10,000 approved apartments shelved across Brisbane and Gold Coast

1. 01 supply

   $5.4bn backlog leaves 10,000 approved apartments unbuilt in SEQ

   More than 10,000 apartments already approved across Brisbane and the Gold Coast may never get out of the ground, according to realestate.com.au, with construction costs and labour shortages stalling a development pipeline valued at $5.4 billion.

   Approval numbers are routinely used as the measure of housing supply coming through, and this is a reminder that an approval is not a dwelling. For buyers and renters in south-east Queensland, it means the supply relief implied by those approvals may not arrive on the timetable the headline figures suggest.

   Read the full story at REA Group →
2. 02 prices

   Adelaide values fall 1.3% in September, fourth month down

   Adelaide dwelling values fell 1.3 per cent in September, the fourth consecutive monthly decline, and 94 per cent of Adelaide suburbs recorded a fall over the September quarter, according to Metropole's monthly market update. The city set a record high as recently as May.

   Metropole's point is the speed of the turn rather than the size of it: a market that held up through most of this cycle has reversed broadly, not just in a few pockets. Owners who bought near the May peak are the most exposed, while buyers who had been priced out now have more room to negotiate.

   Read the full story at Metropole →
3. 03 prices

   Blue-collar hubs named among the country's 10 best property regions

   Working-class regions, rather than blue-ribbon suburbs, dominate a list of Australia's 10 best property regions compiled by experts for realestate.com.au, who argue the areas most likely to outperform are the ones buyers with status in mind tend to overlook.

   This is a forecast, not a result, and it should be read that way. Still, it reflects a pattern that has played out repeatedly in recent cycles, with affordability pushing demand into cheaper, less fashionable catchments before those markets re-rate.

   Read the full story at REA Group →
4. 04 notable sale

   Adelaide's Morecroft House lists after 33 years with one family

   Morecroft House, an East Terrace landmark in Adelaide, is on the market after 33 years in the hands of the same couple — who bought it from Queen Elizabeth II, a line in the title history very few Australian homeowners can claim, realestate.com.au reports.

   Tightly held trophy homes on Adelaide's parkland frontages come up rarely, and provenance of this kind tends to draw interest well beyond the usual local buyer pool. It lands at a moment when the broader Adelaide market is falling, which makes the result worth watching as a test of whether the prestige end is moving with it.

   Read the full story at REA Group →
5. 05 prices

   Cotality charts show spring market short of its usual momentum

   Australia's spring selling season has not picked up the momentum it normally does, according to Cotality data compiled in Metropole's monthly collection of 20 charts on the state of the national market.

   Metropole's reading is that housing markets are under pressure from several directions at once but have held up better than the more bearish forecasts allowed for. For sellers, a flat spring means listings are competing harder for the same buyers; for buyers, it means less of the urgency that usually defines October.

   Read the full story at Metropole →
6. 06 policy

   Proposed trust tax changes flagged as a risk to small developers

   The Federal Government's proposed changes to the taxation of discretionary trusts could create another hurdle for the small and medium-sized developers who deliver much of Australia's new housing, Metropole argues, on top of elevated construction costs and expensive finance.

   The concern raised is feasibility: projects that are already marginal are the ones most likely to fall over if the tax treatment of a common ownership structure shifts. Nothing is settled here — this is a proposal and an industry view of its likely effect — but it is worth tracking for anyone watching the delivery end of housing supply.

   Read the full story at Metropole →

This brief is compiled automatically from Australian news sources and reviewed before publication. Each item links to the original reporting, which remains the work of the publisher credited. General information only — not financial or investment advice.