A suite of more than 200 premium apartments are coming to market on Brisbane’s riverfront, offering emerging homeowners a chance to grab a home in a tightly held city hotspot.

Consolidated Properties Group has just filed development approval for new project in Newstead, including a 25-storey tower and a four-level luxury building.

Designed by award-winning architects Woods Bagot and to be built by Hutchinson Builders, the project will offer 235 premium apartments, including 12 ultra-luxury homes in the smaller building.

CPG head of residential James MacGinley said it was a privilege to be contributing to the select few riverside buildings across Newstead, and the team was focused on creating a strong visual landmark for the area.

“The building will be one of the first things visitors to Brisbane see as they drive along Kingsford Smith Dr, so it needs to be striking and simple from a distance,” he said. “But it is also part of the thriving Newstead community, so it needs to be fascinating up close.”

Homes in the main building range from two to three bedrooms in size, with prices beginning at the high $1 million mark and averaging in the $4m range.

Meanwhile, the luxury river villas – each three or four-bedroom homes with second lounges – will begin above $10m when they go to market.

“The river villas will be a pinnacle of riverfront luxury,” Mr MacGinley said. “We’ve drawn upon the designs of other landmark New Farm developments like Cutters Landing, to develop a floor plate to surpass anything the market has seen before.”

More than 75 per cent of units in the building are positioned to capture views of the river, with many positioned to capture north-facing views up to Hamilton Hill.

Due to the front-row location of the project, those with riverfront views will be able to enjoy the scenery without worry of it being built out.

Residents in both buildings will be given access to similar shared amenities. Those in the main building will have access to a 25-metre resort-style pool on the roof, along with a picnic lawn area and barbecue spaces. A wellness area is expected to be on the fifth floor of the building, complete with a gymnasium, hot and cold plunge pools and saunas.

Meanwhile, owners in the luxury villas will have their own rooftop retreat and pool, including day rooms allowing for homeowners to comfortably lounge for the whole day.

CPG chairman and CEO Don O’Rorke said the project took inspiration from heritage-listed buildings right opposite their office in the CBD.

“I’ve spent the last 10 years in our office looking next door to Customs House and thinking, imagine if we could build something like that,” he said.

“We want this building to be considered one of Brisbane’s best in 100 years. I want my great, great grandchildren to be proud say that we built this.”

Woods Bagot principal David Lee said the design brief for the development needed to create a distinct presence within the tight-knit Newstead area, with so few riverfront spots left in 2025.

“The design is elegant, confident and timeless,” he said. “Classical motifs are reinterpreted and abstracted to create a modern aesthetic on key architectural elements, like the slab edges, columns and balustrade.”

The development, which has yet to be named, is part of a larger riverfront collection being offered by CPG across Brisbane.

Other projects being made by the company include Monarch Residences, located in Toowong, and a new 25-storey luxury project to be built in Yeerongpilly.

Interested parties are now able to register with CPG. Apartment sales will launch in early 2026, with construction to commence soon after.

The development will have a three-year build, and residents can be expected to move in by late 2029.

The post New riverfront project offers last chance for luxury home buyers in the city appeared first on realestate.com.au.

Australia’s biggest banks are under fire for allegedly exploiting first home buyers, as the Federal Government’s First Home Guarantee Scheme launches on October 1.

Instead of delivering a pathway to home ownership, critics claim the scheme is being hijacked by major lenders to inflate profits at the expense of struggling Australians.

The scheme, designed to help first home buyers secure a property with as little as a 5 per cent deposit, has been met with outrage after revelations that three of the big four banks – ANZ, NAB, and Westpac – are charging significantly higher interest rates on low-deposit loans.

This is despite the Government guaranteeing a portion of the loan’s risk.

Figures from the banks’ own websites reveal a stark disparity in interest rates.

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On a $1 million loan, this could cost first home buyers an additional $1037 per month – or an eye-watering $373,407 over 30 years.

NAB, accoridng to bRight, has set its highest interest rate threshold at a 70 per cent LVR, meaning borrowers with smaller deposits are being hit even harder.

Westpac and ANZ have also published rates showing significant increases for loans with higher LVRs, further adding to the financial strain on first home buyers.

