved at all. Electric cars are largely the preserve of the affluent. They offer little respite to poorer households driving older and less efficient fossil fuel cars across vast suburban distances.
We need to ensure decarbonisation is done inclusively rather than adding another axis of social division. It also means ditching most of our transport cost-benefit analyses which ignore environmental and social costs.
We need to resocialise our cities. Social disparities are hard to redress once entrenched, so that effort must start immediately. The first task is to achieve more even distribution of high-quality jobs, services and infrastructure across our cities so location does not equate to opportunity. This will require a mix of investment, active government planning and new revenue-raising models to fund better urban services.
We need comprehensive and progressive land taxes across our cities. These would draw revenue from the inflationary gains made in property markets during recent decades – which favour the wealthy – and redirect them to public purposes. Taxing higher-value service-rich inner properties, for example, to fund redress of suburban service and infrastructure deficits is an urgent urban reform for more inclusive, equitable cities.
Perhaps some land-tax revenue could go to rebuilding our degraded public housing stock. This has declined as a proportion of all dwellings in recent years.
Further mechanisms, like inclusionary zoning, to make our cities more inclusive and productive via more affordable housing are urgently needed. Removing minimum car-parking standards for infill developments could improve housing affordability and support sustainable transport.
Our cities need comprehensive plans to ensure urban land-clearing from infill development does not leave them overheated, stale and brown. Around half of all urban vegetation is on private land, so we need arrangements to preserve and extend green space. Converting underutilised road space to parks or biodiversity corridors has multiple benefits and should be widely adopted.
New paradigms of planning and governance 
A further opportunity, though rarely discussed, is to reactivate our lost capacity for regional planning. Population growth in the major cities should be discouraged in favour of regional centres.
And we need to see our major cities not just as individual primate cities but as networked city-regions. That would entail co-ordinated planning effort to better distribute new population, backed by active facilitation of employment and service investment. This would involve much faster trains than the puffing billies that currently serve our regional cities.
Lastly, our governance arrangements need urgent reorganisation to embed democracy at the meaningful level of the metropolitan area. This would provide a tangible and accessible middle tier between the incapacities of local governments and the general duties of state governments. Metropolitan plans with a clear democratic foundation and enabled by a clear fiscal base should be a priority for urban democratic improvement.
Nationally, we need better co-ordination of policies and funding between the federal government, which controls immigration and taxation, and lower tiers such as the states, which have all urban service responsibilities. Introducing a spatial perspective into all domestic federal policy to understand how federal actions impact cities and their regions would improve policy performance.
As a migrant country with a high rate of population growth, Australia takes people from less environmentally damaging nations and cities and, through our inefficient and degraded urban systems, turns them into some of the worst planetary consumers in the world. There seems little appetite for limiting immigration, nor is stopping urban population growth feasible.
So in an era of global urban transformation, we urgently need to change how we manage, build and grow our cities to version 4.0 so every additional resident enhances, rather than detracts from, the liveability, environmental sustainability and prosperity of our cities.
Jago Dodson is professor of Urban Policy and Director, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University and author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jago-dodson-2359" target="_blank">here</a>.
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

