Interest rates are falling as major banks bet on federal rate cuts in the near future … maybe. Home buyers are owed $1bn in refunds for stamp duty that was paid in error … perhaps.

However, you can definitely buy a tennis court with glorious water views in a blue chip suburb for only $7million. And, in the least surprising news of the week, investors are targetting new and off-the-plan apartments, which will still enjoy negative gearing.

All this and more in the latest apartment news from Leftfield Communications.

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A single patch of grass is worth as much as six average houses in Melbourne
Most Australians would expect $7 million to buy a mansion, but in one of Melbourne’s wealthiest suburbs, it only gets you a patch of grass. A standalone tennis court in Brighton has hit the market with a staggering $6.5 million to $7 million price guide.

NAB tips interest rate cut in surprise forecast reversal
The Reserve Bank is widely tipped to hold interest rates next week, but one of the nation’s biggest lenders argues a cooling economy will force the RBA’s next move to be a cut – though the timing remains uncertain.

Gold Coast apartment with $49k strata fees sells at no-reserve auction for more than $50k
A Gold Coast apartment considered such a tough sell its owners were willing to risk letting it go for as little as $50 at a no-reserve auction has instead sold before the hammer could fall.

ABC Online

Couple launches youth housing organisation to combat Sunshine Coast rental crisis
A couple on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland say they were told landlords “did not want” young people like them, during their exhaustive search for a rental property. They have now launched a youth-based organisation to work on solutions that will help young people better access housing.

Realestate.com.au

Aussie homeowners ‘owed $1bn in refunds’
Aussie homeowners are owed around $1 billion in refunds, one of the country’s leading real estate bodies says. According to the Real Estate Institute of NSW, the NSW government has made a potential error in collecting the stamp duty on homes sold in the state, to the tune of as much as $1bn.

Developer eyes new Brisbane project after success of Gold Coast skyscraper
A Sydney developer’s Gold Coast “leap of faith” has paid off, with their tower topping out at Surfers Paradise and a Brisbane approval already secured for what comes next. Developer Sammut Group is pursuing its next Queensland project buoyed by the success of its Gold Coast debut, COAST.

Shock as major banks cut interest rates
Two of Australia’s biggest banks have cut interest rates in a shock move – with one major lender already predicting the Reserve Bank will follow with cuts of its own next year.

Albanese’s housing plan faces collapse as 34k homes bulldozed
Australia’s hopes of an Albanese government home building plan to pull the nation out of its housing crisis are being bulldozed with 34,000 homes demolished since it started.

Developer Graya starts work on $150m luxury Hamilton complex
Bulldozers have moved in on a massive site fronting Hamilton’s Racecourse Road, clearing the way for a controversial $150 million project that sparked a high-profile legal stoush and community backlash.

Apartments outperform houses in 69 Brisbane suburbs
South east Queensland apartments are now beating houses on rent price growth in 69 suburbs – and experts say the Brisbane 2032 Olympics will only accelerate the divide.

Influencers offload Noosa penthouse and put $12m price on ‘wellness’ house
A musician and his wellness influencer wife have sold one of their luxurious Noosa properties and put a $12m price tag on another one in the same street.

SA apartment markets now beating houses in key measure
Apartments have long offered a more affordable alternative to houses, but new data shows they are could be the next big thing among SA’s investors.

Real Commercial

Why a developer scrapped Geelong office tower for 107 apartments
A developer has returned to the drawing board seeking to reimagine a proposed Geelong office tower into an 18-storey mixed use project featuring 107 apartments.

Urban Developer – Partly Free

Urban Property Makes 1700-Home Bet on ‘Sleeping Giants’
Urban Property Group’s Keira Place stage 2, due to go on exhibition on June 10, proposes another 391 apartments and 266 co-living units to the precinct. The first stage, with 150 apartments and 18 SDA homes, broke ground in May.

Raptis Group Files Plans for Seventh Highrise on Broadbeach Skyline
Gold Coast developer Raptis Group has filed plans for a 29-storey residential tower—its seventh addition to the rising skyline at Broadbeach. The proposed development yielding 73 luxury apartments is slated for a 818sq m site on the corner of First Avenue and Surf Parade.

Adelaide Parklands 10-Storey Apartment Tower Waved Ahead
A planned 10-storey apartment building envisaged to have uninterrupted views of the verdant Adelaide parklands has been approved after impressing South Australia’s state architect. If built as approved on May 27 by SA’s State Commission Assessment Panel, developer Whitmore Minuzzo’s project on the fringe of Adelaide’s CBD will comprise 44 apartments.