“This interest-rate disparity is price gouging on a national and generational scale,” Aaron Scott, co-founder of real estate agent comparison service bRight Agent, said.

“The Government is taking on the risk above 80 per cent of the Loan-to-Value ratio, so its real no extra risk to the banks to be loaning up to 95 per cent. But instead of helping new first home buyers get into a home with a manageable rate, the banks are still slugging these Australians with sky-high rates.

“First home buyers are already scraping every cent together to get a deposit. To then be punished with inflated rates on top of their mortgage is nothing short of a national disgrace.”

Where’s the risk? Government guarantee vs bank profits

Traditionally, banks justify higher rates for higher LVR loans by citing increased risk of default.

However, with the Federal Government absorbing part of the risk under the scheme, critics argue the banks have no justification for the inflated rates.

Instead, they claim the banks are using taxpayer-backed support as a profit buffer, leaving young Australians to shoulder the financial burden.

bRight Agent is now urging the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to step in and ensure fairness.

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The group is calling for all loans under the First Home Guarantee Scheme with an LVR above 80 per cent to be charged the same interest rates as those at 80 per cent

“It’s a generational debt trap dressed up as a great opportunity,” Scott said.

The controversy comes as Australian households face mounting financial pressure.

Rising interest rates, job cuts, and increasing mortgage stress are creating a perfect storm for first home buyers.

Recent lay-offs by major banks have only added to the uncertainty.

ANZ announced plans to slash 3500 jobs, while NAB is cutting over 400 positions.

These cuts follow similar moves by CBA and other major employers, including BHP.

Adding to the bleak outlook, Roy Morgan’s latest research reveals that 28.4 per cent of mortgage holders are now “At Risk” of mortgage stress – the highest rate since January 2025. Over one million Australians are considered “Extremely At Risk”, a figure well above the long-term average.

The post Banks’ shock interest rates for first home buyers revealed appeared first on realestate.com.au.

The year was 1985, and the Michael J Fox classic Back to the Future had just been released.

It was also the year that Mark and Robyn Tzipris purchased a double-storey modernist home, directly opposite the Hermitage foreshore walk and Strickland House.

The six-bedroom residence at 33 Vaucluse Rd, Vaucluse, cost them $760,000, which was an enormous amount of money back then but wouldn’t even buy a bedsit in Sydney’s east these days.

No-one could have predicted that 40 years later, the same house, with its gobsmacking iconic views, could fetch a whopping $22,055,000 at last night’s in-rooms auction.

The result was well above the $20m price guide set by Ray White Double Bay’s Adam Reichman and principal Elliott Placks.

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Waterfront sells for biggest price of the year

The agents couldn’t be contacted, but sources who witnessed the auction said auctioneer James Keenan had three active bidders.

It kicked off at $19m, rose in $100k increments and was called onto the market at about $20m.

The home, which had three bathrooms and a double garage, is on 824sqm block.

When it was listed, Reichman told the Wentworth Courier: “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and the owners have loved living there.”

There’s an internal lift, harbour-facing balcony, quality granite kitchen, pool and an enormous rooftop that offers huge potential.

It was a big night for Reichman, who sold $29m in real estate in just three hours at the auctions.

He also sold a four-bedroom home at 147 O’Sullivan Rd, Bellevue Hillfor about $6.8m, the source recalled. The guide had been $6.5m.

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Rose Bay home sets national auction record

The post Home bought for $780k sells for $22m at hot auction appeared first on realestate.com.au.

Rents are surging in many suburbs and towns across South Australia but there are some spots where they are falling just as rapidly.

While latest PropTrack figures show there are 32 areas that have recorded double-digit rent growth over the past year, there are four where rental prices have dropped 10 per cent or more.

Overall, there are 45 suburbs where prices have dipped, according to the data.

Rents for houses in Camden Park recorded the furthest fall, taking its median weekly rent to $540 after a 15.6 per cent drop in the year to August compared to the previous year.

RELATED: Where rents have surged more than 10pc in a year

Henley Beach South houses trailed closely behind, with rents recording a 13.7 per cent decrease.

Houses in Plympton and Plympton Park followed, at 11.8 per cent and 10.3 per cent respectively, while units at Findon, dipping 8.6 per cent, rounded out the top five.

