Apart from the obvious, the biggest story in strata this week was, ironically, from an ABC Four Corners report on how so-called affordable apartments are anything but for most people.

Why is it ironic? Because two years ago it was a Four Corners report that kicked off the Netstrata saga.

This week’s report has also shaken a few cages, showing how the majority tenants fall outside the narrow band of “Goldilocks” renters who earn little enough to qualify for lower rents but still get paid enough to cover the rents they do get charged.

And then there are allegations of “poor door” apartment blocks where subsidised or affordable unit renters have to enter the building by a separate entrance and aren’t allowed to access the facilities enjoyed by the owner-residents and full-fee tenants.

It’s happening and it’s real and it’s totally UnAustralian – and it could be coming to a suburb near you.  You’ll find links to the ABC stories in the feed from Leftfield below

Free Reads

Commercial Real Estate

Developers fuel St Kilda’s Fitzroy Street rejuvenation
Fitzroy Street in St Kilda, once defined by vacancy and social disorder, is entering a new chapter with a wave of commercial developments and investor interest reshaping what the strip offers.

ABC Online

Property developers are benefitting from eased planning rules targeting ‘affordable’ housing
A Four Corners investigation finds that government schemes designed to deliver cheaper rentals are accelerating developments while the affordable homes they promise are often temporary or sometimes never built at all.

Four Corners analysed ‘affordable’ rental listings. We found a reality that didn’t match the promise
A Four Corners investigation has found serious deficiencies in Australia’s housing affordability schemes, including properties listed as affordable that were actually priced above median market rates in NSW and Victoria.

Realestate.com.au

Double rate cut going begging
While the RBA holds its position, smaller lenders have quietly repriced the mortgage market to the point where the savings available to borrowers who shop around now exceed the equivalent of two full standard rate cuts.

Gold Coast tightens grip on unit market as buyer demand now concentrates
The Gold Coast claimed six of Queensland’s top ten unit sales suburbs in the June quarter, including all of the top five, as overall Queensland unit volumes fell 37.8 per cent.

Major bank drops new expectation for 2027 rate cuts
Westpac has updated its interest rate forecasts to include relief from August 2027, joining the other major banks in expecting rate cuts next year rather than in 2028.

‘Living in fear’: Almost half of renters struggling to pay rent
Finder research shows nearly half of Australian tenants struggled to pay rent in June, with around 31 per cent saying their rent had already risen in the past six months.

1,300 new homes set to transform Sydney’s inner west suburb
Eight residential towers with harbour views and ground-floor retail are planned for an inner west Sydney site, adding 1,300 apartments with amenities including a wellness centre, gym, sauna and library.

Real Commercial

Plympton high-rise unit plans on Anzac Highway could be revived
A 1,543 square metre Plympton site on Anzac Highway has attracted strong residential developer interest following its listing, nearly a decade after a nine-storey tower proposal on the same site drew community opposition.

Sydney’s AKAI tower to be razed for 50-storey residential block
Approval has been granted to demolish the circa 1974 AKAI brutalist commercial tower on Sydney’s north shore and replace it with a 50-storey residential building.

Geelong hotel apartment portfolio hits market after convention centre opens
Thirty-three serviced apartments across two Geelong CBD hotels have been listed following the opening of the nearby NyaalBanyul Convention and Event Centre, with the convention centre’s activation expected to support occupancy.

Urban Developer – Partly Free

Church Topped by 150-Home Tower Proposed for Coffs Harbour CBD
A Uniting Church and soup kitchen site in Coffs Harbour’s civic core could be replaced by a $134 million mixed-use tower with 152 homes, progressing through the NSW Housing Delivery Authority pathway with a proposed height increase from 44 to 90 metres.

H-U Files First Apartments for Precinct in Perth’s Leafy Nedlands
Perth developer H-U has filed plans for the first of three apartment buildings in the exclusive riverside suburb of Nedlands, as part of a precinct-scale project whose 114 individual house lots have already sold out.

Living Company’s $17bn East Coast Housing Push Gains Momentum
The Living Company, owner of Scape and Aveo with more than $17 billion under management, has won approval for a Waterloo co-living scheme, commenced construction on its first Zetland build-to-rent community and begun $150 million of new Aveo stages in Brisbane simultaneously.

