There are some very negative thoughts going around property at the moment – and they are all about negative gearing and the growing belief that the government is about to ditch it or, at the very least, reel it in.

Meanwhile property investors have been warned that the ATO is taking the microscope to some tax claims that stretch credibility, as well as the law.

And City of Sydney is apparently targeting $1000 a night Airbnb rentals in that former icon of affordable housing (with multi-million-dollar Opera House views) – the Sirius building on Circular Quay.

These are all stories in this week’s feed from Leftfield Communications.

Free Reads

Domain

Negative gearing tax breaks could finally be tightened in the May budget. What options are on the table?
In the lead-up to the May federal budget – now just a fortnight away – Treasurer Jim Chalmers has left the door open to winding back negative gearing, used by around 1.1 million investors for rental properties.

Melbourne rents flipped: Units now more expensive than houses
Houses are now cheaper to rent in Melbourne than units, according to the latest market data. The quarterly Domain Rental Report for March 2026, published today, shows the average asking rent for a unit in the city has risen to $600 a week.

Commercial Real Estate

Ashes to apartments: Historic Broadway Hotel site’s high-rise future
After more than 15 years sitting vacant – and surviving multiple fires and periods of squatting – the 1889-built Broadway Hotel site in Woolloongabba, Brisbane, has hit the market with approval for a 34-storey tower, as developers target one of the city’s most tightly held inner-city precincts ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games.

Realestate.com.

Growing debate over the CGT discount removal
It is one of the most hotly contested decisions to take the spotlight for the Australian property market right now. The Albanese Government faces mounting pressure over speculation it will axe the capital gains tax (CGT) discount.

Thousands of Aussie investors risk ATO crackdown this tax time
Aussies chasing bigger refunds warned they could be in trouble this EOFY as ‘too good to be true’ tax hacks explode online, with investors and side hustlers in the firing line.

Urban Developer – Partly Free

What It Takes to Secure Residential Funding in 2026
Australia’s residential development sector is facing a more disciplined and selective funding environment as projects compete for capital in an era of higher costs, tighter margins and elevated delivery risk. While underlying housing demand remains strong, access to capital has become increasingly nuanced.

Rouse Hill Developer Blasts North West Strategy, Councils
The proponent of a 1200-home precinct under way at Rouse Hill has blasted government strategy for the area, saying that patches of land released in the North West Growth Area are in his view “undevelopable”. Arris Group director Greg Taylor told The Urban Developer that he will build the 1000 apartments proposed under the Housing Delivery Authority pathway for his Parkland Estate project.

NSW Reforms Prompt $33m Midrise Scheme at Engadine
New South Wales’ housing reforms are pushing a $33-million apartment plan onto two house lots in a low-rise pocket of Sydney’s south. Almitra Projects has filed plans for a nine-storey building of 50 apartments for 28-30 Anzac Avenue, Engadine, about 325m from the suburb’s town centre.

McNab Invests in ModnPods to Scale SEQ Modular Housing
McNab has taken a strategic investment stake in Gold Coast-based modular manufacturer ModnPods, positioning the partnership to industrialise housing delivery across South East Queensland through a co-developed proprietary medium-rise modular system.

MCWA Plans Eight-Storey Essendon Apartment Scheme
Plans for a 35-apartment scheme heavy on three-bedroom apartments and sustainability specifications at Essendon’s North Activity Centre have been filed by the Macedonian Community Welfare Association.

Celtic Reveals Apartment Plan for WA’s Scarborough Beach
Perth developer Celtic Capital Properties has filed plans for a seven-storey apartment building on the West Coast Highway at Scarborough in Perth’s northern beaches.

Qld Unlocks Varsity Lakes Site with Potential for 250 Homes
A key parcel of surplus land on the Gold Coast capable of delivering hundreds of new homes is being offered to market. Industry interest now being sought through Economic Development Queensland for the 1.1ha site at Station Parade, Varsity Lakes.

Western Sydney TOD Plans Pave Way for 15,000 Homes
Transport-oriented development (TOD) plans have been finalised in two Western Sydney suburbs, making way for an estimated 15,000 homes.

‘Sky Terraces’ Deleted From Canberra Pondside Plans
An eight-storey apartment building planned to overlook a big pond in northern Canberra will have no ‘sky terraces’ as originally proposed if a revised scheme by ACT-based developer Jega is approved.

Expectations Shift as Apartment Buyers Rewrite the Rules
Old assumptions about who buys apartments are breaking down. Across the eastern seaboard, the familiar split between owner-occupier, investor and first-home buyer is giving way to something more fluid.

Sales Surge Drives Mosaic to Fast-Track Burleigh Scheme
A $180-million sales surge at a Burleigh Heads apartment tower project has signalled shifting sands at the top end of the Gold Coast market.

