With all the doom and gloom around, it gratifying to be able to report one uplifting yarn. A family of six who’ve spent years travelling around Australia in a caravan have just lucked into  $14 million property windfall.

The Victorian couple and their four children had been on the road for almost three years when they learned they’d won a sub-penthouse on the Gold Coast in the Dream Home Art Union draw.

So will they be putting their caravan on bricks and heading north to the sun and sand? You’ll have to read the story below to find out, along with all the other quirky tales in this week’s feed from Leftfield.

Free Reads

Domain

Aussie family wins $14m Gold Coast sub-penthouse after three years on the road
A family of six who spent almost three years touring Australia in a caravan have won a $14 million Gold Coast sub-penthouse.

Jacinda Ardern scores multi-million-dollar windfall after selling Auckland home
Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern and her husband Clarke Gayford have secured a multi-million-dollar windfall from the sale of their Auckland home.

Brisbane auction results: Unlivable Margate house sells for $528,000 at a no-reserve auction
A buyer paid $528,000 for an unliveable Margate cottage so unsafe it could not be inspected before its no-reserve auction.

Barcode House: The experimental Munich home with nine ‘strips’ for different activities
In leafy southern Munich, near the banks of the Isar, Barcode House stands apart from the traditional villa.

Buyers gasped at one feature in this $4.5m Melbourne mansion
For a $4.5 million Melbourne mansion, second-generation builder Dino Cantone travelled to northern Tuscany in 2019 to hand-pick 2.5 tonnes of raw marble for a single kitchen.

Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward list long-term Whale Beach home
Film royalty Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward, who met on the set of The Thorn Birds, are selling their 1950s Whale Beach cottage after more than three decades.

A hidden cabin, 67 hectares and a $115,000 price tag: what’s the catch?
A secluded one-bedroom weekender on about 67 hectares of pristine West Gippsland wilderness has been reduced to $115,000.

Angelina Jolie sells $35m LA compound after signalling US exit
Angelina Jolie has taken a major step toward a planned departure from the US, selling her Los Angeles compound.

Tammy Hembrow’s Gold Coast mansion fails to sell at auction
Influencer Tammy Hembrow’s Gold Coast mansion has failed to sell at auction despite drawing a multimillion-dollar offer.

Commercial Real Estate

Historic Manly ferry South Steyne listed for sale as floating venue
After stints as a Manly ferry, floating restaurant and even an Olympic Games information centre, the heritage-listed SS South Steyne has hit the market at a reported $2.5 million.

Sydney and Melbourne CBD foot traffic nears pre-pandemic levels
Foot traffic in the Sydney and Melbourne CBDs has climbed to within 16 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, signalling a sustained recovery for capital-city retail and office precincts.

Miss Marple’s Tearoom business and freehold listed in Sassafras
After nearly 45 years welcoming locals and tourists, Miss Marple’s Tearoom in Sassafras is on the market.

ABC Online

Eviction of 87yo sparks mass protest against Spain’s housing crisis
Tens of thousands have protested in Madrid against Spain’s housing crisis after the eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her rental apartment.

Australia’s historic stone buildings could crumble without a new generation of stonemasons
Australia’s historic stone buildings risk falling into disrepair without a new generation of stonemasons.

Suburban residents protest 15-metre power poles linked to data centre expansion
Residents in Melbourne’s inner west are protesting 15-metre power poles linked to a data centre expansion.

TasWater suggests customers reduce pipe size to offset price hike, inquiry hears
Tasmanian businesses have criticised a TasWater suggestion that customers reduce their pipe size to offset a price rise.

Realestate.com.au

‘Can cost thousands’: Tradie warns of hidden threat
Homeowners are being urged to act before a hidden threat becomes a bill worth thousands, with pest experts warning termite activity ramps up as the weather warms.

‘Most terrifying after dark’: Commuters expose eerie train stops in $2m suburbs
House hunters pay top dollar to live near transport in sought-after suburbs, but commuters say some stations turn deeply unsettling after dark.

Ex-NZ PM nets millions in quiet sale
Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has quietly booked a tidy profit on her Auckland home as she and husband Clarke Gayford settle into a new life in Sydney.

Aus renter told unborn baby is ‘additional occupant’ in AC dispute
A NSW father-to-be was floored when a property manager suggested there had been no mention of possible additional occupants after he asked to install air conditioning before his baby arrives.

