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Landlords and real estate agents will have to provide renters with proof to back up a bond claim and will be banned from charging fees to process rent, under long-awaited legislation to be introduced to Victorian parliament. The premier, Jacinta Allan, and minister for consumer affairs, Nick Staikos, on Wednesday announced the introduction of Labor’s latest rental reforms to parliament, which if passed would also establish a portable bond scheme the government said would benefit about 736,000 households. Under the new bill, landlords and agents would also be required to provide renters with documentary evidence to support a bond claim at least three days before the claim can be submitted. If they wanted to take a tenant to the Victorian civil and administrative tribunal over a bond claim, they would also be required to provide supporting documentation. Failure to do so could attract fines of $5,087 for individuals and $25,438 for body corporates. Staikos said the measures would “crack down on dubious bond claims”, which were among the most common disputes between renters and landlords, along with rent increases, repairs and maintenance. Analysis of public data by Guardian Australia last month found a growing number of tenants were losing some or all of their bond after their leases expire in Australia’s biggest housing markets. In Victoria, the share of bonds fully refunded fell from 68% in mid-2021 to 64% in mid-2024. A separate report – released by the state’s commissioner for residential tenancies in April – said advocacy body Tenants Victoria had assisted 1,150 renters with bond claims in 2023-24, making up 12% of the services it provided in the financial year. The Tenancy Assistance and Advocacy Program also assisted in 629 bond claim cases. The bill would also ban charging tenants to process rent. It follows Guardian Australia’s Hot Property series , which revealed an increasing number of real estate agents were moving tenants’ payments on to third-party “rent tech” platforms, which charge service fees. The bill’s portable bond scheme was first promised in 2023 by the then premier, Daniel Andrews, as part of the government’s housing statement . In 2024, Allan announced further rental reforms , including a ban on no-fault evictions, which passed parliament via a separate bill in March. Allan said it would ensure renters won’t have to pay a new bond while they’re still waiting for their old one to be returned when moving house. “Most renters don’t just have a spare few thousand dollars lying around to cover the unnecessary cost of the dreaded double bond,” she said. Staikos said it was a “practical change that will make a real difference”.

What we learned today, Wednesday 15 October That’s it for today, but let’s recap the big events: James Paterson said Liberals must end their post-election ‘apology tour’. Education ministers considered new national standards to combat bullying. IMF warned of slow Australian economy and AI bubble risk. Planning reforms were set to pass NSW parliament . A record number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people died in custody in NSW in 2025 , the state coroner announced. The head of Aboriginal Legal Service said the NSW government should be ‘ashamed’ by deaths in custody figures . Victoria experienced a triple-zero computer outage overnight . The AEC revealed harassment and intimidation at the 2025 election. Victoria’s premier said Sussan Ley only focused on “politics and division” with comments about crime. Rightwing US commentator Candace Owens lost her appeal over her 2024 visa rejection. Australian parents are having kids later, ABS data showed . Thirteen-year-old boy was among five teenagers charged with murder over alleged stabbing near Wollongong. Achieving Labor’s 1.2m homes target requires “nearly a miracle” , experts said. Trump administration and Congress have shown “strong enthusiasm” for Aukus, Pat Conroy said. Thanks for tuning in!

I’m suffering from as much rage as I am grief, because for so long I had managed to keep her in her own home,’ her mother says A month before she died of cancer, Tammie Thrower was evicted and thrust into homelessness. The mother of three had battled stage-four bowel cancer since 2023, undergoing round after round of chemotherapy. But in January of this year it spread to her brain. Six months later she was kicked out of her home in Manly in Brisbane’s south. She spent her last months house-hunting in vain. Tammie’s 77-year-old mother, Coral Clarke, slept on the two-seat couch of her one-bedroom retirement home apartment to give her daughter a bed. Even while dying, one of Tammie’s main worries was finding somewhere to live. “Those last couple of weeks in [palliative care at] St Vincent’s, every so often she’d say to me, you know, ‘I wonder if this or that would give me a better chance at finding a house,’” Coral said. Tammie died on 23 August. Though shocking, her story is common. Homeless outreach service, Micah Projects, has records of 21 people who died of diagnosed terminal illnesses while homeless in 2025 in Brisbane alone. The youngest was 27 and oldest 83. Several of them spent their last days sleeping rough before being taken to hospital to die. That number does not include homeless people who died suddenly. Three homeless people died on the streets of Brisbane in a single week in October, two of them at the doors of a homeless drop-in service. “I’m suffering from as much rage as I am grief, because for so long I had managed to keep her in her own home,” Coral said. “I’m on a pension, so I’m not particularly financially flush. But I always managed to make sure her rent got paid no matter what and that she had everything she needed to be as happy as she could be. And I wasn’t able to give her that at the end.” There are 53,874 people on Queensland’s social housing waiting list, a record high. At 0.7%, the city’s rental vacancy rate is at a near-record low, which means people facing eviction have fewer options, forcing thousands into homelessness. The fruitless search Her mother remembers Tammie as both practical and compassionate. A dental nurse and swimming instructor for kids with special needs, who even on chemotherapy days put others before herself and never complained about the intense pain. Chemotherapy took her teeth, her hair, much of her hearing and her strength. In January she was involved in a serious car accident, flipping the vehicle with her mother in the passenger’s seat. Coral’s heart stopped twice and Tammie broke multiple bones. While she was in hospital the doctors detected that her cancer had spread. In June, her lease ran out. Despite pleading for a reprieve, the landlord gave Tammie a no-fault eviction notice in order to do repairs, though they were able to convince her to allow Tammie to stay an extra month. Tammie and her carer searched for months, inspecting dozens of homes. Due to the housing shortage, she was always losing out to someone making a better offer, Coral said.

