In the chilly hours and minute of uncertainty in property, as a legendary folkie once almost sang, it seems there are only losers, according to the media.

Apparently the homes that are getting cheaper will still be out of reach of the majority of first-time buyers.  And the suburbs where people bought in while they could are those where the quicksand of negative equity is now most prevalent.

And apartment approvals are up 13 per cent, but so are building costs with the average cost of building a new apartments having gone past the million-dollar mark (although the mean has surely been raised by the three and four-bedroom strata mansions that are being built to replace homes that were once affordable).

And who’s driving this desire for bigger, fancier and much more expensive apartments – expats and off-shore investors, according to one report.

So how do you predict what’s going to happen in property in the near and mid-distant future?  Ah, you might as well try and catch the wind.

Here’s the most recent apartment property news form Leftfield Communicatons.

Free Reads

Domain

How international buyers are reshaping Australia’s luxury apartment market
Expats and offshore investors are increasingly shaping how Australia’s luxury off-the-plan apartments are designed and marketed, weaving in international influences.

One Nation co-founder cashes in on former family home after council battle
David Oldfield, co-founder of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, has sold his former family home after winning approval to redevelop it into a multimillion-dollar retirement village.

ABC Online

Calls for 7.5pc levy on holiday rentals to fund homelessness support services
Homelessness NSW is calling for a 7.5 per cent levy on short-term rentals to lift funding for homelessness services and push properties back into the long-term rental market.

Realestate.com.au

Selective discounts expose brutal reality of current housing downturn
Australians cheering falling prices may be disappointed, since the homes getting cheaper are mostly ones most buyers could not afford even at a discount.

Sydney homeowners warned as ‘slump repeat offender’ suburbs named
Homeowners on the urban-rural fringe, in high-density pockets and in some pricey postcodes have been warned their properties are most exposed as Sydney’s correction deepens.

Buyers snap up all luxury residences in $122m Broadbeach development
A $122 million beachfront development in Broadbeach has sold out six months before completion, with all 16 residences and penthouses taken.

Teneriffe Festival co-founder sells beloved penthouse after two decades in suburb
The Queensland suburb of Teneriffe’s raw industrial character drew Jillian Kingsford Smith long before wealthy buyers turned the riverside enclave into a luxury playground, and now she is selling her penthouse after two decades.

Savvy investors target apartments with high rental yields
A country buyer looks set to sidestep the federal investor tax changes, moving quickly on a three-bedroom Adelaide city apartment with strong rental returns.

Apartment approvals up 13% year-on-year, but construction costs put momentum at risk
June delivered a 13 per cent year-on-year lift in apartment approvals, but industry groups warn that fragile confidence and feasibility pressures continue to weigh on the construction pipeline.

Dozens of banks cut rates, but loyal borrowers won’t save a cent
A mortgage war for new customers is breaking out, with dozens of lenders cutting rates, though experts warn existing borrowers will not save unless they act.

Urban Developer – Partly Free

Pencil-Thin Highrise Pitched for Surfers Paradise Skyline
As premium beachfront footprints on the Gold Coast run out, developers are turning to ultra-slender skinny towers, and a new pencil-thin highrise has been pitched for the Surfers Paradise skyline.

Affordable Homes Unlock 111-Room Co-Living Play in Sydney’s South-West
Six affordable apartments would sit above 111 co-living rooms in a six-storey project in Sydney’s south-west.

Prosper Wins Go-Ahead for $92m Midrise Plans in Sydney’s Ku-Ring-Gai
Prosper has secured approval for its $92 million apartment complex at St Ives, beside a golf course and shopping mall in the Ku-ring-gai area.

McNab, TRK Property Pitch Highrise Towers for South Brisbane
Decade-old dual-tower plans on the doorstep of the Brisbane CBD have been shelved by the site’s new owner as economic and construction pressures reshape inner-city apartment delivery.

WA’s ‘Highway to Hell’ Pub Swapped for Microbrewery in $93m Proposal
A defunct Perth hotel tied to the origins of a famous AC/DC anthem would make way for a microbrewery and 203 apartments under a $93 million proposal from a Sydney developer.

Challenge to North Sydney Tower’s State Significant Status Rejected
The NSW Land and Environment Court has rejected an attempt to strip a North Sydney development of its State Significant Development status.

St Kilda Gateway Site Approved for 90 Homes Comes to Market
A permit-approved site capable of delivering 94 apartments has been listed at the gateway to Melbourne’s St Kilda Road precinct.

Commercial Real Estate – Free

Green light for Nicole Kidman’s Sydney cinema redevelopment
The NSW Government has approved the redevelopment of the Verona Cinema site in Paddington. Developer WT Malouf’s seven-storey scheme will deliver 64 homes, including 14 affordable rentals, alongside retail, four cinema screens and a bar, with the original Verona brick facade restored.

