For generations, Australians have responded to housing affordability pressures in a predictable way – when the home they wanted became too expensive, they moved further from the city. But something important is changing. Australia’s affordability problem has become so entrenched that many buyers are making a different compromise. Rather than simply changing where they live, they…
For the last 20 years, one of the defining stories of Australian housing has been the rise of the apartment. Look at the skylines of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and you can see the evidence everywhere. Cranes filled our CBDs, high-rise towers appeared around transport hubs and former industrial precincts were transformed into dense residential…
You’ve heard every stereotype going around about property investors. Some commentators paint us as reckless speculators piling into debt we can’t handle, while others imagine a nation of mum-and-dad battlers gambling their super on a rental property they barely understand. The truth, according to the most comprehensive dataset the Reserve Bank has ever had access…
Australia desperately needs more homes, yet the latest building approval figures show how difficult it will be to deliver them. National dwelling approvals fell 2.7% in July, with approvals for detached houses dropping 4.2% and units declining 0.4%. At the same time, the cost of building a new home is rising again, placing further pressure…
The Australian government is attempting to overcome a serious housing shortage by constructing 1.2 million new homes over five years. To be frank, the government won’t be building any houses, yet the industry responsible for building them is losing companies at an alarming rate. The problem is particularly severe in New South Wales, where a…
There is no doubt that our housing markets are facing challenges from all directions, but clearly they have remained more resilient than the property pessimists had predicted. To better understand what’s happening, this monthly collection of charts from Cotality paints an interesting picture. According to Cotality, Australia’s most expensive homes are leading the housing downturn, with upper-quartile…
Are you looking to build greater wealth but unsure which investment vehicle is right for you? When it comes to building wealth, few debates are as enduring as property versus shares. Recently, I sat down for a live conversation with Louise Bedford – one of Australia’s most respected trading educators, a bestselling author of six…
Australia is entering the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in its history, yet many families are preparing for it with little more than a signed will and a vague promise that everything will work itself out. And that is a risky assumption because wealth rarely moves neatly from one generation to the next, particularly when the…
Something interesting is happening in Australia’s property market, with auction clearance rates only telling part of the story. Auctions work best when several motivated buyers compete for the same property, creating urgency and pushing prices higher. But as buyer demand has softened in 2026, that competition has become harder to generate. New Domain research shows…
Everyone says they want housing to be more affordable. Politicians campaign on it, journalists write about it, and young Australians desperately need it. But after watching our housing markets for over five decades, I’ve come to believe that most of the people saying it don’t actually mean it – at least not when they understand…
