The financial regulator will lift restrictions on interest-only residential lending from January 1 in an attempt to stabilise Australia’s ailing housing market. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) imposed the restrictions in March 2017 to force lenders to limit new interest-only lending to 30 per cent of home loans that they issue. Australia’s median property…
Premier Mark McGowan will warn Prime Minister Scott Morrison today that unless Canberra provides more cash for roads and hospitals, WA will not take migrants bound for congested Sydney and Melbourne. The ultimatum will be delivered to the Prime Minister at the Council of Australian Governments Meeting in Adelaide, where Mr Morrison is expected to…
Australian regulators should be drafting contingency plans for a severe collapse in house prices with a “hard landing” looming as a key risk, the OECD is warning. Key points: Housing is a vulnerability because of elevated prices and high household debt OECD says a housing crash and surge in defaults is unlikely but would pose…
A female Liberal MP who has retained her marginal seat by just 15 votes in the Victorian election is urging her party to embrace a “constitutional requirement” to deliver more women into parliament. Key points: Louise Staley’s narrow victory in Ripon has made it the most marginal seat in the state She says a mechanism…
Price pullbacks in the Sydney and Melbourne property markets have created an opportunity for first-home buyers, particularly those with deposits ready. Values in most capitals are expected to remain relatively flat throughout 2019, with some cities anticipated to post moderate gains that gives prospective purchasers something they haven’t had in years – breathing room to…
A City of Melbourne-led transport discussion has yielded extensive feedback from Victorians, with pedestrians and public transport users reporting their top experience as feeling overcrowded. Transport portfolio chair Councillor Nicolas Frances Gilley said an unprecedented number of responses to the Walking, City Space, Public Transport, Cycling, Motor Vehicles, Parking, Emerging Technology and Transport Pricing discussion…
A new, tree-lined public park1 on Market Street connected to the development’s publicly accessible and occupiable space via a large amphitheatre are key elements in the blueprint to transform an entire city block into a highly charged urban precinct activated to its core day and night. Construction of the interconnected 164-metre dual towers – whose footprint will…
The Victorian Planning Authority has been busy in many corners of the city and state but today we’ll have a look at one precinct renewal project that is tucked away in Melbourne’s outer south-east, the Berwick Health and Education precinct. On land that used to host the Casey airfield, the planning work the Victorian Planning…
The New South Wales Treasurer has likened some Australian states to call centres and lunch rooms and described the past 200 years in other states as “pretty unremarkable”. In an attempt to restore pride in the state, Dominic Perrottet will today tell the Business Council of Australia that NSW was born to be the “premier…
Moreland City Council has launched the Moreland Good Design Sessions, a series of workshops aimed at members of Victoria’s leading design and construction firms. Professionals be invited to assess the recently released new draft Good Design Advice Sheets to determine how the quality of medium density housing can be improved. The launch is part of Moreland City Council’s Medium Density Review, which…