Pay-walled

The Australian Financial Review

Property price slide exposes political peril for Albanese government
Australians have long complained about unaffordable housing, but the current correction is showing the government that not everyone welcomes falling values.

Sydney, Melbourne prices to fall 10 per cent as downturn deepens: NAB
National Australia Bank has sharply downgraded its house price forecasts as the downturn accelerates and spreads.

Australia’s tallest apartment building site carved up in receiver sale
Buyers in what was to be Australia’s tallest apartment tower, STHBNK by Beulah in Melbourne’s Southbank, have no certainty yet on the return of their $57 million in deposits, even as receivers sell one of the two sites in the failed $2.7 billion project for $26 million.

Ministers dismiss $230bn property downturn as ‘overstated’ amid negative equity fears
Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles says concern over the $230 billion property downturn is overstated, as a leading economist frames the market as a correction following the government’s tax changes and rate rises.

Crypto billionaire Ed Craven snaps up units near Melbourne compound
Crypto entrepreneur Ed Craven has spent about $1.6 million on two units in an apartment block next to his Toorak property, where he is building a large luxury compound.

Politics of falling house prices will get uglier as downturn builds
Labor is trying to have it both ways on falling house prices, taking credit for tilting the market toward first-home buyers while playing down the scale of the correction.

The Australian

Developers abandon projects amid warning Australia is becoming a ‘nation of renters’
Some residential developers are shelving projects that no longer stack up as construction costs rise and buyer demand softens, raising concerns about a thinner pipeline of new homes.

ALP turns blind eye to house market mugging as 10pc drops warned
National Australia Bank has forecast house prices across the major east coast cities to fall about 10 per cent over the next year, roughly double its earlier projection.

The Sydney Morning Herald

‘So scaredy-cat’: Why no one wants to buy when homes are getting cheaper
Some prospective buyers are stepping back from auctions and inspections, wary of falling prices and an uncertain economy.

‘More breathing room’: First home buyers pay $1.42m for inner west townhouse
A two-bedroom townhouse in Lilyfield sold for $1.42 million on Saturday to an inner-west couple buying their first home, in a sign of the shifting market.

Yachtie to sell $23m unit in block where Cate Blanchett also owns
Yachtsman and intellectual property law veteran David Griffith and his wife Penny have listed their Elizabeth Bay second home with a guide of $21 million to $23 million.

The Age

Anger over push to turn one of Australia’s oldest orphanages into apartments
A proposal to turn one of Australia’s oldest orphanages into apartments in a quiet Melbourne suburb has drawn a warning for other residential streets.

WA Today

Iconic Perth pub that inspired AC/DC anthem set for 11-storey apartment tower
A once-beloved Perth pub that helped inspire an AC/DC anthem could become apartments and a microbrewery under plans before the WA Planning Commission.

The Daily Telegraph

Sydney property prices rising where first home buyers can afford
Sydney’s downturn has cut prices across much of the city but has not improved affordability for first-home buyers.

Lawrence St, Freshwater: Eastern suburbs developer set to build $34m shop top apartment complex
An eastern suburbs developer has won court approval for a $34 million shop-top apartment complex on Freshwater Village’s main street.

More than 34,000 first-home buyers face $2.2bn financial wipe-out
More than 34,000 government-backed first-home buyers face a potential $2.2 billion wipe-out as a cooling market threatens to push them into negative equity.

64-66 Lavender St and 3-7 Middlemiss St: Lavender Bay tower sparks affordable housing backlash
A developer’s $214 million plan for two Lavender Bay towers of 23 and 32 storeys, with harbour views, has drawn criticism from residents who say it will deliver even less affordable housing than before.

The Sell: Fugitive developer Jean Nassif’s defect-riddled project leaves owners with huge losses
Buyers in Jean Nassif’s Botany apartment project are losing money on their homes while the developer allegedly lives freely in Lebanon, owing creditors $1.88 billion.

Housing crisis fix could slash cost of new Sydney apartments by $200,000
New research finds the NSW Government could cut up to $200,000 from the cost of every new apartment without compromising design quality.

The St George & Sutherland Shire Leader

State fast-tracks another Caringbah tower, knocks back Woolooware
Another Caringbah high-rise has been declared State Significant Development while a Woolooware project was refused fast-track processing.

The Illawarra Mercury

In a rental market where 100% of homes are out of reach, Tara has her champagne ready
In a Wollongong rental market where affordability is out of reach for many, Tara Elliffe has her champagne ready for a move into her own place.

CBD apartment block’s extra height is fine, but where’s all the grass?
It was the landscaping, not the extra storeys, that tripped up a Wollongong CBD apartment proposal.

Fast-track approval pipeline gone for Crown Street development
Developer Blaq Projects’ bid to add 13 storeys to a Crown Street project has stalled after being dropped from the NSW government fast-track and losing its State Significant Development status.