City v4.0, a new model of urban growth and governance for Australia

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Chinese investment in Australia returned to positive growth in 2015, with commercial real estate making up for the drop in investment in the mining sector, says a new report by KPMG Australia and the University of Sydney.
The return of the mega deal, with seven investments of $500 million or more during the year, helped propel the total value of investment to US$11.1 billion ($15.09 billion), a 32.9 percent increase on the previous year in US$ terms (or a 59.5 percent increase in AU$).
This was the second highest inflow year for new Chinese investment into Australia, behind the previous peak driven by mining sector investment in 2008, says the latest Demystifying Chinese Investment in Australia, analysing Chinese outbound direct investment into Australia in 2015. 
On an international stage, Australia maintained its position as the second largest recipient of aggregated Chinese direct investment between 2005 and 2015, behind the United States, attracting a cumulative US$78.7 billion during the period.
In Australia, commercial real estate remained dominant for the second year in a row, accounting for 45 percent of the total deal volume. Commercial real estate investment grew to $6.85 billion from $4.37 billion in 2014. NSW attracted 94 percent of this investment, with investors focusing more on long-term development projects.
China Investment Corporation’s $2.45 billion purchase of Investa Office Portfolio was the major deal of the year in this sector.
<img src="/images/2016/04/11/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-11%20at%2010.29.04%20AM.png" alt="" width="471" height="370">
This year’s report also includes new research analysing the sentiment and attitudes of Chinese investors towards the Australian market.
“Following two years of moderately declining Chinese investment, the resurgence of interest and the diversification by Chinese companies in 2015 is a strong endorsement of the attractiveness of Australia’s economy. Alongside continued interest in the NSW and Victorian commercial real estate sectors, there has been activity and major deals in renewables, agribusiness, and for the first time, healthcare,” said report co-author, Doug Ferguson, head of KPMG Australia’s Asia and International Markets.
Professor Hans Hendrischke, Professor of Chinese Business &amp; Management at the University of Sydney Business School commented, “Our research has also shown that, for Chinese companies looking to expand internationally, Australia is seen as a strong first port of call."
The year also saw a lowering of the Foreign Investment Review Board limits for mandatory approval for agricultural land acquisition and the rejection of an application from a Chinese investor to purchase S Kidman &amp; Co – illustrating the sensitive and very public debate over investment in this sector. Nonetheless, Chinese investors are expected to remain strongly interested in Australian agribusiness.
Chinese investment in Australian infrastructure sector continued during the year, with the major deal being the 99-year lease of the Darwin Port to the Landbridge Group for $506 million. The outlook continues to look positive, with Chinese companies attracted to the strong local pipeline of opportunities offering relatively safe returns and a longer term investment horizon for co-operation.
Overall, Chinese investors remain bullish on Australia, with 65 percent saying their 3 year outlook is positive, and 55 percent planning to increase their Australian holdings in 2016.
 
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Commercial real estate tops Chinese investment in Australia in 2015: report

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Housing in Australia is more than 40 per cent overvalued, according to the Economist's latest round-up of global housing.
Last year, a similar report rated Australian property was more than 25 per cent overvalued and among the most expensive in the world, more than the United States and Britain. 
Globalisation has created a handful of metropolises that attract people, capital and ideas from all over the world, almost irrespective of how their national economy is doing.
House prices in such places, unsurprisingly, outpace the national average. In the Economist's latest update, it says prices have risen in 20 of the 26 countries tracked over the past year, at an (unweighted) average pace of 5.1 per cent after adjusting for inflation.
Prices in pre-eminent cities in these countries, however, have risen by 8.3 per cent on average.
In a survey conducted last year, fewer than one in nine residents of Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Paris, Stockholm and Zurich thought that it was easy to find reasonably-priced housing.
In these cities, house prices have risen at an average pace of 6.5 per cent a year over the past three years (again, unweighted), compared with a national average rise of just 3.2 per cent.
The value of homes in four cities on the Pacific—San Francisco, Vancouver, Sydney and Shanghai—has increased by 12 per cent a year over the past three years, twice the average national pace.
The supply of housing is rather inelastic, so in the short term house-price inflation is driven more by demand factors, such as the number of households, disposable income, interest rates and the yield available on other assets. In recent years all of these have helped to push house prices steadily upwards, especially in big cities.
BOOM TOWNS
In the conurbations in question, the number of households is rising fast as hordes of ambitious millennials pour in. Two in five of Zurich's residents were born outside Switzerland; 44 per cent are between the ages of 20 and 44.
The boom towns also have tight labour markets and therefore relatively high income growth: the unemployment rate in San Francisco and Stockholm is around a percentage-point lower than the national averages.
Some are havens for second homes and money seeking safety: foreigners snap up half of London's princeliest dwellings, according to Savills, an estate agent.
Finally, they provide a decent return: net yields in Vancouver were 11 per cent in 2015, according to MSCI, a data provider, three percentage points above the average for Canadian housing.
EXUBERANCE
Whenever the supply of a good is limited, there is potential for exuberance. San Francisco's property market is intertwined with the technology sector: since 2008 there has been a 93 per cent correlation between the monthly movements in the NASDAQ and house-price inflation in its metropolitan area. Since bottoming out in early 2012, prices in Silicon Valley have risen by 73 per cent, compared with 31 per cent in America as a whole.
To determine whether homes are fairly valued The Economist looks at the relationship between prices and disposable income (an indicator of affordability) and between prices and rents (a substitute for buying a home).
If rising prices move these ratios above their long-run averages, then either incomes or rents are likely to rise, or house prices to fall.
Across America house prices, after falling by 25 per cent from their peak between 2007 and 2012, are now at fair value compared with rents and incomes. In San Francisco, too, they are at fair value when compared with rents, but 45 per cent overvalued relative to incomes.
Thanks largely to their big cities, housing appears to be more than 40 per cent overvalued in Australia, Britain and Canada, according to the average of our two measures.
Between 2002 and 2012 the typical London home sold for seven times the city's average annual salary. That figure has since risen to 12 times.
As property developers from Las Vegas to Limerick will attest, when supply does eventually respond to soaring demand, property prices fall.
Restrictive planning laws curb new construction in the area around San Francisco Bay; the narrow peninsula that San Francisco itself occupies compounds the problem.
London suffers from an even more severe planning regime. Yet housing starts are at a nine-year high in San Francisco. In London, too, builders are finding a way: construction began on 24,000 new homes in the capital in 2015, the highest rate for ten years.
 