Of the 2m flood-prone houses across the country, at least 70% have had values reduced, a new report by Climate Council and PropTrack has found When Warwick Irwin returned home after a week away, he was shocked by the ruin inside. It was February 2022 and two days earlier his North Lismore house had flooded to the ceiling. “It was quite a mind-blowing experience when I got into the house when the water went down.” He was eventually offered a buyback , and used the money to buy elsewhere – “well above the flood level”. “I was going to stay on but I thought about it and … there would always be an anxiety about the next flood,” Irwin said. He was glad not to have sold at a loss, unlike others in the region. Almost 2,000 homes in Lismore were affected by flooding in 2022 , and the price gap between flood-prone and flood-free houses has since increased considerably, according to a new report by the Climate Council and property data firm PropTrack. Floods have collectively wiped $42.2bn from the value of Australian homes, the report shows, in an analysis of more than two decades of property data. It found the median value of a three-bed, two-bath home in a flood-prone zone as of April 2025 was $75,000 less than a home without flood risks. For the 2m flood-prone houses across Australia, at least 70% have had their values reduced by flood risk. Climate Councillor and economist Nicki Hutley , a co-author of the report, said more than half of flood-prone properties were owned or rented by low-income families. “Those are people for whom there is no choice but to take on that [flood] risk,” she said. Climate risks were “exacerbating intergenerational inequality” in Australia, Hutley added. Kate Smolders, a Brisbane mother of two, sold her family home in Chelmer after it flooded in 2011 and 2022. “We knew we couldn’t go through it again. We lost value on our home,” she said. “Families like mine are paying the price for climate inaction – not just emotionally, but financially.” Chelmer topped the PropTrack report as the suburb with the greatest value loss for houses, of 10.6%, with an average impact of $303,000. “High-value suburbs that are also flood-exposed are repricing,” the report found. “Over time, this may lead to a structural divergence in housing wealth accumulation based on climate resilience.” Of the properties at risk of flooding, 40% were in Queensland and 30% in New South Wales. Hutley said the report highlighted the need for a robust adaptation plan with funding for both community-level infrastructure – such as dam levees and raised roads – and support for individual households. Jason Byrne, a professor of human geography and planning at the University of Tasmania, who was not involved in the report, said the findings highlighted “the costs imposed by a changing climate and how our planning systems are struggling to cope”. “We are seeing the beginnings of a response in some states … where more accurate flood mapping is informing planning decisions not to allow intensification of development in flood-prone areas,” Byrne said. “The development industry is quick to decry any effort in planning to limit development in flood-prone areas,” Byrne said. “We have seen some councils in South Australia effectively choosing to ignore their flood mapping because it is seen to harm prospects for future development. “We need politicians and decision-makers to develop the courage to stand up to powerful lobby groups and vested interests to protect vulnerable people,” he said, citing unaffordable insurance premiums. “Stupid” planning decisions were “putting people in harm’s way”, Hutley agreed. “We have information about what climate risk looks like, whether it’s coastal inundation or riverine flooding or bushfire risk. “If you’re making homes more vulnerable, it’s going to cost us all a lot more in the long run.”