SKF Plots Townhouse Community for South Ripley Growth Corridor
SKF Developments has filed plans for a townhouse community in the Ripley Valley Priority Development Area, adding medium-density housing to one of South-East Queensland’s fastest-growing corridors.

Market Units Dumped for 26-Storey Co-Living at Waterloo Metro
A 26-storey, 500-apartment co-living tower at 150 Cope Street has been approved as part of the Waterloo Metro Quarter over-station development, replacing an earlier build-to-sell scheme on the same site.

Low-Cost, Midrise Modular Homes Pilot Targets Sydney’s Inner West
Uncommon Living is progressing 15 apartments on a 390 square metre Marrickville site using modular construction at a delivery cost of under $210,000 per unit, a pilot that tests whether low-cost modular can work on constrained infill sites in Sydney’s inner west.

Apartments.com.au – Free

Fortis expands Brisbane pipeline with launch of Crest and Walker in Newstead
Fortis has launched Crest and Walker, a 65-apartment, 20-storey Newstead project with construction now underway, marking the developer’s latest addition to a growing Brisbane pipeline.

A decade in the making: Residents to move into Chevron One as construction wraps up
Chevron One, a 52-storey Gold Coast tower nearly a decade in the making, has reached completion with residents now collecting keys to one of the city’s most recognisable new landmarks.

Pay-walled

The Australian Financial Review

Victoria’s ‘permissive’ townhouse code could fix Sydney’s housing woes
New research argues that copying Victoria’s streamlined townhouse approval system could unlock up to 9 million homes nationwide, though economists note NSW’s high-density apartment strategy may ultimately deliver homes faster.

Failed property developer Jean-Dominique Huynh’s debts now exceed $660m
The debts of Jean-Dominique Huynh, the developer behind the Sirius building remodelling and several east coast landmark projects, have ballooned from $131 million to $667 million according to his bankruptcy trustee.

Auction clearance rates rebound to seven-week high
Preliminary auction clearance rates across the combined capitals hit 54.8 per cent last weekend, the highest reading in seven weeks, bouncing from 49.8 per cent the prior week as lower listing volumes constrained buyer choice and the post-budget market continued to find its level.

Insurance brokers in apartment sector reported to watchdog
Two insurance brokers serving the strata sector have been reported to ASIC for failing to disclose conflicts of interest, including profit-sharing arrangements with strata managers, following a review by the Insurance Brokers Code Compliance Committee.

How this apartment building offers affordable rentals with no subsidy
A 425-unit build-to-rent development in Box Hill includes 33 affordable apartments let at 25.1 per cent below market rate to eligible tenants, mostly single women over 50, without requiring a public subsidy.

Record $24m Rose Bay penthouse sale defies cooling market
Fortis has sold a full-floor penthouse off the plan at its Verano project in Rose Bay for $24 million, setting a suburb record for a unit and demonstrating that premium stock approved under the NSW Low and Mid-Rise housing policy can find buyers regardless of broader market sentiment.

The Australian

Labor’s housing ‘fix’ a case of bad policy made even worse
Judith Sloan argues the Albanese government’s property tax changes are bad policy compounded by a tendency to cite selective anecdotes while distancing itself from adverse outcomes it helped engineer.

Developer Fortis sells full-floor Rose Bay penthouse in ‘softening’ market for $24m
Fortis has sold a full-floor Rose Bay penthouse at Verano off the plan for $24 million to a local downsizing family, who subsequently added a cellar, extra storage and custom wall configurations to the design.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Why it’s the weakest auction market since 2020 and what spring may bring
The monthly auction clearance rate has hit its weakest level since 2020, though Elizabeth Redman argues the market is beginning to stabilise as vendors adjust price expectations to match where buyers actually are.

‘The worst we have ever seen’: Mayor leads Katoomba housing plan backlash
A proposal for nine buildings up to five storeys on unused land along Narrow Neck Road in Katoomba has drawn a year-long fight between residents, council and the developer, with the Blue Mountains mayor leading the opposition.

The Age

Beloved Kew supermarket site headed to Supreme Court over controversial development
Boroondara Council has filed Supreme Court proceedings against Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny and a James Packer-backed consortium seeking to have the fast-tracked approval of an 18-storey residential and retail tower on the former Leo’s Supermarket site in Kew Junction thrown out.

