Brisbane-based <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/red-co">Red &amp; Co Developments</a> has officially launched its $250million COMO apartment development in Varsity Lakes, while simultaneously commencing construction.&nbsp;

Building work is now underway at COMO following the appointment of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/builders/5point-projects">5Point Projects</a> as contractor to deliver the boutique development which will rise on a 2857 sqm site overlooking Lake Orr at 22 Lake Street.

When completed, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/como-varsity-lakes-22-lake-street-varsity-lakes-qld-4227">COMO</a> will comprise 156 apartments across 16 levels located in the heart of Varsity Lakes.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=135546 project_image_fid=363515]

The project, which will sit alongside Bond University, will deliver a diverse array of apartment designs comprising one-, two- and three-bedroom residences that have already attracted interest from local and interstate investors as well as an array of owner occupiers looking to gain a foothold in the precinct.

Red &amp; Co, which has largely focused on the Brisbane market in recent years where it has delivered more than 500 apartments and townhouses across 26 projects, has designed COMO to combine tranquil, lakeside living with the vibrant urban convenience of the vibrant Varsity Lakes village.

“We’re thrilled to announce a start to construction of COMO in conjunction with the official launch of the project, our first for the Gold Coast,” said Red &amp; Co Director and Co-Founder David Laverty.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=135546 project_image_fid=363509]

“COMO is superbly positioned to capture the essence of the Varsity Lakes village lifestyle and its thriving café and dining precinct, while delivering a much-needed diverse supply of premium residences for the local market.

“Pre-launch inquiries have been strong among both local and interstate investors and owner-occupiers, including downsizers and upgraders who appreciate the value proposition that COMO represents.”

Prices at COMO start from $1,000,050.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=135546 project_image_fid=363511]

Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/bda-architecture">BDA Architecture</a>, the COMO development incorporates an extensive range of amenities for residents including a 25-metre rooftop lap pool, sundeck, barbecue and dining areas, as well as multiple rooftop pickleball and paddleball courts, a wellness and activity centre, gym, sauna, plunge baths and landscaped gardens.

“COMO presents a rare opportunity to secure a stylish, lifestyle-focused home in one of the Gold Coast’s most sought-after neighbourhoods,” added Laverty.

“The rooftop will be the epicentre of fun for residents with an array of amenities for residents that are quite unique for a boutique project such as this, all while offering spectacular vistas across the Gold Coast as far north as Southport and south to Burleigh.”

[smartcode_project:default project_id=135546 project_image_fid=363514]

&nbsp;

Red &amp; Co has chosen the Varsity Lakes site for its proximity to top-tier schools, major shopping hubs, such as Robina Town Centre and its CBD offering, as well as key Gold Coast transport links, including Varsity Lakes Train Station.

COMO will be located just a short walk to shops, cafes and restaurants in Varsity Lakes and just a 10-minute drive to the Burleigh Heads beachfront.

With construction currently underway, Red &amp; Co anticipates COMO will be completed in 2028.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=135546]

Joel Robinson

Red & Co to launch debut Gold Coast development Como Varsity Lakes as construction commences

Longstanding Gold Coast developer Raptis has acquired a prime development site on Surf Parade for its next Broadbeach apartment project.

Progressing towards completion of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-sterling-broadbeach-6-8-george-avenue-broadbeach-qld-4218">The Sterling Broadbeach</a>, 90 apartments on nearby George Avenue, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/raptis">Raptis</a>, led by second-generation family man Evan Raptis, has picked up a block on the corner of Surf Parade and First Avenue.

The site had been earmarked for a luxury apartment project with 33 full-floor apartments across a 37-storey tower. Raptis will go back to the drawing board and create a building more appropriate for the site. The development application will be lodged later this month.

Evan Raptis told Apartments.com.au the site ticks all the boxes.

"Broadbeach is a suburb we've developed several buildings over the years. Surf Parade ticks all the boxes for the type of apartment development we want to deliver."

Raptis had several pre-lodgement meetings with council to ensure they are aligned in the development.

<img alt="Raptis" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f0d58573-07a4-47a8-9f5e-fbf35fb03dc3" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-03-05%20at%204.58.23%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=iczZEd_4_o4UL0PHMPJGfy_q3tv96J5i" />

Surf Parade has emerged in recent years as one of the most popular streets in Broadbeach for development.

