Would you put your granny in a pod?  A story in realestate.com.au claims hi-tech pods could become the future of granny flats in Australia.

Australian company Transvilla makes the fully transportable, shipping container-shaped modular homes that can be used for granny flats, affordable living and renting.

Multiple sizes of pods, which are manufactured overseas, range from the compact 19sq m pod to larger options as big as 38.76sq m.

For the record, the minimum size for a new studio apartment in NSW is 35 sqm.  Granny should count herself lucky.

That’s just one of the stories linked in the last couple of days’ feed of property stories from Leftfield Communications.

Free Reads

Domain

Former Wallaby Sam Scott-Young relists four-block Brisbane estate
Former Wallaby Sam Scott-Young and his wife Donna are selling their sprawling Queensland estate, built across four residential blocks.

Queensland suburb breaks into elite $5 million club
A blue-chip Queensland suburb has joined the $5 million median club, a first for the state.

Former schoolhouse fetches staggering $17 million after transformation
A Melbourne home once owned by Geelong Grammar School has sold for about $17 million after a major transformation.

Couple lands $2.4m home while on board flight from Fiji
A couple returning from Fiji bought a five-bedroom home at 22 Welland Avenue, Welland, in South Australia, for more than $2 million at auction, bidding while on their flight, among 10 interested parties.

Logan Paul lists infamous ‘haunted’ ranch for staggering price
YouTuber and boxer Logan Paul has listed Fobes Ranch, a remote property in California’s San Jacinto Mountains, for just under US$3 million ($4.2 million).

Nicole Kidman reveals ‘stealth’ home she hid for 21 years
Nicole Kidman has revealed she has quietly owned an apartment near Notting Hill in London for 21 years, as she begins a new chapter following the end of her marriage to Keith Urban.

Tragic twist for rugby player’s unfinished dream home
A feature on an unfinished home in Laingholm, West Auckland, bought three decades ago by former New Zealand Maori rugby league player Mike Te Hira, who had planned a family home with decks and views over Manukau Harbour.

Realestate.com.au

City parking in Sydney and Brisbane now costs more per hour than minimum wage
Commuters in one Australian city are paying more than the minimum adult hourly wage just to park for work, new research shows.

Hi-tech pods the future of luxury granny flats
Fully wifi-enabled hi-tech pods could become the future of granny flats, made by Australian company Transvilla.

New research reveals what key feature your home needs to lower type two diabetes risk
University of Queensland-led research finds home gardens and access to greenspace can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, suggesting green urban design has public health benefits.

Sydney’s pest hotspots revealed
New research identifies Sydney’s spring pest hotspots, with activity from cockroaches, spiders, ants and wasps expected to more than double in the coming months.

Grand Designs Australia featured Warburton Arch House hits the market for $1.6m
The Warburton Arch House, an architect-designed home in the Upper Yarra Valley featured on Grand Designs Australia, has been listed for $1.6 million.

B105 host Abby Coleman in tears after listing beloved family home
Brisbane radio host Abby Coleman is selling her Carina Heights family home of 10 years, after weighing whether to keep it as an investment amid changing market conditions.

Young renter’s mould nightmare exposes grim reality of Australia’s rental crisis
A British renter in a Gold Coast sharehouse says mould spread through her bedroom within weeks of moving in, affecting her bedding and belongings despite daily airing, highlighting conditions some renters face.

How The Block’s Carrs slashed $900k from their dream home plans
Former Block contestants Rachel and Ryan Carr say they will save about $900,000 on their $2.4 million Sutherland Shire home after stripping back the design seven months into planning.

How one woman earns $900 in six hours collecting people’s rubbish
Sydney woman Sinead King has built a side business collecting scrap metal from hard-rubbish piles, earning about $900 in six hours, which she has put toward a deposit and mortgage and shares with her Instagram followers.

Sydney’s Upper North Shore suburbs dominate list of kerbside furniture hotspots
A study of the best NSW suburbs for quality kerbside furniture finds Sydney’s Upper North Shore dominates the list.

Bali Body founders list luxury Brighton home for $11.5m
Laura Foley and David Oosterloo, founders of skincare brand Bali Body, have listed their Brighton home, which they have owned since 2020, with hopes of $11.5 million.

MAFS star Chris Robinson reveals $109k start behind 14 property flips
MAFS contestant Chris Robinson, who bought his first home for $109,000 and has flipped about 14 properties, encourages buyers to start where they can afford.

Ex-Tiger Kamdyn McIntosh swaps premiership glory for tool belt
Dual Richmond premiership player Kamdyn McIntosh has taken up trade work since retiring 12 months ago, describing the adjustment to life after football.

Inside Brynne Edelsten’s property life now
A profile of Brynne Edelsten, once a fixture of Melbourne society, now living in a $300-a-week Fitzroy apartment, as detailed during a Melbourne Magistrates’ Court appearance on Wednesday.

