Two fire-ravaged ruins – one in Melbourne, the other in the Blue Mountain –  a former jail cell, a tiny home with a footprint a quarter of the size of a basketball court, and a haunted house are all attracting interest, proving that there is no property in Australia that is unsellable.

And at the other end of the scale, Mosman’s iconic Spaceship house has pulled $1m more than its estimated cost.  Under-estimating?  I think we can call that a one-off … like so many of the stories in this weeks feed from Leftfield.

Free Reads

Domain

East Melbourne: The city-fringe suburb that says you’ve made it but don’t have to shout about it
East Melbourne is the home of luxury so quiet it makes Toorak look like big-noters, in a portrait of the city-fringe suburb whose stately mansions and wide streets have marked it as establishment territory since the 1850s.

Hendra home backing onto Doomben Racecourse offers front-row seats to Brisbane racing
A Hendra home at 37 Raceview Avenue offers a private balcony over Doomben Racecourse, giving horse-racing fans front-row seats to one of Queensland’s premier tracks, though the agent says its appeal runs wider.

Katies co-founder’s multi-million dollar Sydney home hits the market
The final Point Piper residence of Katies co-founder Joseph Brender and his wife Gerda is for sale, the trophy home that served as their downsize after decades at Edgewater, one of the eastern suburbs’ most expensive houses.

Fire-ravaged shell hits market for just $99k
A fire-ravaged home barely still standing has hit the market with a bargain range, the uninhabitable remains offering a rare blank canvas on 12,100 square metres two hours north-west of Melbourne, priced from just $99,000.

‘Let’s do this now’: How one holiday inspection changed a five-year plan
Wayne and Judy Finkelde were not looking to move when a holiday inspection at Palm Lake Resort Forster Lakes changed their five-year plan, prompting the south-west Sydney couple to buy into the over-50s community now rather than later.

Family reluctantly selling rare burial plot passed down through generations
A Sydney family is reluctantly selling a rare double-depth burial plot with perpetual tenure and an ocean-facing position in Waverley Cemetery, offered privately for the first time.

Couple hit back at backlash over $2.7m renovation ‘for their dog’
A US couple, Howard and Suze Rubin, have hit back at claims they spent millions renovating a Pound Ridge, New York home to suit their collie, after media reports said they bought the property in 2019 for the dog.

Entire town that sold on eBay is up for grabs again
More than two decades after Bridgeville became the first town sold on eBay, it is up for grabs again, a 32-hectare Northern California property of just 25 people surrounded by redwood forests.

Steven Spielberg seeks $40 million for private retreat he never lived in
Steven Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw are seeking $40 million for a private Los Angeles horse retreat they never lived in, having bought it in 1999 with unrealised plans for a five-storey riding facility.

Quarter of a basketball court, more than $1m price tag: Brisbane’s tiny-block boom
A century-old worker’s cottage on one of Brisbane’s smallest blocks could sell for well above $1 million, the one-bedroom home at 25 Lutwyche Street, Petrie Terrace, on a 112-square-metre lot near the CBD and future Olympic venues, reflecting surging land demand.

ABC Online

Mad about trees
As Australia builds more homes to ease the housing crisis, some fear trees will become collateral damage, in a piece asking whether a changing climate makes urban trees more important than ever.

Transport expert calls for Bendigo, Geelong to join light rail resurgence
Bendigo Heritage is calling for a light rail link between the city’s retail, arts, sport and hospital precincts, as regional cities look to trams and trackless trams to ease road congestion.

Realestate.com.au

Mum’s stunning $300 studio makeover reveals new reno trend
A Newcastle mother has turned a cluttered spare room into a home art studio for just $300, as cash-strapped Australians abandon major renovations in favour of cheap fast fixes.

Apartment in iconic Bondi Beach block in Heath Ledger film for sale
An apartment in the Art Deco Bondi Beach block that featured in the 1999 Heath Ledger film Two Hands is for sale, the 11-apartment Mariposa building at 246 Campbell Parade now given a glamorous makeover by architect Luigi Rosselli.

Palette cleanser: Aussie scrap minimalism for bold colour
Australian homes are set to embrace bold colour in 2027, with the Dulux Colour Forecast tipping calming blues, botanical greens and jewel tones across three palettes as stark minimalism fades.

Historic Baddow House with resident ghost seeks new owner for $3m
A heritage Baddow House rumoured to be one of Australia’s most haunted homes is seeking a new owner for $3 million, the former ghost-tour destination ready for its next chapter.