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House prices in Australia '40 per cent' overvalued: The Economist

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Australia climbed to number four while New Zealand was at second place in the latest global house price index for the last quarter of 2015 compiled by property consultancy Knight Frank, even as global outlook for 2016 remained muted in contrast to the previous year. 
The Global House Price Index monitors and compares the performance – rate of capital growth – of mainstream residential markets in 55 countries. The index rose by 3% in 2015, up from 2.3% in 2014. Concerns over the global economy in 2015 failed to dent buyer confidence; instead the lingering low interest rate environment influenced sentiment, it said.
The index, established in 2006, is compiled on a quarterly basis using official government statistics or central bank data where available. The index’s overall performance is weighted by GDP on a Purchasing Power Parity basis and the latest quarter’s data is provisional pending the release of all the countries’ results.
It allows investors and developers to monitor and compare the performance of mainstream residential markets around the world.
Australasia was the strongest-performing global region in 2015 at 12.4%, buoyed by the strong performance of New Zealand and Australia, both of which saw annual price growth in excess of 10%, said Knight Frank’s director, Residential Research, Australia, Michelle Ciesielski.
“Australia was ranked number four on the Global House Price Index for the fourth quarter of 2015, up from seventh in the previous quarter, with an annual growth rate of 10.7%. Turkey led the Global House Price Index, with growth of 18.4%," said Ciesielski.
“New Zealand followed directly behind Turkey, with an annual price growth of 14.2% as of the fourth quarter of 2015, bringing it to second place from third in the previous quarter."
“Housing affordability, or the lack of it, is rising up policymakers’ agendas worldwide. According to the latest data from the OECD, which measures house prices against incomes for 24 of its 34 members, Belgium, New Zealand and Canada are currently the world’s least affordable markets, whilst home ownership is most accessible in South Korea and Japan."
Australia is ranked at four among the least affordable, at 29% over-valued relative to the long-term average held, according to the OECD. 
“Our global outlook for 2016 is muted. We expect the index’s overall rate of growth to be weaker in 2016 than in 2015. The global economy is experiencing a potentially dangerous cocktail of low oil prices, a strong dollar and a continued slowdown in China,” said Kate Everett-Allen, partner, International Residential Research, Knight Frank.
Results for Q4 2015
* Forty-three of the 55 housing markets tracked in our Global House Price Index saw prices rise, up from 10 countries in the aftermath of the Lehman’s collapse in September 2008 (please see Figure 1 which compares the shift in global house prices starting from Q2 2008, the latest global house price index available at the time of Lehman’s collapse).
<a href="/images/2016/03/23/Screen%20Shot%202016-03-23%20at%209.34.53%20AM.png" target="_blank">Click here to enlarge.</a>
<img src="/images/2016/03/23/Screen%20Shot%202016-03-23%20at%209.34.53%20AM.png" alt="" width="349" height="523">
* Turkey leads the rankings with prices rising 18% during 2015. Increasingly viewed as a safe haven for Middle Eastern investors, Turkey is bridging East and West whilst also seeing strong population growth.
* Belgium and New Zealand are the least affordable countries when house prices are compared to incomes.
* Ukraine and Greece were the weakest housing markets in 2015, recording price falls of 12% and 5% respectively.
“2015 saw Asian mainstream residential markets record only 1.9% annual price growth, lower than the global average of 3%. While a number of markets experienced positive growth, Taiwan and Singapore, which have seen negative growth for a number of quarters, were joined by Hong Kong this quarter, which saw its residential market decline by 3.7% in Q4 2015," said Nicholas Holt, head of Research for Asia Pacific.
“While long-term growth prospects remain positive, the continued economic uncertainty in the region is likely to weigh on housing market sentiment in the near term.”
Added Everett-Allen, “Although house prices in Hong Kong increased in 2015, the rate of growth has slowed significantly from 17% in the year to September to 7% in the year to December 2015. The slower rate of growth is attributable to rising supply (more than 11,200 homes were completed in 2015), as well as China’s financial market volatility and the expectation of increasing interest rates.”
Data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics showed house prices rose marginally in 2015 (0.4%), having reached their peak in the first quarter of 2014. Cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai continue to outperform the national average due in part to favourable government policies and strong demand in first-tier cities.
 