Three-Tower Plan in Sydney’s North-West Plots 700 Homes
A $421-million project in Sydney’s north-west that proposes 700 homes has gone on exhibition. The Housing Delivery Authority-endorsed proposal at 806-812 Windsor Road, Rouse Hill is 43km north-west of the Sydney CBD, about 550m from the Rouse Hill town centre, and 1.3km from the Tallawong train and metro station.

Apartments.com.au

Units lead Melbourne price growth as apartments outperform houses: RPM
Melbourne’s apartment market entered 2026 with renewed momentum, but the recovery is uneven, policy-driven, and increasingly shaped by constrained supply. According to the RPM Apartments & Townhomes Market Report (April 2026), apartments have begun to outperform detached housing on key metrics,yet that performance is occurring against a backdrop of falling approvals and a tightening development pipeline.

Pay-walled

The Australian Financial Review

Aussie dollar to fly as RBA goes it alone on rates
The world’s biggest central banks are expected to hold fire on raising interest rates when the boards gather this week, which strategists say leaves the Reserve Bank of Australia an outlier that will generate fresh momentum for the Australian dollar.

‘Fixers’ could be banned under new building industry code
The Albanese government will seek to use the weight of its infrastructure spending to crack down on unlawful and criminal conduct in the construction industry through new standards for federally funded projects. Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth announced on Tuesday that she would start consultation on new proposed standards for construction, which she assured would not require contractors to have union enterprise agreements.

Mosman housing density challenger withdraws case
The Mosman resident opposing a NSW plan to boost higher-density housing in her leafy lower north shore suburb has withdrawn her court case against the state government, days ahead of the local council publishing its own alternative plan for 4700 new homes.

Return to pre-1999 CGT discount no big deal, says industry
The housing industry says it can live with a move by the Albanese government to replace the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount for investors with the pre-1999 inflation-based model, saying the policy change will have a marginal effect on supply.

The Australian

Building cost inflation to jump 18 per cent in 2026-27: CBRE
Booming construction costs and rising interest rates are putting the squeeze on property developers, with more projects at risk as demand and prices soften. The uncertainty created by the war in the Middle East is ruining confidence across the residential property sector, with the Procore/Property Council Industry Sentiment Survey this week showing a sharp softening in expectations for development and construction.

Consolidated Properties gets green light for riverfront towers in Newstead, Brisbane
A clutch of residential apartment towers slated for one of Brisbane’s last riverfront development sites has won the green light from the local council. Marketed as the last riverfront address in Newstead, an inner northern suburb about 3km from the Brisbane CBD, apartment prices in the Consolidated Properties Group project will start from less than $2m for a two-bedder, with smaller apartments making up the bulk of the two-tower project.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Home buying demand is falling off a cliff. Softer prices are a near-certainty
House buyers are increasingly timid and sellers have unrealistic price expectations. That’s the market equation feeding into the weekend’s anaemic auction clearance rates, which are now approaching lows not seen since the pandemic.

‘Missed opportunity’: Sale of 48 state-owned sites leads to just five DAs
Only a handful of sites sold by the state government in its divestment endeavours over the past year are the subject of development applications, raising the spectre of land banking by developers and private buyers, and calling into question the effectiveness of NSW Labor’s land audit.

The Daily Telegraph

Future Western Sydney: Parramatta acknowledged as the gold standard of urban renewal
As the Minns government scrambles to solve Sydney’s housing and infrastructure puzzle, Parramatta is emerging as one of the only proven models for shifting the state’s economic centre of gravity – but it’s transformation was more than 30 years in the making.

City of Sydney’s vow: Rooms advertised on Airbnb for $1000 per night in Sirius Building
‘Coming for you’: Sydney councillors has vowed to stop punters forking out thousands for Airbnb rentals at the controversial luxury Sirius Building and surrounds.

The Herald Sun

‘Simply isn’t stacking up’: Billions in Melbourne skyscraper investment frozen by taxes and costs
Billions of dollars worth of approved Melbourne CBD developments have stalled, turning prime sites into disused eyesores plagued by graffiti.

The Gold Coast Bulletin

Huge Robina site approved for 300 units for sale amid housing shortage
A giant vacant block approved for 300 residential units next to CBUS Super Stadium has hit the market as one of Robina’s last major development sites.

Residents object to Sherpa Group’s twin-storey tower development plans in Palm Beach
A Palm Beach Thai restaurant is closing, a hairdressers has moved and six other stores face having to shut up shop after twin tower development plans rocked the beachside suburb.

The Southern Highlands News

‘They don’t come up very often at that price’: Bermagui apartment sells for budget $275k
A one-bedroom unit has provided an entry-point into the South Coast property market for the successful buyer. The sale price of $275,000 was well below the median unit price for the town of Bermagui.

The St George & Sutherland Shire Leader

Another Esplanade sales record – 16 red brick flats sell for $53 million
Adjoining old blocks of flats on the Esplanade, a stone’s throw from Cronulla beach and with prized north-facing views, have sold for record sums. Sharp Development Sites has sold 16 flats in a red brick block at 12-13 The Esplanade to shire developer and builder D.velop.R for $53 million.