Brisbane overtakes Canberra as second-most expensive housing market, after Sydney, with median prices rising by nearly $40,000 Australian house prices are rising at their fastest rate in nearly four years, as buyers rush to auctions and owners put off selling amid expectations for a further upswing. Capital city house values have sustained their longest continuous stretch of growth in a decade with a median increase of $35,000 in the three months to September, new data from Domain shows. The median price rose $26,000 the previous quarter. Two in three Australians expect prices will rise further in the coming year, NAB research on Wednesday found, with analysts forecasting increases between $50,000 and $100,000. Brisbane has overtaken Canberra as the second-most expensive house market, after Sydney, with median prices rising nearly $40,000 to hit $1.1m, over the three months to September. Three interest rate cuts and the prospect of further price hikes in coming months have boosted buyer interest and generated sustained upswings – the longest ever for apartments, and longest in 21 years for houses. Lauren Jones, a buyer’s agent in Brisbane, said buyers rushed in before October’s expansion of the federal government’s first home guarantee on 5% deposit purchases, which lifted the city’s price caps from $750,000 to $1m. Australian property prices are accelerating again – nearly twice as fast as wages Read more “From the moment that they announced that the house market went crazy – we were getting calls every other day for people wanting to get in before 1 October,” she said. Prices have flown even higher since then, Jones said, frustrating hopeful buyers. One apartment sold for $70,000 more than an identical unit in the same complex, which sold just before the expanded scheme. “They’re seeing that they’ll miss out on a property, and then the next one that comes along in a few weeks’ time, they’re having to pay an extra $10-, $20- or $30,000 for it,” she said. Rising prices, though, are encouraging those considering selling to hold on longer, which has seen listings fall to their lowest level since 2010, SQM data indicates. “People know that the market’s rising and, if they don’t have to sell, they’re waiting to just get more capital gains on their property before selling,” Jones said. Perth, previously one of the hottest housing markets in the country, recorded slower price growth in the September quarter. Homebuyers have increasingly swapped to more affordable units, which outpaced house price growth of $15,000 to rise by $21,000. Mark Whiteman, the chief executive of the state branch of Ray White real estate, said bidders were still coming to auctions in droves but prices were now out of reach for some. “For many of those that aren’t raising their paddle [at auction], it isn’t by any other reason than the price may have moved past them,” he said. Sydney and Melbourne also recorded accelerations in growth but the country’s biggest city well outpaced the second biggest. Sydney houses grew nearly $60,000 more expensive from July to September, while median prices in Melbourne rose by $23,000. That was still the city’s fastest house price growth in nearly four years and followed a four-year high for apartment price growth in June. Nicola Powell, the chief economist at Domain, said Melbourne’s relative affordability could be limited. “We are in the acceleration mode and what I suspect we are going to see is a speed ranking change,” she said. Melbourne’s slower population growth, reduced breaks for investors and stronger housing construction than other cities had restrained prices, Powell said. Victoria built 55,000 new homes in the year to June, or about 90% of its annualised target under the national housing accord, data released last week showed. Queensland built less than 70% of its annualised target, as construction workers begin to move from housing to Olympics infrastructure , while New South Wales built just over 50%. The Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, earlier in October reiterated her warnings that government measures to boost supply may not slow down price growth until at least 2027. The RBA will meet on Melbourne Cup day to consider handing down a fourth interest rate cut for 2025, which would further boost home values. Financial markets are betting on a 75% chance of a rate cut.

Allowing three-storey townhouses and apartments to be built across all residential land would unlock more than 1m homes in Sydney alone, according to modelling Homes could be $100,000 cheaper over a decade if Australia’s capital cities dramatically overhaul their zoning rules to allow three-storey townhouses and apartments to be built on all residential land, according to a new report from the Grattan Institute. Calling for an end to the “age of nimby-ism” and “a housing policy revolution”, the independent thinktank said Australians were keen to embrace apartment and townhouse living, especially if it meant access to more affordable and well-situated homes. Brendan Coates, the director of the Grattan Institute’s housing and economic security program, said it was time Australians accepted that our biggest cities must be more densely populated if we hope to deliver the number of homes people, particularly younger generations, need. “For decades, Australia has failed to build enough homes in the places that people most want to live,” Coates said. “Now we have a housing affordability crisis that is dividing families and communities and robbing young Australians of their best chance in life.” As part of a “concerted policy assault on the housing crisis ”, Grattan’s report said easing zoning restrictions to allow three-storey townhouses and apartments across all residential land would unlock more than 1m homes in Sydney alone. The report, co-authored by Coates, Joey Moloney and Matthew Bowes, pointed to “a large body of evidence ” showing that “when planning controls are relaxed, the result is more and cheaper housing” – most notably in Auckland, New Zealand. Grattan’s modelling suggested its proposed reforms could lift housing construction across Australia by up to 67,000 homes a year, against 174,300 dwellings built in the year to June, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Over a decade, the boost to supply could push rents 12% lower than would otherwise be the case, and slice more than $100,000 off the cost of the median-priced home – and by much more in the longer term, the report said. Leaders in New South Wales and Victoria are working hard to get rid of rules that restrict the building of multi-unit dwellings in suburbs within striking distance of the city centre and next to transport hubs. Still, Grattan calculated