Ex-Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley sells Aspendale mansion
Former Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley has finally sold his Aspendale beachfront mansion after cutting the price by millions.

Tiny Melbourne bootmaker’s shop transformed into quirky home hits the market for $600k
A former bootmaker’s shop on just 31 square metres in Melbourne’s Ascot Vale has come to market with a $600,000 to $660,000 guide.

Wakeboarding champion Harley Clifford lists custom-built Gold Coast estate
Wakeboarding champion Harley Clifford is selling his custom-built Gold Coast estate just 18 months after building it.

Former MasterChef contestant swaps Sydney for beachfront luxury at Royale Gold Coast
Former MasterChef contestant Metter Chin and his partner Joseph Sbarro have moved into their luxury Gold Coast beachfront apartment four years after buying off the plan.

I’ll toast to that: Family blown away by prize Gold Coast penthouse and a humble appliance
An Australian family who won a $14 million Gold Coast penthouse are choosing to sell their windfall to set themselves up for life.

Hidden household leaks trigger average $24,000 repair bills for Gold Coast owners
A leaky tap or blocked gutter can cost homeowners an average of $24,000, and most never see the damage coming.

‘Builders will adapt’: What buyers need to know about WA’s brick shortage
Rather than halting new homes, Western Australia’s brick shortage may point to a different way of building.

Aussies are a ‘procrasti-nation’ when it comes to household tasks
Australia is a procrasti-nation when it comes to chores, with 97 per cent of people putting off simple household tasks.

Greater Sydney’s break-in hotspots revealed
Some of Sydney’s mortgage-belt and more affordable suburbs are recording the highest break-in rates as households feel the squeeze of living costs and rates.

Architect creates $75k fireproof flatpack home after terrifying Black Summer bushfire escape
After fleeing the Black Summer bushfires through the surf while pregnant, Fiona Logge watched her architect husband Adriano Pupilli swim back toward the flames to save their home.

‘Best thing I’ve ever done’: Pittman quits Sydney for new life on NSW farm
Former world champion hurdler Jana Pittman has traded multimillion-dollar Sydney real estate for a farm on the NSW coast.

Victorian mum offered air fryer instead of replacing broken oven
Victorian renters are still receiving eviction notices after asserting basic rights despite the state’s ban on no-grounds evictions.

“Beyond repair”: Queensland’s most-viewed home sells at auction with 17 bidders
A 1.3-hectare Landsborough home described as beyond repair has sold under the hammer for more than $100,000 above expectations.

Rate hike could price home buyers out of Qld 72 suburbs
Queensland home buyers could see dozens of suburbs slip from reach if rates rise again.

Revealed: Australia’s top ten regions for the perfect outdoor lifestyle
The ten best spots around Australia for runners, bikers and rock climbers have been ranked.

$750k ‘golden visa’: Aus landlords flee to tax-free offshore mansions
Everyday landlords, not just billionaires, are shifting money into tax-friendly offshore property.

Aus mum makes $5k a year from her spare bedroom
A Gold Coast single mother has added about $5,000 a year to her budget with a simple side hustle.

Derelict Sydney properties fetch millions under hammer as builder secures unlivable Coogee cottage
A builder has paid $3.315 million for an unliveable Coogee cottage at auction.

The Block 2027 Sunbury homes plans revealed
The Block’s 2027 plans have hit early snags, with water damage and sub-floor issues found at the former Sunbury mental hospital bought this month.

Olympian Grant Hackett takes a loss on Brighton dream home site
Olympian Grant Hackett has sold the Brighton site of his planned dream home at a loss, freeing him for a $13.425 million move to Toorak.

Chris and Lauren Tarrant’s Toorak mansion takes shape
Former Magpie Chris Tarrant and his interior designer wife Lauren are building a lavish Toorak mansion after spending almost $10 million on the land.

Darryn Lyons offloads Geelong waterfront house after big price drop
Former Geelong mayor and paparazzo Darryn Lyons has begun cashing in his multimillion-dollar property portfolio, selling the more modest of his two waterfront homes

Dream family home up for auction after cyclone wrecks a five-year renovation
A family home that took five years to renovate before Cyclone Jasper wrecked it is heading to auction.