Alexandra Keating selling LA party house made famous by Madonna
Alexandra Keating, youngest daughter of former prime minister Paul Keating, is selling a Laurel Canyon estate in Los Angeles once owned by the late designer Paul Fortune, a party house with a Madonna connection.

$10m home to be razed for new $19m mega-mansion
A $10 million beachfront mansion known as Samphire Sands on the exclusive Sandbanks peninsula in Dorset has sold with a catch, with the four-bedroom UK home expected to be demolished for a new $19 million mega-mansion, echoing a pattern seen in Toorak and Brisbane.

MasterChef star Laura Sharrad farewells Henley Beach villa
MasterChef star Laura Sharrad and her husband Max have sold their Henley Beach home, marking the sale with a video as their family home becomes another’s forever home.

Historic Eurama Castle ruins consumed by nature now up for sale
The graffitied ruins of a once-grand Blue Mountains manor, known locally as the ruined castle after a fire, are for sale for $2 million, the historic Eurama now consumed by nature.

Spaceship house sells $1m over guide
The Collins House in Mosman, one of the 30 most important Australian houses of the past 60 years, has sold nine days before auction for $1 million above its $5 million guide, the three-bedroom home known as the spaceship house for the way it hovers over Mosman Bay.

Prankster Jackson O’Doherty drops $3.3m on mansion with private motocross track
Internet prankster Jackson O’Doherty has spent $3.3 million on a Gold Coast Hinterland mansion with a private motocross track, calling the 1.34-hectare property his dream home and planning to add a gym and wellness centre.

Villawood Properties’ two-for-one land deal protecting SA conservation park
Developer Villawood Properties is donating two blocks of forest reserve to the state for every greenfield block it sells, with 1,640 hectares headed for conservation on SA’s Yorke Peninsula, 1,000 hectares already handed over.

Anti-AI advertisement turns into bookings for SA pest controller
A hand-drawn stick-figure advertisement rejecting AI has helped Adelaide pest controller Noah Swan become a household name, with his experimental Facebook post drawing support and bookings for his business, Pestly Pest Control.

TV star Alex Cullen sells Summer Hill home for around $3.55m
7NEWS presenter Alex Cullen has sold his Summer Hill home, Kironga, for around $3.55 million, having paid $1.9 million in 2020 for the four-bedroom house he owned with his journalist wife Bonnie Campbell.

Real Commercial – Free

Inside the strange afterlives of Australia’s Pizza Hut restaurants
Once a fixture in seemingly every suburb, Pizza Hut’s distinctive red-roofed dine-in restaurants have taken on strange second lives, in a look at the afterlives of the buildings since Australia’s first store opened in Belfield in 1970.

Roxy Jacenko cuts ties with Australia after $10m property exit
Roxy Jacenko has cut ties with Australia for good after making more than $10 million from a string of Sydney property deals, with the Singapore-based former PR figure also selling her furniture, Range Rover and custom number plates.

Old Pentridge Prison execution block cells now hot property
Former Pentridge Prison cells are proving more popular now than when the likes of Chopper Read were held there, with an old D Division execution-block cell listed at $85,000-plus and six others sold at similar prices since January.

Steph Curry cashes in selling San Francisco property for $15.3m
Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry has sold a two-storey San Francisco building near Pier 70 for about $15.3 million, having paid about $11.8 million for it in 2024.

Urban Developer – Partly Free

The Parking Maths Developers Need to Know in Era of Robotaxis
Australian mobility is changing faster than lawmakers can keep up, in a look at the parking maths developers must weigh as robotaxis, shared e-bikes and even flying taxis reshape how buildings and car spaces are designed.

G’day Group Saw Something in Caravan Parks Others Didn’t See Coming
Grant Wilckens built Australia’s biggest regional accommodation network from three Western Australian caravan parks he bought in 2004, in a look at how the G’day Group saw something in caravan parks that others did not.

Pay-walled

The Australian Financial Review

This builder plans to import 10,000 homes a year
Melbourne-based builder Kapitol plans to import up to 10,000 modular units a year from China for affordable housing, student accommodation and hotels, estimating savings of up to 10 per cent on some projects and up to 35 per cent less time on site.