that about 80% of residential land within 30km of Sydney’s city centre is restricted to housing of three storeys or fewer, while 87% of all Melbourne’s residential land is restricted to housing of three storeys or fewer. Three-quarters or more of residential land in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide is zoned for two storeys or fewer, the report said. As a result, Australia has some of the least densely populated cities in the world. If the inner 15km of Sydney offered the same number of homes as Toronto – a city that ranks similarly on quality-of-life measures – it would mean an extra 250,000 well-located homes. Similarly, if the inner 15km of Melbourne were as dense as Los Angeles, it would have 431,000 extra homes in striking distance of the CBD. Michael Fotheringham, the managing director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, said: “Australia should aim to get off the bottom of the table in urban density. “There’s a clear economic argument we should be improving density,” he said, not least that better located and more affordable homes would support essential workers such as nurses. Fotheringham pointed to reforms by the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, who recently announced the biggest planning overhaul in a decade targeting “old-fashioned nimby-type laws”. Those changes notably curbed the right to object to new building projects, Fotheringham said. “People who are concerned about increasing density worry about what that looks like in their suburb. But I don’t buy that, because the fancy new apartments and townhouses tend to be higher amenity than the older, rundown housing that it’s replacing.” But Coates argued that the changes being implemented across cities like Sydney and Melbourne, while welcome, did not go far enough. The Grattan report said that land around transport hubs in major cities should be “upzoned” for higher-density living of at least six storeys, while heritage protections “that apply to much inner-city land” should be reviewed. Coates said a key issue in Sydney – which he dubbed “ground zero” for the national housing crisis – was that NSW’s planning system said “no” by default. To that end, the report also recommends that planning application processes should be streamlined so that developments of up to three storeys and which “meet clear standards” should not require a permit. Larger developments that also meet pre-set standards should be assessed along “deemed-to-comply” pathways.

New guidelines aim to ensure agents use the most comparable properties when estimating a home’s price, but experts say wider reforms are needed The Victorian government is cracking down on real estate agents who illegally underquote property listings, imposing strict new guidelines on the industry. The new guidelines aim to ensure agents use the most appropriate comparable local properties when determining a home’s likely price before auction, factoring in things like the dwelling’s age and any renovations. Consumer Affairs Victoria can ask for evidence from agents showing how they chose the three most comparable properties, and penalties apply for not providing these records. The move will be welcomed by homebuyers, as the practice of underquoting is rife across Australia, despite some jurisdictions such as New South Wales trying to outlaw it. Property experts say widespread reforms are still needed to protect buyers. What is underquoting? Underquoting is an industry tactic used by some agents who advertise a property for less than the estimated selling price or the owner’s asking price. They do this to draw buyers in and drum up competition. “Many people have the experience of going to auctions and the first bid is above the range that was predicted. Or the final bid is in the range that was predicted, and the vendor declines the sales because it hasn’t reached the reserve,” the director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Michael Fotheringham, says. A property selling above the range doesn’t automatically mean the tactic has been used, Fotheringham says. How frequently does underquoting happen? The head of consumer research at Finder, Graham Cooke, says while it’s hard to pinpoint the exact level, it is “a huge issue”. “Everybody who goes to buy a home in Australia, especially if you’re in the auction market, is going to take it for granted that agents will deliberately underquote, with the aim of trying to get as many people into the auction, to heat up the negotiation and get a better price for the purchaser,” he says. “It’s difficult to prove. In every case I’ve ever seen of a house selling in Sydney, it’s sold at significantly above what people were calling as the guide price.” A recent Guardian Australia analysis of property sales data showed underquoting (here defined as any sale where the final price exceeds 10% of the pre-sale price guide) is more prevalent in Sydney (20% of sales) and Perth (18%), and least prevalent in Canberra, Hobart and Darwin. The analysis found the mismatch between the price guide on property ads and the final sale price was worse for houses than townhouses or apartments and is much more likely when the property is being sold at auction than at private sale. Is underquoting illegal in Australia? It is against federal consumer law to underquote and most states have additional regulations to further discourage the practice In NSW, agents who underquote can be fined up to $22,000 and lose their commission and fees earned from the sale of an underquoted property. In Victoria, agents who underquote risk fines of more than $11,000 for each breach, or penalties of over $38,000 under the Estate Agents Act. But Cooke says these regulations often don’t work – and underquoting keeps happening. “There needs to be stronger regulation on this, you need to know a more realistic idea of what the price a property owner will sell at before you go to an auction.” Fotheringham says there needed to be more oversight into how estimations are created. In Victoria, Consumer Affairs received about 2,500 “contacts” regarding real estate agent conduct in the 2022-23 financial year; most related to underquoting. Contacts included inquiries and complaints. Now agents who set a reserve price must look at the dwelling’s features like it’s floor and land size, zoning, and distance from key infrastructure. The estimate must be reasonable and consider the sale prices of three comparable properties listed on the Statement of Information for prospective purchasers. Consumer Affairs Victoria will be able to investigate instances of underquoting. What is the solution? Industry experts say more regulation is needed to ensure transparency for buyers. Fahey