Four stories that especially caught the eye this week include the new owner who “cost” his neighbours $100k, the Queenslander who’s been told to stop drying laundry on her balcony and the hard facts behind the dream of buying a house in Italy for the price of a second-hand car.

In the first, an apartment buyer tells how getting his balcony fixed led to special levies for the whole building because, well, his balcony may be exclusive to him but it’s actually part of common property.

The second story explores how tight your owners corp (or body corporate) can control your behaviour.  And if you think not being allowed to hang laundry on your balcony is bad, some schemes don’t even allow you to dry clothes where they can be seen inside your apartment.

And in the fever dream of buying an Italian home for the price of a Fiat Bambino, it turns out there’s a very good reason they are so cheap – they could be a wreck, red tape makes it hard to do any renovations and the cost of labour and materials is astronomical.

On a happier, nostalgic note, you can buy the building that once served as the hospital in long-running TV series A Country Practice … if you don’t mid TV location tourists turning up on your dourstep.

All these and more in this week’s feed from Leftfield.

Free Reads

Domain

This property comes with a vintage NSW train carriage and Melbourne tram in its backyard
A 24-hectare lifestyle retreat at Mangrove Mountain on the NSW Central Coast comes with a vintage NSW train carriage, a Melbourne tram, three houses and National Park borders.

Buyers warned over ultra-skinny home with one big catch
A 3.65-metre-wide three-level Ponsonby townhouse in Auckland’s most sought-after suburb has hit the market with a watertightness issue that the agent has made no attempt to conceal.

Renter evicted after ‘personal library’ deemed a fire hazard
A New York tenant who filled his Upper East Side studio with books to the point of blocking windows and piling above his mattress has been evicted after the collection was classified as a fire hazard.

Council rejects plans for Sonia Kruger’s $7m luxury home
Sonia Kruger and her partner Craig McPherson have had their development application to replace their Balmoral Slopes home with a $6.9 million luxury residence rejected by Mosman Council.

Traveller reveals the catch behind Italy’s famous $2 homes
An Australian travel creator who visited Sicily to investigate the famous $2 home scheme found the catch becomes apparent on arrival: restoration obligations, community contributions and bureaucratic complexity make the purchase price the smallest part of the transaction.

‘One of one’: Sydney’s rarest backyard is up for grabs
Shalimar, a landmark Drummoyne estate, is being marketed as the only property in Sydney with a waterfront lawn tennis court overlooking the harbour.

Why an empty block worth $1 million sold for just $14
A vacant East Oakland block worth more than $1 million was sold for $14 because environmental liabilities, title complications and decades of neglect made it effectively unmarketable at any conventional price.

Jennifer Lopez suffers major setback in mega-mansion sale
Jennifer Lopez’s accepted offer on her Beverly Hills mansion has fallen through, extending a two-year search for a buyer that began before her separation from Ben Affleck.

Mystery buyer quietly snaps up Donald Trump’s childhood home
A mystery buyer has purchased Donald Trump’s Tudor-style childhood home in Queens, New York, for an undisclosed sum after eight months on market.

The simple fence dispute that became a six-year legal war
An unauthorised masonry wall built by a Northwood owner-builder in 2020 has generated six years of legal conflict with neighbours, council and the courts, with no resolution in sight.

Cathy Freeman pulls $6 million mansion from the market
Cathy Freeman has withdrawn her Brighton mansion from the market after failing to achieve her $6 million to $6.6 million guide, joining a cohort of Melbourne prestige vendors stepping back to wait for spring.

The Block 2026: Everything we know so far
Season 22 of The Block is filming at Mount Eliza on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, with contestants and an air date now confirmed.

Commercial Real Estate

World Cup sparks $7 billion Aussie hospitality spending boom
The FIFA World Cup final is expected to contribute to a $7 billion hospitality spending surge across Australia, with pubs, cafes and takeaway operators all reporting record viewer numbers.