South East Queensland developer Mosaic Property Group kicked it off with Marella by Mosaic. Bassar Group sold out Infinity on the street, while for its&nbsp;first Gold Coast development, Polycell grabbed a Surf Parade site for <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-rochester-broadbeach-143-surf-parade-broadbeach-qld-4218">The Rochester</a>, which is nearly sold out.

Melbourne-based developer Hirsch &amp; Faigen recently launched its fourth Gold Coast project on the exclusive strip. The Eveleigh Broadbeach will have 100 apartments across a 31-storey building designed by Rothelowman.

GV Property Group site development specialists Antonio Mercuri and Luke Reaby, who both amalgamate sites and sell shovel-ready sites to developers up and down the Gold Coast, sold Surf Parade to Raptis.

Raptis secures prime Surf Parade site for next Broadbeach apartment development

Less than two years after breaking ground, Gardner Vaughan Group is celebrating the topping out of Bask, its second development in the exclusive coastal enclave of Bokarina on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.&nbsp;

Located only minutes from the beachfront, the two seven-storey luxury apartment towers, known individually as Mydas and Caretta, offer a selection of one-to-four-bedroom residences with views of Lake Kawana, the Glasshouse Mountains, and Bokarina Beach.&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=141609 project_image_fid=333359]

Gardner Vaughan Group Commercial Director Sam Gardner said the milestone marks the home stretch for construction, with first residents expected to be able to move in from Spring 2026.&nbsp;

“This is a significant milestone in bringing this development to life and represents our confidence in this region’s long-term growth and appeal,” Gardner said.&nbsp;

“With 85 per cent of apartments already sold, buyers are joining an established, coastal village that offers the very best of the Sunshine Coast – seasonally patrolled surf beaches, renowned restaurants, and links to established health and retail.&nbsp;

“The final collection of three- and four- bedroom apartments range in size from 127sqm to 300sqm, each with two or three secure car parks and storage, and with construction fast approaching completion we don’t expect the last few apartments to remain on the market for long.”&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=141609 project_image_fid=333362]

Local restaurateur Luke Stringer, who co-owns and manages the award-winning Bocca Italian and Playa Mexican restaurants in Bokarina, has lived in the beachside suburb for 18 months and worked there for more than three years, and said the beachside suburb was thriving.&nbsp;

“It’s fair to say Bokarina is finally stepping into the sun and there’s a lot to love about the place,"&nbsp;Stringer said.

"It’s such a great community, where you see the same smiling faces every morning and everything’s within easy reach – it’s the perfect hub in the middle of the Sunshine Coast.

“When we first opened Bocca Italian, we were the lone restaurant, but it’s been amazing to see how the area has grown. The more venues that open, the busier it gets for everyone. When Playa Mexican opened its first Saturday night, Bocca had a record night and Playa was packed too, which blew us away how everyone is thriving.&nbsp;

“There’s a great energy around the place now, and people are really embracing Bokarina as a food and lifestyle destination.”&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=141609 project_image_fid=363368]

Stringer joined other buyers at Bask Bokarina and the Gardner Vaughan Group team to celebrate the topping out at a special event in February.&nbsp;

Located in Kawana Waters, midway between Caloundra and Maroochydore, Bokarina locals enjoy scenic walking paths around Lake Kawana, playgrounds, beachfront boardwalk and parklands, alongside all the convenience of a masterplanned beachside community.&nbsp;

“You see people jogging or swimming in the morning, then grabbing coffee at the cafes, people are really embracing the area and all this growth is bringing more people to Bokarina,” Stringer added.&nbsp;

To take advantage of the vistas, each of the 135 apartments at Bask is designed with full size windows and high ceilings that provide an abundance of natural light.&nbsp;

Prices for the remaining three-bedroom apartments start at $1,599,000 and four-bedroom apartments start at $3,149,000.&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=141609 project_image_fid=363369]

The mixed-use development also features ground-level retail space for cafés, dining options and boutiques, including the soon-to-be-opened ‘Corner Shop’, by the team behind Noosa’s well known ‘Organika’.