REA Group senior economist Angus Moore said prospective tenants should consider data like this carefully because analysis at a suburb level was much more volatile than at a city level.

However, he said rent growth had slowed compared to a few years ago and market conditions were starting to ease.

“In that environment there will be some pockets where rents have started to pull back,” he said.

“But conditions remain challenging, and availability is still quite limited.

“Even if rents have come back a bit in the past year, looking across the past five years, the trend is still one of much higher rents and difficult rental affordability.”

Despite rents easing in some areas, Turner Real Estate managing director Lachlan Turner said tenants were feeling little relief, with median weekly rents around $688 per week for houses and $537 per week for units, which were up 2 to 3 per cent over the month.

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“With supply pipelines thin and a busy spring leasing season ahead, landlords are likely to retain the upper hand, though an increase in new investor-owned properties coming onto the market post-rate-cut could start to temper rental growth,” he said.

“Overall, expect another quarter of modest price gains and ongoing rental pressure unless fresh stock hits the market in meaningful volumes.”

REA Group senior economist Eleanor Creagh said Adelaide remained one of the country’s toughest rental markets – up there with Perth. – but rents in the capital were expected to start easing, as they have in several other capitals already.

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“Perth is leading annual growth and it looks like (rents in) Adelaide are continuing to increase, but it does look like we may have approached an affordability ceiling,” she said.

“Although we’re seeing the pace of rental price growth ease and pull back in Adelaide and Perth, those markets still remain relatively tight and that’s keeping upward pressure on rents.”

Where SA rents have dropped

(Location, property type, rent/week at August 2025, year-on-year decrease)

Camden Park – house, $540, -15.6 per cent

Henley Beach South – house, $690, -13.7 per cent

Plympton – house, $600, -11.8 per cent

Plympton Park – house, $565,-10.3 per cent

Findon – unit, $453, -8.6 per cent

Semaphore Park – house, $595, -8.5 per cent

Semaphore Park – unit, $498, -7.9 per cent

Whyalla – unit, $250, -7.4 per cent

Glenelg East – house, $650, -7.1 per cent

Glengowrie – house, $650, -7.1 per cent

St Marys – house, $585, -7.1 per cent

North Plympton – house, $595,-7.0 per cent

South Plympton – house, $560, -6.7 per cent

Henley Beach – house, $750, -6.3 per cent

Whyalla Playford – house, $360, -5.9 per cent

Roxby Downs – house, $378, -5.6 per cent

Risdon Park – house, $355, -5.3 per cent

Glenelg North – house, $665, -5.0 per cent

Kurralta Park – house, $648, -4.8 per cent

Port Augusta – unit, $265, -4.5 per cent

Port Augusta West – house, $330, -4.3 per cent

Elizabeth Vale – house, $480, -4.0 per cent

Kensington – unit, $520, -3.7 per cent

Campbelltown – unit, $525, -3.7 per cent

Kent Town – unit, $575, -3.4 per cent

Findon – house, $600, -3.2 per cent

Largs Bay – house, $600, -3.2 per cent

Semaphore – unit, $450, -3.2 per cent

Clearview – house, $605, -3.2 per cent

Port Lincoln – house, $460, -3.2 per cent

Fulham Gardens – house, $680, -2.9 per cent

Park Holme – house, $598, -2.8 per cent

Whyalla – house, $380, -2.6 per cent

Ridgehaven – house, $580, -2.5 per cent

Ferryden Park – house, $585, -2.5 per cent

Virginia – house, $600, -2.4 per cent

Black Forest – unit, $440, -2.2 per cent

Norwood – unit, $550, -1.8 per cent

Holden Hill – house, $590, -1.7 per cent

Port Lincoln – unit, $390, -1.3 per cent

Warradale – house, $623, -1.2 per cent

Kensington Gardens – unit, $500, -1.0 per cent

Clovelly Park – house, $620, -0.8 per cent

Richmond – house, $620, -0.8 per cent

Roxby Downs – unit, $318, -0.8 per cent

– with Lydia Kellner

The post Where rental prices are falling across SA appeared first on realestate.com.au.