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Australasia is strongest-performing region in Knight Frank's Global House Price Index

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GUEST OBSERVER
Australia needs a fair foreign investment policy that offers Australians equal opportunities.
For foreign investors, Australia is a desirable country because of its stable economy, favourable weather conditions and proximity to Asia. Furthermore, 2016 will be the year international developers take centre stage in Sydney – more than in previous years.
There are many other factors at play that make Australia so desirable and, for investors, there is less red tape and fewer restrictions on how many properties they can buy. 
In contrast, in China, for example, each province has different rules and regulations, with some provinces only allowing residents to purchase a maximum of two properties. 
The International Monetary Fund says that China has the most expensive property in the world. The median house price in Beijing is believed to be 20 times the annual household disposable income, so it’s understandable that they’re looking elsewhere. Sydney and Melbourne represent good value by comparison.
The number of Chinese investors in Australia might fall in Australia within the next 2-3 years and that Indian investors will make Australia their first port of call.
In my opinion, we will start to see Chinese investors possibly fading away from the Australian market depending on their slowing economy in the next few years, and will see a genuine emergence of buyers from India.  They will find it attractive for the very same reasons the Chinese do.
Land and property sales data suggests that foreign investors are now getting in on the process earlier to close the loop.
Many sites have been snapped up by international developers and the reality is that we can’t stop it from happening, not in this global economy. In saying that, it’s only fair, right and appropriate that Australian residents have, at the very least, equal opportunity.
Australian residents should be looked after; they shouldn’t be at a disadvantage to foreign nationals.
Safeguarding the interests of Australian residents should not be confused with being xenophobic, as they’re two very different things. We should still openly invite foreign investment, I just believe that it should come with more restriction and regulation. I was born in Britain so this isn’t a jingoistic standpoint, I merely want to see the same rules be applied to anyone buying in Australia irrespective of where they are from.
Conflicting information about the current market is making it confusing for Australian investors struggling to keep up.
As far as I can tell, there aren’t any accurate numbers available on the extent to which foreign investment is impacting the local investor community and house prices. Significant research is needed. As a real estate head with years of experience in the Australian market, I myself am having difficulty comprehending the situation, so what chance does the average layperson have?
Five solutions for a fair foreign investment policy that gives Australians equal opportunities:
1. Introduction of a levy. 
I absolutely advocate the introduction of a levy.  Last year the government introduced a tax for overseas investors, but in my opinion, this should be increased.  Australian residents are forced to pay for extras such as stamp duty when they buy property and I believe overseas investors should have to pay even more.
2. Placing a cap on the number of properties sold to overseas investors. 
We should regulate the number of properties on Australian soil that are sold to overseas investors:
It’s a bit of a mockery if Chinese investors can only buy two properties in some of their own provinces, but they can come to Australia and can buy 10. It doesn’t matter where investors are coming from – and they’re coming from all over the globe – it’s about looking after the interests of the Australian people.  
3. Clean money assessment.
 A handful of high-profile and high-net cases last year were intentionally made public to oust some illegal transactions happening and spook off unscrupulous investors, and Douglas believes that many more could have gone unnoticed. 
These homes were just the tip of the iceberg and my question is, what about the rest of the iceberg? Do we have any idea how big it is? We know that illegal transactions are taking place because of these cases, and that these acquisitions by foreign investors breach regulations. There is a strong suggestion that this is regularly taking place in the upper echelon of the Sydney and Melbourne markets.
We need to take a harder look into where the money is coming from, as there has been some suggestion that it’s not always clean. The UK government, for example, has implemented money laundering checks and Australia should be doing the same.
4. Financing rules around the acquisition process. 
As is currently stands, financing is not fair for the local investor. We know that a Chinese financial institution based in Australia offers zero deposit home loans for Chinese investors purchasing Australian property. Here, under new macroprudential guidelines, we have Australian residents now required to pay a 20 per cent deposit on a property whilst international buyers can completely circumnavigate the system. It’s ludicrous, all buyers should be on a level playing field in the process and financial aspect.
5. Percentage of developments must be sold to Australian residents.
Up until 2008, developers had to sell a portion of properties to Australian residents. This lifted in the GFC but it’s my view that we should re-establish it and place a limit on how many investments they can buy. I heard that last year only 10-15 per cent of off-the-plan developments in Sydney and Melbourne were sold to overseas investors, but that conflicts with other reliable reports, saying that it was closer to 40 per cent.
It’s increasingly common for foreign investors to buy and develop or redevelop, then sell property on Australian soil off-shore or to international investors without Australian residents even getting a look in.  We need to look at the vulnerability of our market – does selling too much to overseas investors make us become vulnerable to factors outside of our control?
DOUGLAS DRISCOLL is CEO of real estate agency <a href="https://www.starrpartners.com.au/" target="_blank">Starr Partners</a>.
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Foreign investment impact on local market worsens