Toohey Miller Again Seeks Height Uplift for $280m Pyrmont Tower
Fresh plans for Toohey Miller’s $280-million Pyrmont skyscraper have been revealed with an application now filed for the 26-38 Saunders Street site.

S&S Projects’ Rainbow Bay Pipeline Reaches for New Heights
Developer Paul Gedoun’s S&S Projects has filed plans for its fifth and largest development in Coolangatta’s renowned Rainbow Bay surfing enclave.

Work Begins on 1400-Home Fitzroy Gasworks Precinct
Work has begun on the first phase of the major 1400-home Fitzroy Gasworks project in Melbourne’s inner north. The Inner North Collective Joint Venture consortium of Assemble, Milieu and Hickory, alongside capital partners AustralianSuper and HESTA, have broken ground on site afer a five-year planning process.

BtR Ready for Lift-Off as Settings Close in on Perfection
A decade into embracing the build-to-rent asset class, Australian property is catching up at pace, while putting a uniquely Antipodean spin on the sector.

Pask’s Rochedale Apartment Community Begins to Rise
Construction has begun on Florian Rise, the first apartment community in Brisbane’s Rochedale. RCQ Construction has completed earthworks and begun vertical construction on Stage 1 of the project being developed by Pask at 41 Skyview Avenue.

WeAreLiving’s 366-Home BtR Opens in Fortitude Valley
Brisbane’s newest build-to-rent development has officially opened in Fortitude Valley, adding 366 apartments to the city’s rental market.

Apartments.com.au

Investors to turn to new and off the plan apartments after federal government changes spark hunt for Sydney’s best sub-$1 million projects
The federal government’s proposed changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions are expected to reshape where investors direct their attention over the coming years.

First look: Antipodean Land Developments plans heritage-led Fitzroy apartment project
Fitzroy is set for another apartment development in keeping with its cool, urban heritage. The busy Antipodean Land Developments, which is also progressing projects in Thornbury and Surrey Hills, has plans for 14 new apartments at 11–13 Spring Street, near Johnston Street and the tram route along Nicholson Street.

First look: Nascon targets Burwood growth corridor with 112-unit apartment tower
Burwood’s expanding high-rise skyline could soon push further west, with Nascon lodging plans for a new apartment tower that would deliver more than 100 homes on the edge of the town centre.

First look: Two-tower apartment development pitched for Palm Beach
Two new apartment buildings have been proposed for a rare development site with frontages to both the Gold Coast Highway and The Esplanade at the northern end of Palm Beach.

10-year Latent Defects Insurance for new apartment buyers set to land in Victoria
The Building Legislation and Treasury Legislation (Tax Relief) Amendment Bill 2026 has passed the Victorian Lower House, putting Victoria on track to create an industry workable LDI framework as a formal alternative to the Strata Building bond.

First look: Raptis lodges plans for new 29-storey Broadbeach tower
Gold Coast developer brings seventh Broadbeach project to market, targeting construction commencement before year endJoel Robinson

First look: Seymour Group returns to New Farm’s Oxlade Drive with riverfront apartment plans
Brisbane development veteran Kevin Seymour’s Seymour Group is set to deepen its presence on one of Brisbane’s most tightly held riverfront addresses, lodging revised plans for a luxury apartment development on Oxlade, just a few doors down from The Oxlade, which it completed in 2024.

GWH unveils first release at landmark Cambridge Quarter precinct in Newcastle West
A new residential tower will be the first piece of a broader mixed-use precinct set to reshape a prominent Newcastle West site, with local developer GWH bringing its Cambridge Quarter vision to market.

First look: S&S Projects proposes 88-apartment wellness tower at Coolangatta’s Boundary Street
S&S Projects, Rainbow Bay’s busiest developer, has officially lodged plans for the largest development in its booming local portfolio, seeking approval for a further 88 apartments on Boundary Street.

Pay-walled

The Australian Financial Review

‘Tall, fat buildings’: Sparks fly over high-rise plan in Sydney’s east
A former Labor mayor who sent councillors a group email about objections to a proposed major residential development in Sydney’s Bondi Junction and separately referred to it as “tall fat buildings” has denied she is coordinating a NIMBY campaign.

New duplex sells for $730,000 in post-budget investor battle
A three-bedroom, two-bathroom row dwelling/duplex at 89c Whitington Road, Davoren Park, South Australia. Sold at auction for $730,000.