Urban Developer – Partly Free

Nine Network’s Mt Coot-tha Exit Opens Door to New Era for Mountain
A sprawling Mt Coot-tha site that was the Nine Network’s Queensland base for 67 years has come to market, with parties already circling a broader redevelopment of the mountain.

Data Centre Boom Puts Planning, Neighbourhoods Under Pressure
Australia’s data centre expansion is creating fresh planning challenges, with a Melbourne facility facing resident opposition and a proposed NSW campus drawing scrutiny over its power needs.

Pay-walled

The Australian Financial Review

How the housing squeeze could unleash the ASX
The AFR’s Chanticleer argues that Anthony Albanese’s housing crackdown could, counterintuitively, help ignite an ASX boom.

Why falling house prices hurt Bunnings and household wealth too
Housing downturns reach well beyond property values, with implications for a wide range of companies and financial assets, including retailers such as Bunnings.

Offsets. Budgeting. Refinancing. This couple followed all the rules – and they’re still battling

Rock and roll real estate: Mushroom’s Melbourne HQ up for grabs
A slice of Australian pop history has hit the market, with the former Melbourne headquarters of Mushroom Group, the label that launched Kylie Minogue and Jimmy Barnes, up for grabs after more than four decades.

Mosman fumes at Robin Khuda’s pickleball dreams
Data centre billionaire Robin Khuda’s plans for a private pickleball court have set up the next development face-off on Sydney’s North Shore.

Thought our property market was bad? London has become a black hole
London’s once-relentless property boom has gone into reverse.

The Australian

Victoria’s retail crime crisis makes state shopping centres an outlier
Major landlords in Victoria are seeking stronger intervention to make shopping safer, the state has become the nation’s most dangerous for retailers.

Greg Boorer’s $15bn CDC data centre plan that promises to lower power bills
CDC boss Greg Boorer says Australia needs the sovereign capability to run frontier AI models on home soil, and that his company’s biggest-ever data centre, a $15 billion complex near Wagga Wagga, can help lower power bills.

Homeowners pivot to plunge pools as shrinking backyards and high interest rates hit
As backyards shrink and high interest rates bite, more homeowners are choosing plunge pools and spas over larger traditional pools.

The Sydney Morning Herald

‘Too much heat’: How residents beat a $1.2b data centre
Goodman Group’s plan for a $1.2 billion data centre in Lane Cove West drew 374 public submissions, just nine of them in favour, and on Monday the country’s biggest listed property company gave up.

NSW pay phone given heritage listing
A payphone in Narooma has been given a heritage listing, honouring its role during the Black Summer bushfires when locals and tourists lined up under orange skies to tell loved ones they were safe or that they had lost everything.

How Europe’s abandoned villages are being transformed
Across Italy, medieval hillside villages emptied in the 20th century as residents left for the cities, but some are being reborn as enchanting hotels.

Parramatta elects Labor mayor after councillor defects from Liberals
A Parramatta councillor who defected from the Liberal Party hours before the vote used her casting vote to install a Labor lord mayor.

This Sydney skyscraper drew crowds for its amazing views. There was one big problem inside
The AMP building at 33 Alfred Street, Sydney’s tallest office tower when it opened in 1962 at 117 metres and the first to break the city’s height limit, once drew tourists and school groups to its Circular Quay rooftop.

The Sydney house that Pandora jewellery built gets an $8m discount
The Newport mansion owned by former Pandora Australia boss Brook Adcock has had its price guide cut by $8 million.

A Sydney community grew vegetable gardens. The council says they’re illegal
A western Sydney council has vowed to remove three community vegetable gardens it deems illegal, despite residents calling the decision heavy-handed bureaucracy.

The Age

Queues at 9am, full by 11.30am: Housing crunch challenges rough-sleeping plan
Homelessness services warn they are stretched beyond capacity as Victoria expands a $27.8 million assertive outreach program to reduce rough sleeping.

Level crossings on hold as Labor vows to fix Melbourne’s most unreliable train line
Labor has promised to duplicate Melbourne’s least reliable rail line, the Upfield line, saving more than $600 million while further delaying a signature level-crossing removal policy.

215 rooming houses in one suburb: Warning as ‘dire situation’ escalates
One Melbourne suburb now has 215 rooming houses, as a dire situation escalates.