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GUEST OBSERVER
The Federal government has recently announced six potential sites for a low-level nuclear waste repository: Sallys Flat in New South Wales, Hale in the Northern Territory, Cortlinye, Pinkawillinie and Barndioota in South Australia and Oman Ama in Queensland.
The six were whittled down from an original list of 28 voluntarily nominated sites in a process set up under the National Radioactive Waste Management Act 2012.
The plan is to create a shortlist of three sites in 2016 and by the end of the year nominate the winning candidate. The site is scheduled to be open to receive Australia’s low-level nuclear waste by 2020.
Australia has been trying to construct such a facility for the past 35 years without success. Australia urgently needs a dedicated federal facility to deal with this waste since each year it produces approximately two swimming pools worth of low-level waste (40 cubic metres) and five cubic metres of intermediate-level wastes. There are now around 4,300 cubic metres of waste that needs to be housed.
So, will Australia finally get a nuclear waste site?
<h2>Australia needs a storage site</h2>
Low-level nuclear waste typically comprises items such as lightly irradiated paper, plastic, gloves, clothing, soil and filters typically generated by industry, hospitals and nuclear facilities.
Such low-level waste has been stored for decades at 100 interim sites such as universities or hospitals across Australia while intermediate-level radioactive waste can only presently be stored at the Lucas Heights facility in Sydney.
The issue is particularly urgent for intermediate-level waste disposal since in the next year, 13.2 cubic metres of such waste, the byproduct of past contracts with France and Scotland, will need a home and the only currently available site is Lucas Heights.
Nuclear waste should be buried for at least several hundred years in a geologically stable area with a low water table and preferably away from population centres.
However, the Australian government has yet to be able to convince either state governments or individual landowners to host such a site. It has been unable to overcome a fierce backlash from local residents and environmentalists opposed to it being placed in their local area.
<h2>A brief history of the storage debate</h2>
From 1980 onwards, various Australian governments have attempted to site a low-level waste repository. (An intermediate waste site other than Lucas Heights has barely been mooted given the difficulty in siting even a low-level facility).
By 1992, a site near Woomera, South Australia was nominated. But that choice was abandoned by the federal government due to the intransigence of the SA government which, fearing a political backlash if it was built, refused to countenance a facility within its borders. While the federal government could theoretically have overridden state objections, it was not willing to pay the political price to do so.
In the face of state and territory opposition, the federal government changed tack and only sought out potential sites on Commonwealth land.
In June 2007 the indigenous Northern Land Council proposed an area at Muckaty, 120 kilometres from Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, on behalf of some of the traditional owners. The federal government in September 2007 agreed despite the objections of the territorial government.
To induce the indigenous elders to agree to the siting, the government was willing to pay A$200,000 to the Northern Land Council, for the benefit of Lauder Ngapa Group members, set up an eleven million dollar charitable trust, and one million dollars for education scholarships for the benefit of that group.
But a coalition of other Aboriginal traditional owners of the land initiated Federal Court proceedings to challenge the nomination arguing that they had not been properly consulted nor had legally consented to hosting the site.
While the case was still ongoing the Northern Land Council and the Commonwealth government agreed to withdraw the nominationarguing the issue was proving too divisive among the local indigenous clans.
While the need for a low-level waste repository has never been greater, given the record to date, parties are unlikely to reach agreement by the government’s proposed date, if at all. By international standards, the government offers relatively low compensation to affected locals, which is unlikely to be an effective inducement to allow community acceptance.
Further, the government’s general inability to put in place an effective process for engendering societal and indigenous acceptance despite multiple attempts does not bode well for success.
 