ABC Online

Despite barely any population growth, Tasmania doesn’t have enough houses
Tasmania’s housing shortage is structural rather than demand-driven, with homelessness rising and the rental market tight even as the state records the nation’s slowest population growth.

Battery installation rates collapse as ‘solar-coaster’ strikes back
Monthly household battery installations have fallen sharply after the federal government tightened subsidy criteria, producing an overcorrection in a sector that was supposed to be a housing sustainability priority.

Realestate.com.au

My dream Sydney balcony cost my neighbours $105,000 in a strata nightmare
A Sydney apartment owner’s balcony defect cost all neighbouring strata owners $15,000 each to fix, illustrating the financial exposure that common property obligations create for apartment buyers.

More expensive than a Sydney home: Prison cell and carpark among Australia’s priciest per square metre spaces
PropTrack data shows Sydney averages around $2,500 per square metre, but some blue-chip areas and quirky assets including carparks and converted spaces far exceed that benchmark.

Can strata stop me drying clothes on my balcony?
A Queensland apartment resident was warned by their body corporate to stop drying clothes on their balcony because it looked untidy, raising questions about the extent of strata authority over individual lot use.

Inside Pamela Anderson’s ‘magical’ garden oasis
Pamela Anderson has shared a look inside her sprawling family compound in Ladysmith on Vancouver Island, where vegetable patches, sunflowers and a deeply private lifestyle have replaced the Hollywood career that made her famous.

Inside Alicia Silverstone’s LA home she bought at 19
Alicia Silverstone has spent 30 years transforming the Los Angeles home she purchased at 19 into a sustainable, eco-focused residence that reflects her public values.

Television history for sale: A chance to own A Country Practice’s hospital
The heritage-listed Oakville property used as the exterior of Wandin Valley Hospital in A Country Practice from 1981 to 1993 is on the market, with a circa-1828 homestead and television provenance that will attract a very specific buyer.

Why young Victorians buy homes with friends now
Eighty per cent of Victorians under 35 would consider buying with friends or family to enter the property market, according to Buxton’s State of Living Index, reflecting a structural change in how the first-home buyer dream is being approached.

Live by the Giant Drop? Plan for Dreamworld homes given green light
Queensland has fast-tracked the Dreamworld masterplan under major project powers, opening the northern Gold Coast to residential and hotel development alongside the theme park over the coming decade.

Why Jim Belushi ditched Hollywood for farm life
Jim Belushi traded a peak TV salary of $743,000 per episode for a 37-hectare property in Eagle Point, Oregon, after a visit to a family friend on the Rogue River changed his view of what a good life looks like.

Craig Bellamy’s million dollar move amid Storm troubles
Melbourne Storm head coach Craig Bellamy and his wife are selling their long-held Gold Coast apartment after upgrading to the luxury Rockpool Rainbow Bay project at $3.55 million.

‘It sucks’: Matildas star reveals shock home find
Olympic footballer Michelle Heyman and her partner have discovered significant defects in their recently purchased home that are overturning their renovation plans and exposing the financial reality of buying older stock without a thorough pre-purchase inspection.

Cathy Freeman, Ross Pelligra’s mansion campaign pull back
A cohort of Melbourne prestige vendors including Cathy Freeman and Ross Pelligra have withdrawn their properties from the winter market to await spring conditions.

Shane Warne’s $65m property empire revealed
Shane Warne accumulated more than $65 million in property assets before his death in 2022, with the portfolio now passed to his three children.

Richmond boss Ian Wilson’s Portsea pad has price cut
The Portsea coastal home of the late Richmond Football Club president Ian Wilson has been reduced to $5.95 million to $6.5 million after not finding a buyer at its original guide.

Rainforest retreat with private waterfall and resident cassowary hits the market
A Far North Queensland rainforest property with a private waterfall, outdoor sleeping platform and resident cassowaries is on the market.