Real Commercial

Serious star power: World famous surf ranch closer to selling
A Hollywood actor, a world champion surfer and Australian rich listers are all eyeing Gnaraloo Station, a 78,000ha wildlife sanctuary and surf retreat at the southern entrance to WA’s Ningaloo Marine Park.

Man visits Ikea 14 times to prove bizarre theory
A viral exploration of Ikea’s artificial windows has drawn interest in fake windows as a way to add light to windowless rooms and small homes, as Australian dwellings become smaller and more tightly packed.

$1,350 hit: Aussies’ shock penalty for 30-minute power surge
A report by Agile Energy Market Intelligence warns a single 30-minute power surge on a hot afternoon can trigger a demand charge of about $1,350 on some business electricity bills, even without higher overall usage.

Pay-walled

The Australian Financial Review

Ex-ACCC chairman’s former Toorak mansion lists with $22m price hopes
A $22 million Toorak mansion has been listed for the first time in nearly 50 years. The Hopetoun Road estate was once the family home of former ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel and his former wife Lynne Samuel, who is selling.

Samantha’s family bought back their family home – and made $500k
Samantha Rolfe credits buying a property with four other people, including her family home, with starting her investment journey and a $500,000 gain, and shares what she learnt along the way.

Data centres will have to get 40pc of their power from wind
Data centres in NSW would be required to source at least 40 per cent of their electricity from wind power under a plan to support renewables projects and government investment schemes, creating long-term demand for state wind farms backed by the Capacity Investment Scheme.

The Australian

Falling house prices are failing to attract nervous first-home buyers terrified of negative equity
Some first-home buyers remain hesitant despite falling prices, wary of negative equity without investor competition, the article reports.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Revealed: The $129m plan to bulldoze a Sydney sporting field for homes
A $128.9 million plan lodged with Ryde Council would turn the TG Millner playing fields at Marsfield, long the home of Eastwood Rugby Club, into a 106-home estate, after years of wrangling and community protest over the site.

Peter paid $2.1m for a Sydney substation. A council error has cost him $800,000
An inner-west owner says a council error has left him facing financial hardship after he bought a decommissioned 1931 Newtown substation at Probert Street that was incorrectly listed as free of heritage constraints.

‘Little by little cities will have to recede’: Coastal flooding is the sleeper climate issue
A feature on coastal flooding as an emerging climate issue, told through Virginia Jones, whose Tweed Coast home at Bogangar near Cabarita Beach, built on piers in the 1970s, has begun flooding despite never going underwater before.

The Age

This school has a pool, tennis courts, soccer and cricket pitches. Now it wants the nearby public park
A plan for Brighton Grammar School to lease public parkland in exchange for upgrading its facilities has divided the community, with concerns it would lock up open space for private use.

The Brisbane Times

‘Burn your house and kill your kids’: Construction giant accused of using bikies
A leading Australian infrastructure firm working on major government-backed projects has been implicated in a suspected plot in which a crew of Melbourne bikie enforcers allegedly travelled to Brisbane to threaten a CFMEU activist and his family.

Drinks in the city used to mean waiting for a taxi home. Now people catch the bus
Brisbane’s “tram-like” Metro is prompting revellers to skip taxis and Ubers on Friday and Saturday nights, the council says.

Scooter companies forced to fund river clean-up after mass dumpings revealed
E-scooter providers Lime and Neuron will be required to fund and work with a group that removes debris from the Brisbane River, after fresh focus on dumping in the waterway.

The Daily Telegraph

Historic WWII airfield in The Oaks could become major new tourist destination
A developer has lodged plans to turn a historic WWII-era airfield at The Oaks, once used to hide aircraft from attack, into a commercial tourism destination on Sydney’s outskirts.

Cate Blanchett wins council planning battle over fears for rare bats
Cate Blanchett has won approval for changes to her Cornwall home after conservationists raised concerns about the impact on the local bat population.

The Herald Sun

Regional housing crisis forces desperate businesses to build their own homes for staff
Regional Australia is so short of workers that employers are becoming landlords, with one Victorian council building 33 bedrooms to keep its town running.

The Gold Coast Bulletin

Surfing champ Trudy Todd sells Rainbow Bay penthouse to chase Olympic dream
Former surfing champion Trudy Todd has listed her Rainbow Bay penthouse for auction as she chases a new Olympic dream.

Why Sea World’s monorail dream came to a final, grinding halt
A feature on why Sea World’s monorail, Australia’s first, has sat idle for nearly a decade, 40 years after opening.

The Adelaide Advertiser

ABC’s Collinswood tower earmarked for local heritage status
The ABC’s six-storey Adelaide headquarters at Collinswood could gain local heritage status for its “distinctive” design.