Gerry Nagtzaam is senior lecturer, Faculty of Law, Monash University and author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gerry-nagtzaam-205438" target="_blank">here</a>.
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Australia needs a nuclear storage site, but it’s a long way away

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Malaysia, Taiwan and China are the top three world manufacturing destinations in 2015, according to Cushman &amp; Wakefield’s 2015 ‘Where in the World? Manufacturing Index’. 
Australia ranks 28th on the list of 30, above Italy and Belgium.
According to Richard Middleton, Cushman &amp; Wakefield head of occupier services, EMEA and Asia Pacific, the report reveals how the APAC region is benefitting from a lower cost business environment which is proving attractive to manufacturers.  
“The markets of Asia Pacific continue to remain particularly attractive to manufacturers and this shows in our latest index rankings. Malaysia has retained top place in our main index for the second year running and Vietnam tops our growth index and is maturing as a manufacturing destination," Mr Middleton said.
“From a broader perspective, there remains some volatility at play. While China remains the world leader in terms of manufacturing output and benefits from the scale of its immediate marketplace, rising labour costs have caused a shift in strategy for some manufacturers. This has not only benefitted the APAC regions of Malaysia and Vietnam but has also added to a re-shoring trend with a number of manufacturers moving their plant and facilities back to Western markets.
"This has strengthened the prospects of certain European locations, notably Turkey which has positioned itself at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, Russia and Africa.”
Mark Wanic, Cushman &amp; Wakefield’s head of occupier services America's, said there is a genuine sense that manufacturing is now making a comeback in the US as global demand appears to have turned a corner. The cost differential to cheaper markets, which contributed to a number of manufacturers moving ‘off-shore’, has now narrowed –with the US regaining a competitive edge.
“A more competitive energy platform, both in terms of cost and security, is adding to the US as a manufacturing location.  In addition, supply-chain management is also collectively adding to the more positive outlook evident from our latest index ranking," Mr Wanic said.
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Malaysia tops global manufacturing index, Australia 28th

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According to Time Magazine, second citizenships are very popular among the wealthy of the world.
But where do they choose to move to?
Net inflow of millionaires 2000 to 2014
UK - 125,000
US - 52,000
Singapore - 46,000
Australia - 35,000
Hong Kong - 29.000
UAE - 18,000
Source; Time Magazine
Some of these locations will remain popular due to their favourable tax legislation.
Others will become more sought after due to them being desirable places to live.
I expect to see Australia moving up this list, particularly becoming a country of choice for with the wealthy of Asia. 
We even have a visa system which encourages this. 
Where would you move to, if you could live anywhere?
PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of <a href="https://allenwargent.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">AllenWargent</a> property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and <a href="https://petewargent.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">blogger</a>. 
His latest book is <a href="https://www.bigskypublishing.com.au/Books/General-Interest/Four-Green-Houses--and-a-Red-Hotel/1015/productview.aspx" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Four Green Houses and a Red Hotel</a>.
 