First home buyers battle for stylish $1.2m Northcote townhouse
A first-home buyer couple secured a three-bedroom tri-level townhouse in Northcote at auction for $1,215,000, pushing $40,000 above the top of its guide after competitive bidding.

Melbourne has Australia’s least restrictive planning zones, but these suburbs remain ‘locked down’
YIMBY Melbourne’s national zoning atlas confirms Melbourne has the least restrictive residential planning zones of any Australian capital, but development advocates say inner-eastern suburbs remain largely impenetrable, with heritage protections, two-storey height caps and low-density zones covering most of the land closest to the city.

‘Central Park of Box Hill’: How a brickworks site is dividing a community and developers
The former Box Hill Brickworks quarry, vacant for three decades and now earmarked for development up to ten storeys under the Suburban Rail Loop precinct plans, has become a flashpoint between residents who want a public park and developers who see a housing opportunity.

The Daily Telegraph

Meriton’s Harry Triguboff warns of real estate ‘catastrophe’
Harry Triguboff, 93, has warned that Australia’s indecision on immigration strategy is heading the country toward a real estate catastrophe, arguing that population growth managed well is the only reliable mechanism for sustaining property market health.

St Peters warehouses to be converted into 10-storey $180m rental apartment hub
A cluster of inner Sydney warehouses in St Peters will be converted into more than 460 build-to-rent apartments including hundreds of studios, adding density to a suburb already undergoing significant industrial-to-residential transition.

Plan revealed for 2900 new homes and 25-storey towers to revitalise Brookvale
A masterplan for Brookvale on Sydney’s northern beaches proposes 2,900 new homes across towers up to 25 storeys, a new town square and a creative industry hub, targeting a suburban centre that has underperformed its accessibility and infrastructure for decades.

The Courier Mail

New 28-storey tower planned opposite Breakfast Creek Hotel to transform Albion
A developer has lodged plans for a 28-storey, 166-apartment tower inspired by New York’s Flatiron Building on the site opposite Brisbane’s landmark Breakfast Creek Hotel.

The Gold Coast Bulletin

Councillors slam developer’s ‘concerning’ plan for 25-storey Royal Pines towers
Gold Coast councillors have unanimously flagged serious concerns to the state planning minister about a proposal for 25-storey towers at Royal Pines, describing the density as inappropriate for the location.

Prominent Gold Coast development site for sale as billionaire Ian Malouf walks away
Billionaire waste entrepreneur Ian Malouf has abandoned his 44-storey tower vision for one of the Gold Coast’s most notorious development sites, listing it for sale as international buyers circle the opportunity.

The Newcastle Herald

‘Exciting part of our city’: councillors back high density in Lake hub
Lake Macquarie councillors unanimously approved a 25-apartment development at Warners Bay in a committee meeting that took less than 15 minutes, with one councillor describing the area as an exciting part of the city.

Why this Warners Bay apartment block may stretch above the height limit
Lake Macquarie councillors are expected to approve a 25-apartment development in Warners Bay that exceeds the height limit by 26.4 per cent, with the council meeting to consider the DA this week.

The Illawarra Mercury

‘Sheer uncertainty’: Gwynneville locals unsettled by Homes NSW plans for 75 lots
Homes NSW is proposing to redevelop 75 lots it owns in Gwynneville into multi-storey buildings, triggering community concern about the scale and character of change to an established neighbourhood adjacent to the Wollongong Botanic Garden.

Tall poppy? At 38-storeys this Flinders Street tower would be short on parking spaces
A 38-storey apartment tower proposed for the corner of Flinders and Station streets in Wollongong, already classified as State Significant Development, has a parking shortfall of more than 100 spaces and exceeds the height limit by almost 100 metres.

‘It’s a lifestyle choice’: $6 million penthouse sale sets new Kiama price record
A penthouse in Level 33’s Elan Kiama boutique development has sold for $6 million, setting a new apartment price record for the popular coastal town.

The St George & Sutherland Shire Leader

Towers up to 30-storeys: Southgate to get 900 homes in proposed revamp
Southgate Shopping Centre in Sylvania is the subject of a State Significant Development declaration by Planning Minister Paul Scully, fast-tracking a proposal for more than 900 apartments across six buildings including three residential towers reaching 22, 27 and 30 storeys.