Sam Gardner said Gardner Vaughan Group’s 37-year history building and developing across South East Queensland has contributed to the success of its second development in Bokarina, which follows the recently completed Zinc Apartments.&nbsp;

“We care how people live and this is reflected in the way we approach the design and delivery of every development,” he said. “Furthermore, as a builder-developer we have full control over the construction program and our 100 per cent completion rate is something people can draw confidence from.”&nbsp;

Founded by civil engineers Guy Gardner and Darryl Vaughan in 1989, the family-owned business has evolved from a consultancy firm to an award-winning builder-developer, with projects across the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=141609]

Gardner Vaughan Group tops out Bask Bokarina apartments

Prolific Melbourne developer <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/hirsch-faigen">Hirsch &amp; Faigen</a> has launched its fourth new Gold Coast development in as many years.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/hirsch-faigen">Hirsch &amp; Faigen</a>, led by Daniel Faigen and backed by Eddie Hirsch, co-founder of United Petroleum, has unveiled The Eveleigh, on a prime 1,100 sqm site at 7-9 Surf Parade in the heart of Broadbeach.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-eveleigh-broadbeach-7-9-surf-parade-broadbeach-qld-4218">The Eveleigh</a> will deliver 100 apartments across 31 levels, making it the company’s largest Gold Coast project to date. It builds on the success of its three earlier developments, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/buildings/hemingway-1267-1273-gold-coast-highway-palm-beach">The Hemingway in Palm Beach</a> and <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/buildings/emerson-kirra-100-musgrave-street-coolangatta">The Emerson at Kirra</a>, both completed, and <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/yves-mermaid-beach-7-9-mermaid-avenue-mermaid-beach">Yves Mermaid Beach</a>, which is nearing completion.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360966]

The announcement of The Eveleigh affirms the company’s sustained confidence in the Gold Coast market which continues to remain undersupplied. It also increases the value of Hirsch &amp; Fa​igen’s Gold Coast development portfolio to more than $700 million since the company first entered the market in 2021 with Hemingway.

The company has enlisted its preferred architecture firm Rothelowman to design The Eveleigh, which will offer a thoughtfully curated lifestyle, including a substantial wellness precinct, communal recreation areas, children’s play spaces, work-from-home facilities, and shared lounge and dining areas.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360965]

Designed for the prime market demographic of downsizers and interstate lifestyle investors in mind, The Eveleigh has been crafted to offer an increasingly rare blend of affordable luxury in a tightly held market. Uniquely positioned in the heart of the Gold Coast’s most sought-after lifestyle suburb of Broadbeach, the project will also boast uninterrupted beach and hinterland views.

The Surf Parade site is just a short walk to the bustling Broadbeach dining and retail precinct, Pacific Fair, The Star Gold Coast and convention centre, and an easy stroll to Kurrawa Beach and the recreational amenity of Pratten Park on the Broadbeach foreshore.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360975]

“We’re excited to be proceeding with our fourth project on the Gold Coast in what is certain to become the new luxury precinct in Broadbeach,” says Anthony Bueti, the CFO of Hirsch &amp;a​mp; Faigen and a shareholder of the group.

“With the likes of Mosa​ic and Abedian &amp;a​mp; Co also launching quality projects in the area, the transformation will cement Broadbeach as the premier lifestyle and amenity suburb on the Gold Coast.

"After four years in the Gold Coast market, and with three successful projects completed, The Eveleigh is the product of everything we have learned to love about the Gold Coast and it will be an incredible addition to our growing portfolio in one of the most vibrant property markets in the country. We continue to remain very confident in the high-end Gold Coast property market.”

Urban Activation Director Matt George is handling sales for The Eveleigh, having sold out The Emerson, The Hemingway, and Yves, all before construction was completed.

Melbourne builder MAXCON has already commenced construction on The Eveleigh. They are forecasting a mid-2028 completion.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=149670]

Hirsch & Faigen unveils The Eveleigh in Broadbeach

Two years after securing development approval for the final stage of its award-winning Thornton Precinct on the doorstep of Penrith Station, Urban Property Group is set to launch <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/mayfair-on-penrith-172-lord-sheffield-circuit-penrith-nsw-2750">Mayfair on Penrith</a>, around 400 apartments designed to reflect two of Sydney’s most iconic structures.

The builder-developer has continued refining the design plans for the two-building development on a significant 8,280 sqm site on Sheffield Circuit, recognising the importance of the prime parcel as one of the closest developable sites to the station.