Younger, a buyers agent says the industry currently self-regulates. “We’re watchdogs of our own industry,” she says. “Most of the complaints come from other agents, because it makes us all look bad.” She says repeat offenders are often known in the industry, but there was no way for buyers to check, and called for more powers for state watchdogs to investigate. “It’s very difficult to find out if somebody has actually had a fine enforced,” she says. “I think a disclosure log would be really good. Public disclosure would be the best deterrent, because a lot of this stuff happened behind closed doors.” Some say initiatives like RealAs, an algorithm-based property price predictor developed in conjunction with RMIT in 2011, could be used by governments or states adopting laws to improve oversight of how estimations are created. While agents have been able to find loopholes in the Victorian rules, Fotheringham says having more regulation of comparable prices, and a body to investigate would help stamp it out. “Actually, having some scrutiny over that, some accountability for that, seems like a pretty good way to go,” he says. What can home buyers do to protect themselves? If you are a prospective buyer trying to avoid getting stung by an unrealistically low price guide, you may be better off checking an automated price estimate for a property rather than going by the agent’s price guide. Buyers should research comparable sales and speak to trusted professionals, Cooke says. “Look at some of the historical price guides in your area and the prices properties sell for, and factor that into your estimation,” he says. “Don’t spend money on a lawyer to review documents and then turn up to an auction where you have no realistic chance of actually getting the property.” Younger says buyers in Victoria can also look through the comparative properties the agent has put up with the listing to see if they are realistic. “For the most part, that statement of information tells you everything you need to know about the current market price, what is fair and where it should be,” she says. “And if they’re above the range that’s quoted, then that’s going to be an underquoted property.” Cooke encouraged people to report suspected acts of underquoting to the appropriate government bodies in each state and territory. “In a lot of cases, people don’t actually do that. And that’s the reason why this continues,” he says.

Those paying discounted rent at Watermans Residences can’t use pool or gym, either. Critics say segregation ‘a dystopian microcosm of housing inequality’ Affordable housing tenants on discounted rent in the Watermans Residences at Barangaroo are not permitted to use the swimming pool or the gym and are required to use a separate entrance from other residents, who pass through a grand glass foyer with a concierge desk. Although they live in an enviable location just steps from the harbour and Crown casino, the restrictions are a daily reminder that the occupants of the 50 apartments designated affordable are not the same as those that occupy the other 162 units in the building known as One Sydney Harbour. Common space for the residents is also restricted to a landscaped deck on level two and an indoor communal kitchen and dining area. This is the New South Wales government’s affordable housing policy in action: a kind of apartment apartheid. The Greens’ housing spokesperson, Jenny Leong, called the segregation at Watermans Residences “a dystopian microcosm of housing and wealth inequality”. “The rich get the breezy upper stories with the view, pool and state-of-the-art amenities, while the poor are hidden away downstairs with a discreet entrance and no access to any of the facilities,” she said. In the UK , which has long had policies to encourage affordable housing, separate entrances in multimillion-dollar blocks are known as “poor doors”. The phenomenon has periodically caused outrage in the UK amid revelations that affordable housing and key worker tenants sometimes also have separate bicycle storage spaces, rubbish disposal facilities and postal deliveries. It is the same in New York where, in 2014, the then mayor, Bill De Blasio, said he would take action to prevent new developments being built with separate entrances and facilities for low-income residents. It followed a furore over a luxury block on the city’s swanky Upper West Side that had a separate entrance for social housing. Lendlease, which developed Barangaroo South, said it had included the affordable units in the rear tower at 55 Hickson Road as part of its project development agreement for Barangaroo, signed with the NSW government in 2010. The agreement required that 2.3% of the residential gross floor area at Barangaroo South would be delivered as key worker housing on site, amounting to about 50 apartments. This was before the NSW government’s more recent housing SEPP bonus, which gives developers up to 30% additional height and floorspace if they designate 10% to 15% of the units in a development as affordable housing. The units must remain as “affordable” – that is, 20% below the market rent – for 15 years. “Sydney needs more diverse and affordable homes close to where people work to support our city’s future growth and productivity,” Tom Mackellar, the chief executive of development at Lendlease, said. “Almost 25% of the apartments at Watermans Residences in Barangaroo South are for key workers, including locals working in education and medical frontline roles. “All the apartments are fully occupied, showing demand is strong among those seeking secure, well-located and high-quality housing close to their workplaces.” Sources said the pool restrictions led to issues for families with children, although the residents the Guardian spoke with were mainly just grateful to be living in a brand-new apartment in the city. Janson from Indonesia, who is studying and working part-time as a cook, said it was the nicest unit he had found in the two years he had been in Sydney. He lives there with two other friends. “I don’t care that much about the pool,” he said. One young woman, an HR worker in the city who moved in three weeks ago, said her apartment was nice. But she lamented the lack of basic facilities, including supermarkets, in the area. “It’s really an area for tourists,” she said. Lachie, 22, who lives in an affordable apartment with his girlfriend, said: “Yeah, we can’t get to the pool.” He said his girlfriend’s work with NSW Health got them discounted gym memberships at a nearby private gym, so the lack of access at Watermans was not an issue. The key worker units are owned and managed by St George Community Housing and must remain below market rent for 20 years.