Jayne Hrdlicka v Noosa: Battle over holiday home arrives in court
Endeavour Group chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka’s plans for a three-level waterfront Noosa mansion are heading to court, with a six-day trial beginning Monday as she fights the council’s refusal on overdevelopment grounds.

Texas-based Aussie oil boss buys Queensland’s most expensive home
Texas-based oil and gas boss Jamie Welch and his partner, philanthropist Fiona Angelini, have been revealed as the buyers of Queensland’s most expensive home, a $40 million Noosa Heads waterfront that tops the $34 million Gina Rinehart paid nearby in 2021.

This 34-year-old owns over 200 properties. Renters are fighting back
Investor Eddie Dilleen, who grew up in Mount Druitt public housing and now owns more than 200 properties, is at the centre of a growing clash with a militant renters union, in a look at a widening fault line over property ownership.

The Sydney Morning Herald

A new bus was meant to unite this Sydney community. It’s ended up dividing it
Tensions flared at a Parramatta council meeting after a new business group representing Harris Park’s Indian eat street won a $45,000 grant to run a shuttle bus, with four organisations all claiming to speak for the area and wanting different things.

Warning to universities: Build more houses to keep international students
Universities should invest more in housing for international students to ease supply pressure, Premier Chris Minns says, arguing the sector must shoulder more of the migration-driven demand as the federal government prepares laws making it harder for students to extend their stay.

Under the ‘plyscraper’: How a 1906 heritage shed was saved, stored and rebuilt
The 1906 timber frame of Central Station’s Inwards Parcel Shed, dismantled to make way for the $1.45 billion Atlassian Central tower, has been stored and rebuilt rather than demolished, as a condition of the development approval.

The Age

Housing with benefits: Why co-housing could be the new Australian dream
A conversation with their son crystallised what Ross and Paula Wade had long felt, in a look at why co-housing, sharing a garden and community in exchange for a modest home, could be a new Australian dream, albeit at a $200,000 premium.

WA Today

Green light for $10 million Fast Eddys replacement, with hopes for a Reuben on the menu
A $10 million tourist development has been approved to overhaul the long-dormant Fast Eddys site in Perth’s CBD, with the assessment panel unanimously backing a seven-storey mixed-use building at 454 Murray Street.

The Daily Telegraph

Woolworths fights plan to demolish the country’s busiest supermarket for Town Hall Square
Woolworths is fighting Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s plan to demolish the country’s busiest supermarket at Town Hall for her Town Hall Square project, with the retailer resisting despite her sought guarantees that no staff lose their jobs.

The West Australian

Brick shortage expands to include maxi bricks, with builders now put on rations by State’s only major supplier
WA’s chronic housing crisis has been dealt a fresh blow, with sole major supplier Midland Brick now rationing maxi bricks to builders after more than six months of face-brick shortages, chief executive Michael Allan confirming buyers will be told how much they can get and when.

The Newcastle Herald

‘We only found out when a sign went up’: outrage after council puts parkland up for sale, again
Residents are demanding Maitland council halt the sale of a Clift Street parcel they say has been their only park for 75 years, echoing an almost identical fight the same street won nearly 30 years ago.

Commercial Real Estate

Why landlords are transforming office lobbies into public destinations
Some commercial landlords are opening their ground-floor lobbies to the public, using hospitality, retail and coworking to draw people into spaces once reserved for passing workers through to the lifts.

The Herald Sun

Cranbourne South residents ‘betrayed’ by council over huge green wedge church plan at 600 Cranbourne-Frankston Rd
A church the size of a movie theatre could rise on protected green wedge land at Cranbourne South, despite more than 200 residents urging the council to reject the plan.

‘Five-star’ Melbourne hotel The Kinson residents ‘terrorised’ by crisis accommodation tenants
A five-star Melbourne hotel overlooking Albert Park Lake has become a scene of alleged knife and machete threats and public drug use, after 30 apartments were leased for crisis accommodation.

The St George & Sutherland Shire Leader

‘The shire is full’: Residents deliver message on development to Chris Minns
More than 250 residents told Premier Chris Minns that the shire is full until more infrastructure arrives, at a protest rally outside a Sutherland Shire Business Chamber lunch.

DA Watch: Micro-home at Jannali; New auto business for Taren Point
A council-approved micro-home at Jannali will be just 7.5 metres long, 3 metres wide and 4 metres high, with a bathroom, bedroom, kitchenette and combined sitting and dining area, in this week’s DA Watch alongside a new Taren Point auto business.