UPG enlisted architecture firm SJB to design the project. The team said they drew inspiration from both the General Post Office in Martin Place and East Circular Quay to help shape the design. The two-level colonnade, in particular, reflects the famous GPO building, which dates back to the 1860s.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=136726 project_image_fid=362014]

There will be one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments on offer, with interiors by Cox Architecture. Residences will sit above a retail podium featuring hospitality and lifestyle operators such as One Playground and Volcano’s Steakhouse, contributing to an activated ground plane within the broader Thornton precinct.

A communal rooftop with a pool and views towards the Blue Mountains will provide shared open space for residents. The development is positioned between Ron Mulock Oval and Westfield Penrith, with the Nepean River and Great River Walk also nearby, placing daily amenity and green space within walking distance.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=136726 project_image_fid=362015]

Mayfair is being delivered by Urban Property Group, a family-owned developer and builder with nearly 40 years’ experience across Sydney. The project will be the first in Penrith to be offered with Resilience Insurance’s 10-year Latent Defects Insurance (LDI) policy, which Urban Property Group has adopted across a number of its recent developments. The developer also has a 4.5-star iCIRT rating, one of the best ratings in market providing further confidence to buyers.

Urban Property Group CEO Patrick Elias said providing additional assurance to off-the-plan buyers has become increasingly important.

“Anything we can do to give confidence in our product is a plus,” Elias told Apartments.com.au.

“Consumers are a lot more weary and a lot more concerned in buying off the plan than they ever have been. They’re making their single large investment, which is their home, and providing confidence is something that we feel is paramount.”

[smartcode_project:default project_id=136726 project_image_fid=362020]

The LDI policy provides a 10-year warranty covering structural defects, with independent inspections carried out during construction and protection for owners if defects arise post-completion.

Mayfair represents Urban Property Group’s sixth and final development within Thornton, consolidating the masterplanned precinct immediately east of the station.

The developer, which builds its own projects, has already commenced construction. SRM Residential is handling the sales campaign.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=136726]

Urban Property Group to close the curtain on award-winning Thornton precinct with Mayfair on Penrith release