Servicing a new mortgage eats up 45% of a median household’s pre-tax income, up from 26% in September 2020, the analysis reveals The average Australian household needs to dedicate nearly twice as much of their income to paying their mortgage than they did five years ago, according to a new report. The latest findings from property research firm Cotality come as the Albanese government comes under increasing pressure to find ways to accelerate the supply of new homes to ease price pressures. Servicing a new mortgage eats up 45% of a median household’s pre-tax income, up from 26% in September 2020, the analysis shows. At the centre of the national housing affordability crisis – Sydney – the Cotality report showed the average household needs to dedicate 68% of their income to paying an average new mortgage for a house, and 39% of their before-tax pay for a mortgage on a unit. Australian home values have climbed by about 50% since the start of the pandemic, Cotality’s head of research, Eliza Owen, said. “This surge was fuelled by pandemic-era monetary stimulus and record-low interest rates that supercharged borrowing capacity and demand, even as housing supply lagged well behind household formation,” Owen said. Soaring demand crashed into supply-side limitations, as builders struggled to cope with building costs and planning bottlenecks. Over the past five years, the median home price climbed at two-and-a-half times the pace of an average Australian household’s income. The median, pre-tax household income has lifted by a solid 20% to $104,390 since September 2020, but lagging far behind the 54% jump in the median dwelling value to $860,529. That has left the national home value-to-income ratio at a record 8.2 in September, according to the report, a substantial worsening from 6.5 in March 2020. Average weekly rents over the same period have jumped by a nearly identical 53%, showing the squeeze facing Australians trying to save for their first home while struggling with soaring rental costs. While rental affordability has also deteriorated, it has not been as dramatic, at least in terms of the national average. The average portion of income required to pay rent has climbed to 33%, from 26% five years ago. The report showed regional Queensland had the most unaffordable rents, with households on average incomes outside Brisbane having to dedicate 39% of their pre-tax pay to lease a home. Housing affordability had been gradually improving in the decade leading up to the pandemic, but the exodus from the cities during the early years of the health crisis put a rocket under property prices outside the capitals, the report shows.

Over the past few weeks, Carolyn Ienna has been watching the public home they lived in for 30 years disappear. First, the inside was gutted and piled up in the former back common area. Then, the roof and most of the windows were removed. “I know if I go there too often, I’m just going to get really sad,” says Ienna, a Wiradjuri person. Despite a three-year campaign to save the 17 public houses at 82 Wentworth Park Road in Glebe, the New South Wales government’s demolition has begun in earnest. In their place, Homes NSW is building 43 units. Ienna, who has relocated to a public housing unit nearby, will not be returning. The NSW government says Wentworth Park Road will remain state-owned and managed. But the demolition comes amid concerns about the supply of truly “public” housing owned and run by the state, with rent set according to a tenant’s income, which has been in decline under successive Labor and Coalition governments for decades. Instead, so-called affordable and, more often, community housing – typically run by third-party private or non-profit providers – is being built. Sometimes the affordable or community housing is constructed on the site of former public housing estates, like at Waterloo South, where 749 public homes will be demolished to make way for 1,500 private houses, along with 600 affordable and 1,000 community homes. Before winning power in March 2023, the now premier, Chris Minns, and the housing minister, Rose Jackson, told residents of estates slated for demolition by the Coalition government, including Glebe and Waterloo South, that their homes would not be sold off or privatised. Labor has increased the number of affordable and community homes to be built at Waterloo South, but the project is going ahead without a fully public component, which some have criticised as a “partial privatisation” and a broken election promise. Nonetheless, the Minns government has spruiked its public housing achievements, contrasting them with those of the former Coalition government. Between June 2023 and June 2024, there was a small increase in public housing stock for the first time in years, by about 350 homes. Labor says Homes NSW is “on track for another record-breaking year” of new public housing completions, with 1,371 publicly owned and managed homes delivered in the 15 months since July 2024. Homes NSW is yet to publish data on the net change in public housing stock during this period. Jackson says the government is “proud of our record of increasing the number of public homes in NSW and putting a stop to the mass sell-off of public housing”. The previous Coalition government sold