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The international flow of millioniares: Pete Wargent

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AREC 2015 has come and gone for another year, and it was an absolute blast.
It was great seeing old friends at Australia's largest real estate conference, as well as meeting people for the first time.
On top of that, it was sensational to learn from the best real estate trainers in the world as well as expert speakers across multiple disciplines. So what did we learn and take away? 
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The reception to our stand this year was fantastic. 
A key takeaway was how far we had come in the 12 months since AREC 2014. 
A lot of agents came to the stand to tell us they were already using the site, and they loved that they were getting free exposure for their listings, a lot of other agents that had their listings connected tested out the new search results function and were blown away with the speed of results and the ease of use. 
Many people told us it was the fastest real estate search site they had ever experienced. 
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A few of the team members also got to sit in on some of the sessions from the world's leading agents and motivational speakers. Here were a few of the key takeaways that got documented on our Twitter feed throughout the conference.
<h3><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://twitter.com/Homelyau/status/604888963409584128" target="_blank">#arec15 Something unimportant done well does not make it important</a></h3>
<h3><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://twitter.com/Homelyau/status/604888502929457152" target="_blank">#arec15 simplify, simplify, simplify - decision is to cut away other options. Look for simple answers. Complicated answers are wrong</a></h3>
<h3><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://twitter.com/Homelyau/status/604888001886298112" target="_blank">#arec15 set targets and move forward, but have gratification on the way. You will burn out otherwise</a></h3>
<h3><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://twitter.com/Homelyau/status/604886630139183107" target="_blank">#arec15 testing and removal is the one thing you need to do. What not to do is essential</a></h3>
<h3>
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://twitter.com/Homelyau/status/604883141686198272">#</a><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://twitter.com/Homelyau/status/604883141686198272">arec15</a><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://twitter.com/Homelyau/status/604883141686198272" target="_blank"> what would you do for just two hours a week. Could you get what you need done?</a>
</h3>
The insights were endless from the industry's best, but it seems the key takeaway was to focus more on being efficient and effective.
It was mentioned that agents are lacking in analysing their business and pinpointing definitively what actions make them money.
Too many agents are spending an abundance of time doing things that don't make money and that is detracting from what could help their business exponentially. 
You can find more of the key takeaways we learned by visiting our twitter feed <a href="https://twitter.com/Homelyau">here</a>, and looking through the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&amp;q=arec2015">#arec15.</a>
 
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<div id="yui_3_17_2_1_1433401747153_195" class="image-block-wrapper " data-description="&lt;p&gt;The team on the booth!&lt;/p&gt;"><img class="thumb-image loaded" src="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/529321bee4b03e7a072a8255/t/556e5491e4b0a6d4da000928/1433294019522/IMG_0779+2.JPG?format=1000w" alt="The team on the booth!" data-src="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/529321bee4b03e7a072a8255/t/556e5491e4b0a6d4da000928/1433294019522/IMG_0779+2.JPG" data-image="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/529321bee4b03e7a072a8255/t/556e5491e4b0a6d4da000928/1433294019522/IMG_0779+2.JPG" data-image-dimensions="2448x3264" data-image-focal-point="0.5,0.5" data-load="false" data-image-id="556e5491e4b0a6d4da000928" data-type="image" data-image-resolution="1000w"></div>
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The team on the booth!
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<div id="yui_3_17_2_1_1433401747153_210" class="image-block-wrapper " data-description="&lt;p&gt;One of Homely's biggest supporters, Lachlan Kranen and Homely team member Angela.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;">Todd Schulberg</div>
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Todd Schulberg handles all things marketing for <a href="https://homely.com.au/" target="_blank">Homely.com.au</a> - Living and breathing property, Todd has a keen interest in the movements in the market and how agents can utilise new tools and technology in order to be more connected. Using all things social, Todd suggests different ways that agents can engage and think outside the square with their marketing approach.
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AREC 2015 wrap by Homely's Todd Schulberg

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CoreLogic RP Data have looked at the most affordable regional suburbs for units in Australia.
1) <a href="/news">Manunda</a>, Cairns, Far North QLD
2) <a href="/news">Mildura</a>, Mildura, Mallee, VIC
3) <a href="/news">Cairns North</a>, Cairns, Far North, QLD
4) <a href="/news">Merimbula</a>, Bega Valley, South Eastern, NSW
5) <a href="/news">Port Douglas</a>, Douglas, Far North, QLD
6) <a href="/news">Trinity Beach</a>, Cairns, Far North, QLD
7) <a href="/news">Warrnambool</a>, Western District, VIC
8) <a href="/news">Tuncurry</a>, Great Lakes, Hunter, NSW
9) <a href="/news">Coffs Harbour,</a> Mid-North Coast, NSW
10) <a href="/news">Port Macquarie</a>, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Mid-North Coast, NSW
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