Oxford Economics

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVATION
China’s rise as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/soft-power-goes-hard-chinas-economic-interest-in-the-pacific-comes-with-strings-attached-103765" target="_blank">global power</a> is driving new flows of people, ideas and capital between China and Australia. Australian cities need to adapt to this new geopolitical reality.
For some, these changes promise new opportunities to fulfil a “<a href="http://www.defence.gov.au/whitepaper/2013/docs/australia_in_the_asian_century_white_paper.pdf" target="_blank">vision of being a land of increased opportunity, prosperity and fairness</a>”. Others see Asian “invasion” and “takeover” as a threat to Australia’s white identity and <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/silent-invasion-by-clive-hamilton/9781743794807" target="_blank">political system</a>.
A new <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12311" target="_blank">collection of articles</a> demonstrates that the impact of the Asian Century on Australian cities defies both dystopian claims of a “Chinese takeover” and utopian visions of a harmonious urban multiculturalism.
<audio width="300" height="32" preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="850" data-image="" data-title="Linda Jakobson, CEO of China Matters, on Australia's relationship with China." data-size="34018889" data-source="City Road Podcast" data-source-url="https://soundcloud.com/user-283789701/china_matters" data-license="CC BY" data-license-url="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><source src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/1327/china-matters-interview.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"></source></audio>
<div class="audio-player-caption">Linda Jakobson, CEO of China Matters, on Australia’s relationship with China. <a class="source" href="https://soundcloud.com/user-283789701/china_matters" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">City Road Podcast</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">CC BY</a>32.4 MB <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/1327/china-matters-interview.mp3" target="_blank">(download)</a>
</div>
Changing settlement patterns
The profile of migrants who arrived from mainland China since 2000 <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-5871.12293" target="_blank">is changing</a>. They are more highly skilled, educated and investment-focused than earlier migrants.
Their settlement patterns in Australia <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-5871.12293" target="_blank">are also changing</a>. Sydney is still home to half of all China-born migrants in Australia. However, the proportion of migrants settling in other capital cities is increasing.
In Sydney in 2001, China-born residents represented over 10% of the population of only three suburbs. A decade later, the number of such suburbs had risen to 22.
Smaller increases were evident in Melbourne (from one suburb in 2001 to seven in 2011) and Brisbane (zero to four).
However, Hurstville was the only Australian suburb in 2011 where China-born residents represented over 25% of the population.
This suggests a pattern of settlement that is neither extreme residential segregation along ethnic lines nor full <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-5871.12293" target="_blank">“spatial assimilation”</a>. Rather, it is best understood in terms of multiple moderate concentrations.
Changing homes
The choices Chinese migrants make about their homes in Australia are significant in shaping Australian cities.
The homes Chinese migrants make in Australia involve complex relations with both their past homes in China and their new lives as Australians.
Over time, many adopt Australian practices of housing consumption. This includes <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Migration_Settlement_and_the_Concepts_of?id=Fv79oAEACAAJ&amp;redir_esc=y" target="_blank">the preference for detached suburban houses rather than apartments</a>.
One environmental implication of this is that the housing footprint of China-born migrants in Melbourne increased <a href="https://theconversation.com/chinese-migrants-and-urban-consumption-in-australia-local-impacts-and-global-implications-103921" target="_blank">five-fold after migration</a>.
Nevertheless, Chinese migrants are <a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-density-and-diversity-apartments-are-australia-at-its-most-multicultural-97176" target="_blank">over-represented in apartment buildings</a>. Nationally, only 7% of Australian-born people live in apartments, compared to 31% of those born in northeast Asia, including China.
Changing cultural relations
Despite the policy shift from White Australia to multiculturalism, racism remains prevalent in Australian cities. A narrative about <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07256868.2018.1459516" target="_blank">white victimhood</a> is often used to counter evidence of discrimination against non-whites.
One recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/asians-out-not-in-this-suburb-not-in-this-apartment-103919" target="_blank">study</a> found Asian Australians have experienced twice as many instances of racism and discrimination as have other Australians. Specifically, 58% of Asia-born participants experienced some measure of discrimination when renting or buying a house.
Apartment buildings have become a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-5871.12282" target="_blank">key site</a> of <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230244474_2" target="_blank">intercultural encounter</a>. Often this involves tensions over the <a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-density-and-diversity-apartments-are-australia-at-its-most-multicultural-97176" target="_blank">management of common areas, washing hung on balconies, or even cooking smells in buildings </a>.
Consequently, strata or body-corporate committees have become important institutions for mediating intercultural relations in Australian cities.
In suburbs with increased concentrations of China-born residents, intercultural tensions are often expressed through local urban planning conflicts. In some suburbs, for example, white residents have <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1745-5871.12268" target="_blank">blamed Chinese investors</a> for driving residential densification and the loss of “neighbourhood character”.
At the same time, shared interests in relation to buildings, neighbourhoods and shared social class identities can <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9789811313660" target="_blank">help to bridge ethnic and racial difference</a>.
Housing market
<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00049182.2017.1317050" target="_blank">Chinese investment </a>in residential and commercial real estate increased from A$2.4 billion in 2009-10 to A$24.3 billion in 2014-15. China was one of the largest sources of capital. Asian foreign investors accounted for 9.4% of purchases of new dwellings in New South Wales in the fourth quarter of 2015.
While much of this investment was channelled into new housing supply, <a href="https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au/doi/10.1111/1745-5871.12280" target="_blank">public concern about the impact of foreign investment on housing affordability</a> is rising.
<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/abac.12110" target="_blank">One estimate</a> suggests that if foreign investment had been held steady from 2004 to 2014, house prices in Sydney and Melbourne would have risen by about 50% compared with the actual growth of 67%. Therefore, most of the increase in house prices cannot be attributed to foreign investment.
By pointing to foreign investment as the main reason for Australia’s housing affordability woes, media coverage and government statements have often shifted attention away from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/affordable-housing-policy-failure-still-being-fuelled-by-flawed-analysis-92993" target="_blank">structural causes</a> of housing unaffordability and the various drivers of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19491247.2016.1270618" target="_blank">foreign investment</a>.
Changing Australian cities in the Asian Century
Australian cities in the early 21st century face major challenges relating to housing, transport, jobs and food security.
Racialised talk of “Asian invasion” blames Chinese migrants and investors for many problems. Yet the foundations of these problems run deep into Australia’s <a href="https://www.rowmaninternational.com/book/the_geopolitics_of_real_estate/3-156-775f5a7c-6f6f-45fe-9a2a-fdfaf44f5727" target="_blank">urban histories</a> and our market-driven approach to city-making.
Debate about the impact of the so-called Asian Century on Australian cities must move beyond a discussion about utopian opportunities and dystopian threats. The reality on the ground in Australian cities is far more complex than this binary thinking.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103917/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
Dallas Rogers, Program Director, Master of Urbanism. School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney
Ilan Wiesel, Senior Lecturer in Urban Geography, University of Melbourne
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-australian-cities-are-adapting-to-the-asian-century-103917" target="_blank">original article</a>.
Main photo: More than 25% of Hurstville residents were born in China, but the Sydney suburb is the exception to the rule. <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.flickr.com/photos/philipterrygraham/36115452672" target="_blank">Philip Terry Graham/Flickr</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">CC</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dallas-rogers-5269"> </a>
</body></html>