more than $3bn of social homes and assets – about 7,600 homes in total by 2023. They included Victorian houses in Millers Point – the first publicly owned homes in Australia – and the brutalist Sirius building, which was converted into luxury apartments . In 2019, it also began transferring management of about 14,000 public homes to community housing providers, although these remained in the social housing stock. NSW Labor oversaw the first purpose-built public housing in the country under its Housing Act of 1912. But the previous Labor government sold off about 5,500 public homes between 2003 and 2012, netting $1.2bn. The Macquarie University housing expert Dr Alistair Sisson says the measure for social housing stock in real terms – the number of social homes per 100 people – has been consistently low under both Labor and Coalition governments in NSW. It has steadily declined from 2.21 in 2005. In the first full financial year under the current government, it dropped from 1.87 to 1.86. Amid a national housing crisis, the state’s social housing waitlist has increased from 57,401 in March 2023 to 66,862 in September this year. The Minns government’s Building Homes for NSW program, announced last year, aims to increase the social housing stock by 8,400 with $6.1bn in funding. There is also a $1bn push to refurbish 30,000 existing homes. ‘They’re completely different’ The terms social, public, community and affordable housing often cause confusion. Sisson says using social and affordable housing interchangeably is the most egregious mistake because “they’re completely different”. In “social” housing, the umbrella term for both public and community homes, rent is determined by income – people typically pay 25-30%. Affordable housing, however, is linked to market rent, with people receiving a discount of 20% or more. In gentrified inner-city suburbs , paying 25% of your income or paying market rent discounted by 25% can be vastly different. The chief executive of Shelter NSW, John Engeler, says any project which adds to either social or affordable housing stock should be welcomed. “We need more of all housing types,” he says. Public and community housing operate along similar principles, but some public housing residents have reservations about moving out of the public system. Leo Patterson Ross, the CEO of the Tenants’ Union of NSW, says community housing residents can’t appeal to the housing minister over decisions made by their provider. And if they want to move property, they are usually limited to homes run by that provider. Some community housing providers are owned by religious organisations, with some LGBTQ+ applicants fearing discrimination. Maintenance for community housing is conducted separately from public housing stock. Some public housing residents worry requests will go unanswered if they move into community housing. But Ienna says they have had problems with maintenance in the public housing system, and has a friend who was “treated … really well” by their community housing provider. At Waterloo South, almost a decade after residents were first told by the then Coalition housing minister Brad Hazzard that their homes would be redeveloped, the first relocations of residents began earlier this year. Among the first 150 households told they would be moving was Norrie May-Welby. May-Welby, who spoke to Guardian Australia in 2023 about their opposition to the redevelopment, made sure they were relocated to a public housing unit. Now that the stress of moving has passed, they are resigned to the government “outsourcing their responsibilities” to community housing providers. “I would just like to see more people housed, however it happens.” Residents remain suspicious of why existing public housing is being demolished. Guardian Australia has reported that the government has sold more than two-thirds of publicly owned sites suitable for housing to private developers – even though Homes NSW has the first right of refusal. Karyn Brown, another Waterloo South resident who has campaigned to save the estate , faces an anxious wait for her notice to relocate. “It beggars belief that the first idea is to demolish homes, rather than build them,” she says. “If developers don’t want to build it because it’s not profitable enough, then the government should build it.” Home for life? Housing debates are cyclical. Tom Zubrycki’s 1980 documentary Waterloo showed some residents fighting against the “slum” clearances that preceded the high-rise public housing estate others are now campaigning to save. Many residents, including Ienna, feel the state’s approach has shifted to favour developers over residents . Ienna remembers the first time they laid eyes on 82 Wentworth Park Road. It was a Friday afternoon – too late to pick up the keys from the housing office. They went to see it anyway. “I looked through the glass doors … and I was just so excited. Because I’d been living in a vile boarding house for a couple of years. When I finally did get the place … one of the comments was: ‘This is your home for life’.” This story was amended on 22 November 2025. An earlier version incorrectly stated that Wentworth Park public houses were being turned into affordable homes. The NSW government says they will remain as public housing units.