Real Commercial – Free

AFL great Dustin Martin, Ralph Carr list Abbotsford property
Dustin Martin and his manager Ralph Carr are selling their stake in a commercial property at 297 Victoria Street, Abbotsford, currently leased to a Vietnamese-fusion steakhouse.

Adrian Portelli strips down inside new Deer Park supermarket ahead of soft opening
LMCT+ founder Adrian Portelli marked the purchase of a Deer Park IGA by filming himself shirtless in the aisles pouring chocolate sauce on his chest while announcing a storewide clearance.

Streaming killed the video star: Survival of Australia’s last video shops
A small network of independent video rental stores is still operating across Australia, kept alive by collectors, cinephiles and a nostalgia economy that streaming services cannot fully replicate.

Urban Developer – Partly Free

National Push to Regulate Data Centres as Billions Flow in Sydney
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a national data centre and AI framework will go to National Cabinet in August, with legislation to follow early next year, as Macquarie Technology Group’s $3 billion Sydney campus signals the scale of the investment pipeline.

Pay-walled

The Australian Financial Review

Green energy mandate means data centres won’t be built
A net generator rule for data centres is the right policy direction, but experts warn the mandate needs to be matched by a technical understanding of what data centre power supplies actually require, as distinct from what is politically appealing.

Bathla owners, $3b in debt, plot luxury Sydney family compound
The family behind Bathla Group are planning a sprawling personal luxury compound in western Sydney while the company teeters on the edge of administration with more than $3 billion in debt.

The Sydney Morning Herald

‘Not good enough’: Why land clearing remains a problem in NSW
Land clearing across NSW jumped 16 per cent in 2024, the first full year of the Minns government, with total vegetation clearing down but scrub and grass clearing up, suggesting a category shift rather than a genuine improvement.

Older Sydney town: the suburbs where the over 65s outnumber those under 20
Over-65s now outnumber under-20s in 54 Sydney neighbourhoods, up from just 18 in 2001, as the city’s population ages and housing costs lock young families out of established suburbs.

The Age

Consumer Affairs alleges this agent is guilty of underquoting. He’s still showing homes
Consumer Affairs Victoria has launched Federal Court action against a prominent Melbourne eastern suburbs agent and two colleagues for alleged underquoting by hundreds of thousands of dollars, with the agent continuing to operate and show properties.

This level crossing is among Melbourne’s most dangerous. Plans to remove it have riled the community
A proposal to close Anderson Street in Yarraville to vehicles as part of a level crossing removal has sparked fierce community debate about traffic, retail and the suburb’s identity.

The Brisbane Times

Your car might be covering your balcony in toxic dust
A chemical called 6PPD-quinone, linked to mass salmon kills in the US and produced as tyres wear down, was found on 23 of 30 Brisbane balconies tested by University of Queensland researchers.

Fears for koala habitat as Dreamworld development approved
Conservationists have warned that the Queensland government’s approval of the Dreamworld masterplan could accelerate koala extinction in the Coomera area, which has been identified as a key habitat corridor.

The Courier Mail

Construction on Lota’s controversial pickleball facility to begin amid resident backlash
Brisbane City Council will proceed with a $250,000 pickleball facility in Lota despite community opposition, weeks after abandoning a similar plan in another suburb following resident pushback.

The Gold Coast Bulletin

Why Somerset headmaster says character is now as crucial as academic results
Somerset College principal Dr Simon Willis argues that character development has become as important as academic outcomes in an AI-driven world, with school reputation continuing to be one of the most consistent residential property value drivers in Gold Coast catchments.

The West Australian

West Australians most likely to have a good relationship with their neighbours than anywhere else in the nation
New data confirms West Australians are the most likely of any state to describe a positive relationship with their neighbours, reflecting both the state’s community culture and the value of local connections that make suburban living more than just a property transaction.

The Newcastle Herald

Daniel Johns puts a second property up for sale in just over two months
Former Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns is selling a Darlinghurst investment apartment, his second Sydney property to be listed in just over two months, continuing what appears to be a deliberate portfolio consolidation.