How a 20-year partnership that built Melbourne’s suburbs ended in scorched earth
For 20 years, Rory Costelloe and Tony Johnson were the standard-bearers for housing on Melbourne’s growing fringe through Villawood Properties, the state’s second-largest residential developer.

The Brisbane Times

Council rejects option to waive toll during Story Bridge closure
Brisbane City Council has refused to waive or reduce tolls when the Story Bridge closes over the summer peak for resurfacing.

Young family secures $1.5m nature-filled sanctuary home
A pair of chonky koalas asleep in a gum tree ten metres away upstaged the auctioneer at Upper Mount Gravatt, though four bidders still pushed a young family’s new five-bedroom home to $1.5 million.

The Daily Telegraph

Australia’s worst mortgage stress postcodes revealed as rate rises trigger forced sales
Sydney’s property market is down 8 per cent this year, and new data reveals the state’s worst mortgage-stress and forced-sale hotspots, as rate rises push more owners to sell.

Woollahra: Outgoing Liberal deputy mayor urges Premier to build station, risking party expulsion
An outgoing Liberal deputy mayor in Sydney’s east has broken ranks to urge the Premier to go full steam ahead on a Woollahra train station, risking expulsion from his party.

Eurobodalla council eyes $62m sewage plant expansion as crowds push facility limits
A South Coast council is weighing more than $60 million to upgrade a major sewage treatment plant after an influx of holidaymakers pushed the facility to its limits.

Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne all rank among the globe’s most unaffordable housing markets, new data shows
Sydney is now the second least affordable major housing market in the world, behind only Hong Kong, citing the latest Demographia International Housing Affordability report..

Rental crisis: Couple rejected 15 times, forced back home to parents as market crushes renters
A young couple with good jobs and clean rental histories were knocked back 15 times in a row and forced to move back in with parents, in a stark snapshot of Australia’s escalating rental crisis.

The Sell: Mortgagees sell Di Maloney’s prime Tamarama site for $20.25m following massive loss
Socialite Di Maloney’s prime Tamarama oceanfront property has sold at mortgagee auction for $20.25 million, nearly $9 million less than she paid in 2022.

The Herald Sun

She was raised to chase the Australian Dream. Now this 23yo says mortgages are a trap — and Europe has the answer
Raised to believe renting was dead money, 23-year-old Josephine Quattrocchi now argues a mortgage is a liability rather than security.

The Courier Mail

Eight Port Douglas beachside land lots hit online auction with bids starting at $1
House hunters dreaming of a Far North Queensland sea-change could land a slice of paradise for just $1, with a catch.

The Gold Coast Bulletin

High Steaks: Dreamworld CEO reveals how secret pitch saved Gold Coast icon from housing development
Dreamworld’s chief executive has revealed how a secret pitch saved the Gold Coast theme park from being demolished for housing.

Adelaide Advertiser

Revealed: The definitive satirical guide to Adelaide’s unspoken suburb stereotypes
Burnside’s blue-blooded bubble to Willunga’s barefoot hippy haven, the Adelaide Advertiser offers a cheeky, satirical guide to what your suburb says about you, noting the city ranks eighth in the world for liveability but insisting locals know it is better than that.

Fresh Adelaide Giant Pine Scale outbreak forces destruction of 200 more trees
South Australia’s Giant Pine Scale biosecurity crisis has deepened, with four new suburban Adelaide infestations forcing the destruction of 200 more trees and threatening a $3 billion industry and 21,000 jobs.

Former Noarlunga Downs homeless shelter to become 48 homes under $3.5m plan
A former Noarlunga Downs homeless shelter will be transformed into 48 homes under a $3.5 million federally backed plan, with two heritage buildings to be restored as family homes.

The West Australian

House That! Retiring Dockers star Sam Switkowski sells Myaree home ahead of leaving WA
Retiring Fremantle star Sam Switkowski has sold his Myaree home at a tidy profit as he prepares to leave WA. Described as the heart and soul of the Dockers, Switkowski and his wife Savannah are returning to their hometown of Melbourne with their newborn son.

The Illawarra Mercury

Inside the 70-year-old Wollongong art store defying big developments
Levers, a Wollongong art supplies store of more than 70 years, is holding its own against major developments nearby, the Illawarra Mercury reports.