Labor could also introduce $110,000 fines for underquoting under proposed laws being considered to crack down on misleading conduct Real estate agents in New South Wales could be fined $110,000 or more if caught underquoting properties under proposed laws intended to stamp out misleading price estimates and increase transparency for buyers. The Minns government has started consultation with the property sector as it prepares to draft legislation to enact tougher underquoting laws, which it expects to introduce to parliament next year. Labor is also looking to mandate “a price or price guide on all advertising so prospective buyers don’t waste their time on properties outside of their budget”. Underquoting is a tactic used by some agents who advertise a property for less than the estimated selling price or the owner’s asking price in order to lure buyers and drum up competition. It is against federal consumer law to underquote and most states , including NSW, have additional regulations to further discourage the practice. However, the NSW minister for better regulation and fair trading, Anoulack Chanthivong, said there was broad recognition from buyers and the property industry that stronger laws were needed to restore trust and improve transparency. “Our message is that we hear you,” he said. “We’ve developed a package of reforms and are now consulting with the sector to ensure we get the balance right between consumer protection and practical implementation for industry. “The proposed laws will ensure NSW Fair Trading’s strata and property taskforce can take meaningful action against misleading conduct in property advertising and transactions and clean up the NSW market.” he taskforce, which was set up earlier this year, has already uncovered instances of alleged underquoting, including the high-profile case involving Sydney agent Joshua Tesolin. In August, NSW Fair Trading announced it had suspended Tesolin’s real estate agent’s licence pending possible disciplinary action for engaging in alleged “serious and repeated” breaches of the law. This included allegedly underquoting the selling price of more than 100 residential properties, Fair Trading said. The government is proposing to increase fines for real estate agents caught underquoting from $22,000 to $110,000, or three times the agent’s commission, whichever is greater. It is also proposing to mandate prices on listings. Agents would also be required to publish a “statement of information” intended to help prospective buyers understand how the selling price was calculated, including comparable sales and suburb median prices. NSW Fair Trading, the state’s consumer regulator, would be able to take greater disciplinary action against agents, including by publishing details of underquoting breaches. A standalone offence would be created for agents who failed to meet continuing professional development requirements for agents. The NSW government said it planned to model the legislation on laws Victoria passed in 2016, which it said were now “widely accepted” by the real estate industry. Earlier this month, the Victorian government announced it had further strengthened its own underquoting restrictions to ensure agents used the most appropriate comparable local properties when determining a home’s likely price before auction. In NSW, the details of the government’s underquoting reforms will be determined by consultation with the property and real estate industries and any amendments passed by the opposition or crossbench.

Investor home borrowing surges nearly 18% in the September quarter compared with previous three months, prompting calls to ‘urgently rein in overheated credit market’ Property investors have borrowed record amounts of money for home purchases amid a decline in first home buyer lending and surging house prices. Investors accounted for two in every five home loans from July to September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday, sparking calls for the Albanese government to force banks to put the brakes on landlord lending. More than 57,000 investors borrowed nearly $40bn to buy homes over the three months, a 17.6% increase on the combined value of the loans from the previous three months and a 13.6% increase on the number of new investment loans. First home buyer numbers rose just 2.3% in the September quarter compared with the previous three months, but fell 0.23% overall in the year to September compared with the previous year. Owner-occupier loan numbers increased just 2% on a quarterly basis, the ABS data showed. More than 57,000 investors borrowed nearly $40bn to buy homes over the three months, a 17.6% increase on the combined value of the loans from the previous three months and a 13.6% increase on the number of new investment loans. First home buyer numbers rose just 2.3% in the September quarter compared with the previous three months, but fell 0.23% overall in the year to September compared with the previous year. Owner-occupier loan numbers increased just 2% on a quarterly basis, the ABS data showed. Rapid rises in investor lending in 2014 prompted the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to warn banks it would treat annual growth rates above 10% as a risk, forcing banks to cut back. Wednesday’s data showed investor credit rising at nearly double that rate, prompting the Greens senator Barbara Pocock to call for Apra intervention. “We need to urgently rein in an overheated credit market for property investors,” she said. Pocock on Wednesday wrote to the head of Apra, John Lonsdale, urging him to “pull the handbrake”, and to the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, encouraging him to direct Apra to intervene. Regulatory intervention in the mid-2010s dragged down home prices and could do so again, according to Cotality’s head of research, Eliza Owen. House prices recorded their fastest monthly increase in two years in October, up 1.1% or a median $10,000, and have already risen more than 6% in 2025 so far, Cotality data showed. The RBA governor, Michele Bullock, said in November intervention could help stabilise the housing market in the event of future rate cuts but was not necessary. An Apra spokesperson said in October the regulator was watching for risky lending and discussing limits on investor, interest-only or small-deposit loans with banks. Westpac and NAB’s annual results in early November showed investors accounted for more than two-fifths of new home loans at the two banks in the six months to September. Handing down the result , Westpac’s chief executive, Anthony Miller, said investors were “attractive” customers and the bank would continue to pursue them with low mortgage interest rates. “We’ve just got to … be careful about the outlook and the risks that come from going too far too fast in a particular segment, but we think we’ve got the balance right,” Miller said.