We’ve tried to find some bright spots to relieve the unrelenting doom and gloom in property news but they’re hard to find.

Inflation is up, which means interest rate will go up next week, as sure as the fact that more people will lose money on the Melbourne Cup than will win.

First-time buyers are being priced out of more and more markets, and auctions – formerly events that almost required crowd control – are struggling to get two competing buyers.

Also, and this should come as no surprise to absolutely anyone, but estate agents are using AI-based assessments to weed out the less attractive prospective tenants, based on income, age and, it seems, race.

Welcome to this week’s reality check from Leftfield Communications.

Realestate.com.au- Free

SA real estate inquiry finds AI locking out vulnerable tenants
Vulnerable prospective tenants are being rejected by AI, a South Australian parliamentary inquiry into real estate conduct has heard.

Aussies slash spending as mortgage crisis spreads beyond housing market
Australians are cutting back on groceries, skipping medical appointments and turning to credit as the housing affordability crisis spills into the wider economy.

‘Elephant in room’: Melbourne sellers blamed for auction woes
Melbourne sellers chasing unrealistic prices are contributing to the city’s auction struggles, a leading auctioneer warns.

John McGrath reveals top Sydney suburbs to buy into before property market rebound
Sydney’s market has tumbled in recent months, but property entrepreneur John McGrath has good news and tips on where to buy.

18 Melbourne suburbs outrun Albanese’s $950k first-home cap
Almost 20 Melbourne suburbs have moved beyond the reach of first-home buyers since the Albanese government expanded its 5 per cent deposit scheme a year ago.

Melbourne buyers warned waiting could cost them $80k
Melbourne homebuyers are being urged to act before November’s election, with one buyers advocate claiming early buyers could save $80,000 on an $800,000 home.

First-home buyers locked out of 169 affordable Queensland suburbs
First-home buyers have been locked out of 169 historically cheap Queensland markets since the federal 5 per cent deposit scheme was expanded a year ago.

Developer reveals shifting buyer demands after landmark $10m Redcliffe unit sale
A roughly $10 million off-the-plan apartment deal in Redcliffe highlights a shift in Queensland’s market, with buyers increasingly choosing apartments over houses and paying millions to do so.

Urban Developer – Partly Free

Woollahra Rejects Bid to Lower Yield on $34m Apartment Scheme
An application to downsize an approved $34 million apartment project at Sydney’s Bellevue Hill has been refused by the Woollahra Local Planning Panel over non-compliance with a host of controls.

Developers on Notice as ATO’s Land Banking Clampdown Gets Results
The Australian Taxation Office’s clampdown on foreign buyers holding undeveloped land is intensifying.

Pay-walled

The Australian Financial Review

This super giant had Bathla loans. It still believes in private credit
The chief investment officer of $370 billion super fund Australian Retirement Trust knows private credit has an image problem, but says the reality is different.

The extent of Australia’s tradie shortage revealed
Almost one in two trades is now in shortage, putting the federal government’s 1.2 million-homes target further at risk as builders compete with data centres and infrastructure projects for bricklayers, carpenters and electricians.

‘Extraordinarily weak’: Fewer than half of homes sold at auction
Fewer than half the homes listed for auction nationally sold over the past week as buyers held back, wary of a possible fifth rate rise as soon as next week.

Why private credit’s reckoning could be good news for investors
Australian investors have not found a fatal flaw in private credit after the collapse of Bathla Group, but are confronting a test that comes with scale, argues Challenger’s Stephen Martin in the AFR.

Double whammy predicted for new home building
Another rate rise as soon as next month would be a double whammy for housing, deepening the fall in prices and further stifling demand for new homes.

Dubai in Geelong? Tim Gurner’s $1.75b plan for Victoria’s second city
Billionaire developer Tim Gurner is bringing a Dubai vibe to Geelong with plans for a 34-storey luxury apartment building that would be the town’s tallest tower, at the end of a pier.

The Australian

REA Group chief Cameron McIntyre targets AI growth as property market stabilises
Digital property company REA Group believes the artificial intelligence shift is taking shape in ways that favour greater use of its technology, as the market stabilises.

Nineteen co-owners take renovated Surry Hills unit to auction amid shifting Sydney market
When you think of owner syndicates, racehorses or lottery tickets come to mind, not a two-bedroom unit.

We’ve hit rock bottom: we can expect recovery from Easter, says McGrath boss
The residential market has hit rock bottom and a recovery is not likely until after Easter, veteran agent John McGrath says.

“Back to structures” Hundreds of Bathla Group homes gutted over build quality concerns
Builders are faced with gutting hundreds of Bathla Group homes as lenders get to grips with the wreckage of the failed developer amid despair over the quality of its houses coupled with complex regulations.

The Sydney Morning Herald

The developers, the courtrooms and the battle over what gets built in Sydney
Record numbers of planning disputes are being fought in court as developers increasingly challenge council decisions, leaving communities caught in the middle.

Think falling prices will fix Sydney’s housing crisis? Think again
Sydney has long been cast as ground zero for Australia’s housing affordability crisis, with home ownership at historic lows and prices a persistent source of anxiety.

First home buyer pays $1.3m for inner south warehouse conversion
A first-home buyer has paid $1,305,000 for a two-bedroom apartment in a converted Alexandria warehouse, $55,000 above reserve.

Philanthropic couple re-list $40m beachside unit with $5m discount
Former investment banker and philanthropist Peter Hunt and his wife Tania de Jong, a soprano and social entrepreneur, have relisted their Manly penthouse with a $35 million guide.