Trump family’s planned billion-dollar resort in Albania sparks fury
Tirana | Thousands of Albanians are protesting a luxury resort planned for a pristine strip of the Mediterranean coastline and backed by President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner.

The Australian

UBS slashes home price forecast with 3 to 5 per cent falls expected
A fall in sentiment in the housing market and weak auction clearance rates have prompted investment bank UBS to downgrade its outlook for residential property to slip 3-5 per cent over the coming year.

The Sydney Morning Herald

One of Australia’s biggest banks says interest rate pain is over – for now
One of the nation’s biggest lenders believes the Reserve Bank has finished inflicting more pain on borrowers, predicting rate cuts are coming to prop up an economy struggling to deal with high inflation, the war against Iran and the fallout from the federal government’s budget tax changes.

‘Disgusting conditions’: Workers allegedly living on luxury Burwood high-rise site
Migrant workers have been living illegally in “dangerous and disgusting conditions” within a major development in Burwood, the CFMEU has alleged.

The Age

Barely half of Victoria’s rentals are meeting minimum standards
Barely half of Victorian rental properties meet minimum standards, new research shows, despite a Victorian government push to improve conditions for renters.

Brisbane Times

Unit parking requirements slashed as details of suburban renewal plans emerge
New rules allowing fewer parking spaces in apartment buildings have been introduced, while details about several other proposals to increase building activity – including at Mount Gravatt, Cannon Hill and Alderley – have emerged.

Plan for suburb’s first 25-storey highrise set to test council upzoning push
Plans have been lodged for a first-of-its-kind 25-storey apartment tower next to Westfield Carindale, as an ambitious Sydney-based developer tests Brisbane council’s appetite for dramatically taller buildings in the suburbs.

New South Brisbane student hub aims to ease rental squeeze
New design plans for a student accommodation tower in South Brisbane have been released as construction gets under way. The building at 41 Tribune Street – directly opposite South Bank bus station – will be a Scape facility with 527 beds across 17 storeys.

WA Today

Premier backs plan to transform waterfront with towers and hundreds of venues
An ambitious plan to transform a large area of the South Brisbane waterfront has won the support of the premier, despite concerns from residents the area is being developed too quickly.

The Daily Telegraph

‘The best chance’ – new data shows the top NSW state schools driving huge demand from househunters
Property buyers are flocking to the suburbs where NSW’s top-performing state schools are located. New data reveals the areas where demand – and median prices – are soaring.

Waterloo public housing protest over plans to demolish unit block
Police have surrounded a protest encampment at a public housing block in Sydney’s inner suburbs, as preparation for its demolition begin.

Developer pushes $28m tower three times the height limit on exclusive Sydney street
Residents in one of Sydney’s premier eastern suburbs streets face a looming tower that will house low-income tenants, after a developer used state housing laws to bypass strict local planning.

The Courier Mail

Jarrod Bleijie orders scrapping of hundreds of affordable homes
Planning Minister Jarrod Bleijie has directed developers to scrap 586 affordable homes across two South East Queensland sites, replacing them with market-rate dwellings.

Brisbane council nets over $16,000 a day from new short-stay rental rates
Brisbane City Council has collected $5.2 million in short-stay accommodation rates in less than a year, a 563 per cent surge. Search our table to see how many are in your suburb.

The Gold Coast Bulletin

Mayor slams MP’s ‘confused’ claims over new Miami tower height
Mayor Tom Tate has contradicted a state MP’s claims about the Miami Arts District, confirming the development’s maximum building height.

‘Enormous unmet demand’: Why Gold Coast units are selling out in days
Gold Coast unit sales have defied federal budget fears, with three major developments recording hundreds of millions in presales as buyer demand remains strong.

The West Australian

Sellers drops prices by $100k as Perth’s property market sees ‘seismic shift’ in demand
Multiple sellers have dropped their listing price by five or six-figure sums as some agents report a “seismic shift” in demand in sections of the property market. While Perth’s median property prices increased 1.1 per cent over the month to June 7, according to the Cotality index, demand is tempering in some pockets.

The Newcastle Herald

Construction begins on luxury five-storey $28m retirement complex
Construction has commenced on a five-storey $28 million retirement complex in Port Stephens, sparking concern from some residents. The Kado Group Anna Bay project, approved in 2024 by Port Stephens Council, will include apartments going for as much as $3.25 million.