Business theory IRL

As I like to share with my MBA graduate students, the principles of our classes are not just theory. They have real-world (or, as my Gen. Z students say, IRL (in real life)) implications.

Case in point: A reporter from the Daily Mail asked me about the following.

Paris Hilton bought Mark Wahlberg’s pad for $63M in Beverly Hills in June. ⁣

Over a month later, she got a $43.75M home loan. ⁣

For background, Paris got cut out of her grandfather’s $15 billion will, so who knows how wealthy she is – and it seems unusual… why it would be over a month after purchase?⁣

My response, which was partially featured in the Daily Mail:

Not to be a Nosy Nelly, but in this investment environment, I have my MBA accounting and finance students watching investments that have “motion”. The age-old expression that accounting and finance students can quote in their sleep is that “cash is king”. And from the looks of things, Paris Hilton is proving that saying to be right. ⁣

⁣⁣

It’s not uncommon for homeowners, whether high-net-worth or not, to refinance their homes for liquidity or investment flexibility. A short one-month delay tells me that it likely may have taken some time to negotiate terms or structure the loan for tax and estate planning. But Paris and her household likely intended all along to pull out the home value in order to leverage it for another venture. 

From a distance, it seems Paris is a savvy businessperson, despite a few scandalous moments in the media that may still cloud her reputation for some.  And clearly, lenders agree, at least as far as her creditworthiness is concerned, in order for her to secure a $40+ million loan in as little as a month. Thus, for me and my MBA students, the real question is what investment opportunity has captured HER attention?

Caption: AI Generated

Personally, I bought my first apartment building by tapping the equity in the first condo I bought right out of college. I’m glad I did because within a couple of years, the stock market crash of 2007 and the subsequent recession (“The Great Recession”) meant it was almost a decade before the equity in my first condo rebounded. I learned right out of “b-school” that cash in hand beats hypothetical or potential equity. Cash is indeed “king” — the piece on a chess board that, when lost, immediately ends the game.

What are your thoughts? Have you or any of your clients ever used the equity in your home for other projects and investments? 

How did that pan out? 

What investment(s) do you think are ideal now in this market?

If you or your clients were fortunate enough to buy a home when rates and costs were lower than they have been in 2025, is there any investment worth tapping your home’s equity?

But what if you or your clients are not allowed to tap the equity in your home?

IRL: Cash is king, fair appraisals are queen

In chess, the queen is the most flexible piece, moving any number of squares horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. This means as much as you need the king piece to continue to play the game, the queen piece is indispensable for securing the desired outcome (winning!).

Similarly, there is a queen in homeownership. Although it may seem like a trite classroom refrain, IRL, “cash IS king,” (the piece you must not lose) and for many homeowners (whose biggest investment is their home), access through fair appraisals is “queen” (your ability to move in any desired direction).  In other words, while your financial foundation is paramount, the true power of homeownership as an investment lies in mobility and valuation. 

Over the last decade, as home prices have rebounded from “The Great Recession” and since skyrocketed in many areas, local, state and federal fair housing and lending laws have helped some homeowners who were initially denied the equity in their homes, the ability to report those instances (such as the now defunct site https://pave.hud.gov/gethelp), and in some instances be compensated for the missed opportunities.

In other instances, local, state, and federal legislation was developed and still remains that allows for better remedies, such as Prince George’s County, Maryland’s law specifically banning unfair appraisals. 

But, knowing that we as humans can make mistakes and AI is known to hallucinate, the home valuations necessary to refinance or sell are not yet foolproof. Do you know what to do if you or your real estate clients think that a home valuation has gone beyond a mistake to unfairness? 

Federal protections through the DOJ, CFPB, and HUD have been and are continuing to be rolled back in 2025, but you can still contact the federal appraisal complaint hotline (https://refermyappraisalcomplaint.asc.gov), your state’s attorney general, and your state’s real estate commission.  Additionally, you and your clients can even listen in and join various initiatives and meetings, while providing feedback, to The Appraisal Foundation, which sets standards and qualifications for the appraisal profession.

 Dr. Lee Davenport is an MBA graduate school professor, executive/real estate coach, and author.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners.
To contact the editor responsible for this piece: zeb@hwmedia.com.