j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

How Australian cities are adapting to the Asian Century

<html><body>
<div>
Australia's housing is among the four riskiest markets in the world, according to Oxford Economics.
It has a strong prospect of falling prices posing a threat to economic activity, the research paper noted
The housing market dangers were "especially acute" in Sweden, Australia, Canada and Hong Kong, according to Oxford.
Weighing up a range of risk factors, including housing valuations compared to long-term averages, it noted all four valuations were very elevated.
It noted there has been a lengthy housing boom, debt levels were high and there was a significant share of floating rate debt, Oxford's lead economist Adam Slater wrote in a research note.
The risks were relatively limited in key markets including the US, Germany, France, China and Japan.
</div>
<div>
Overall edian OECD house price valuations are below the 2006-07 peak but are higher for the risky markets, according to Oxford.
<div id="article-inline-ad">"Historical experience suggests that high valuations – of 125 per cent or more of the long-term average – point to a 60 per cent chance of prices falling over the next five years," Mr Slater wrote.</div>
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>"This matters because house prices can have a big impact on economic activity, even if the link may have loosened in the G7 in recent years.</div>
<div>
"Looking across a range of housing risk indicators, property market dangers look concentrated in a number of smaller advanced economies and are less severe for the largest economies."
On a valuation index where the long-term average is 100, Australian housing is at 160, while Sweden is at 165, Canada at 173 and Hong Kong at 203.
</div>
<div>Slater wrote rising rates are not strictly necessary for prices to start falling (i.e. Sweden) and in the context of high valuations and debt, even modest increases (i.e. Canada and Hong Kong) "could be a problem."</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Oxford's assessment suggest Australian house prices have another risk factor, with an 82 per cent share of its mortgages held on floating rates.</div>
</body></html>

Australia's housing among the four riskiest markets in the world, Oxford Economics

<html><body>
UK-based advisory firm Oxford Economics has acquired a controlling stake in leading Australian analytics and forecasting firm BIS Shrapnel for an undisclosed sum, which the former says will make it the largest independent economics research firm in the world. 
The new organisation will be named BIS Oxford Economics and will see the merger of BIS Shrapnel  with the Australian arm of Oxford Economics. BIS Shrapnel generally focuses on the building, construction, property and mining sectors.
“This investment by Oxford Economics sees the merging of BIS Shrapnel’s deep knowledge of the Australian and New Zealand economies with Oxford Economics’ detailed understanding of the global economy,” said Robert Mellor, managing director, BIS Oxford Economics.
The new firm will be better able to assess market trends and quantify the impacts for its clients at the global, national and city levels, said a media release.
“The acquisition brings together Oxford Economics’ rigorous global modelling and analytical framework with BIS Shrapnel’ expertise across the Australian economy, in particular in forecasting investment cycles,” said Adrian Cooper, chief executive officer and chief economist, Oxford Economics.
“This agreement expands the Oxford Economics Group to more than 300 staff globally, making it the largest independent economics research firm in the world, and allows us to support our clients in understanding economic trends and their impacts both domestically and globally.”
Highlighting this, Mellor added that “major political, social and economic events in nations abroad have profound global impacts – look no further than Brexit or Trump”.
The new entity will operate from BIS Shrapnel’s existing offices in Australia. Robert Mellor will lead BIS Oxford Economics, with Dr Frank Gelber to remain Chief Economist and Director.
All of BIS Shrapnel's staff will be retained.
 
</body></html>

Oxford Economics

Editor's Picks

Have something to contribute?

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News

Oxford Economics

Editor's Picks

Receive the latest news stories to your inbox

Have something to contribute?

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News