Homes that offer a playful edge stand apart in the market and this Connells Point home is certainly one.

Offering what would be most children’s dream residence, the home boasts a level above in fun with a waterslide and outdoor basketball court that doubles as a soccer pitch which has served a decade of memories.

“My husband and I were building the house and we have four children who were about three to eight when we were in the concept stage,” said seller Daina Sinovich.

“We wanted to design something that they would all want to grow up in.

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“We wanted to be the house that people came to and have the kids around and have them bring everyone to us.”

Ms Sinovich said they had considered many ways to include the slide, such as internal to external.

“When we were building we wanted to do a couple of fun things and the slide was one of the first things we thought of,” she said.

“A lot of thought went into where we would place this – we wanted to do a proper job.

“My husband being the builder – it was seamless.

“The structure was built around the slide.”

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The slide was imported from America, which Ms Sinovich said was a bit of an undertaking but definitely worth it.

“It’s so sturdy and really quick, it’s actually really fun to go through,” she said.

“It’s been the best thing we have done, I don’t regret it ever at all for a minute.”

The slide sits in its own structure which includes a gym and bathroom inside the pavilion that looks out to the soccer pitch which doubles as a basketball court.

“We’ve had about 10 years there, so it was kind of all their formative and adolescent years,” Ms Sinovich said.

“Three of them are adults now and one doesn’t live at home.

“It was just the perfect time to do it and I feel like they really grew up around the house and the facilities.”

This also created a hub for guests.

“Everyone brought their friends there and to be honest, I feel like our friends loved it as much as the kids loved it,” Ms Sinovich said.

“It was essential to the experience of the house I would say.”

As for the soccer and basketball pitch, Ms Sinovich said this was influenced by her and her husband health and fitness.

“My husband was a professional soccer player in a past life, I was in the fitness industry – so sport and health were key to us and we wanted our kids growing up around that,” she said.

“We’ve had endless hours and hours of use on that court with various groups of friends.

“In Covid it was used a lot.”

Ms Sinovich said they no longer need such a big base.

“I think it’s done its job, it was amazing for what it was and we are ready to kind of downsize a little bit and just for the next stage,” she said.

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Victoria is on the cusp of shrugging off its mantel as the nation’s worst state for mortgage pain in a further sign home prices will grow — and forced sales fade.

The state had been the hardest hit in the nation by interest rate hikes, with dozens of homes worth tens of millions of dollars listed under mortgagee instructions since June last year according to realestate.com.au records.

Multiple credit rating groups have also tagged Victorian suburbs as the nation’s worst for mortgage arrears, with ClearScore this month noting Craigieburn as Australia’s top area for homeowners behind on their home loan repayments.

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S&P Global named Narre Warren’s 3805 postcode as the nation’s most troubled with more than one in 50 loans behind.

Point Cook, Hoppers Crossing, Craigieburn, Cranbourne and Pakenham all made their top 10 worst areas list for mortgage arrears nationwide.

But the data for the wider state shows most regions are improving, with only Melbourne’s south east region and Geelong yet to have pass the peak.

S&P Global credit rating agency data indicates that across most of the state home loan pain peaked between June last year and March this year and has since been improving, with latest data statewide indicating about one in 100 home loans were behind on their repayments.

Melbourne’s north west was the city’s hardest hit, with 2.93 per cent of homeowners in the red last year. While it has improved, it is still the state’s hardest hit area today with 2.26 per cent of households struggling with their home loan in an area of the city spanning from Keilor East and Coburg North to Gisborne and Romsey.

Despite overarching improvements, most parts of the state still have arrears levels at close to twice what they were in March, 2022, before the Reserve Bank commenced hiking rates.

S&P Global director Erin Kitson said the mortgage pain peak was now in the rear view mirror for most, and lenders were likely to become more generous — potentially having flow on effects to home prices.

The finance specialist said that as interest rates dropped, lenders traditionally became more competitive — and were likely to be more confident in this regard as home values rose, giving those who had fallen into arrears more options both to sell or to refinance.

“So I think there will be fewer mortgagee in possession sales,” Ms Kitson added.

However, she warned the share of the nation in arrears would not return to the historic low levels recorded prior to the interest rate hikes that started in May, 2022.

Typical levels are around 1 per cent.

However, Geelong and Melbourne’s south east are currently both at their highest level of arrears, at about 2 per cent — close to twice what they were in March 2022, before the Reserve Bank commenced hiking interest rates.

Mortgage Choice director David Thurmond works in Melbourne’s south east. While most people were speaking to him about buying their first home — one in 20 of his clients were needing to refinance through a “nonconforming lender”, those who back people with poor credit scores or who have gone bankrupt.

“And we are still seeing clients who have hardship marks against their home loans, or arrears payments — and over the past two years that’s become more common,” Mr Thurmond said.

The broker said in many instances those struggling were in their 30s or 40s and had lost income recently or had unexpected expenses.

“A lot of them are on one income, with mum staying at home — and I’m not surprised to find a lot of them would be feeling the pinch,” he said.

Area Specialist Narre Warren’s Hossein Gholami said the area had been inundated with homes for sale this year, but with buyers in equal measures they had also been selling.

While most would have been families looking for their next step on the property ladder, there were some who were selling as a result of divorce or from mortgage stress.

“But not to the stage where their lender was saying they have to sell,” Mr Gholami said.

Loan Market mortgage broker Jacob Decru said with three rate cuts since February, some owners who had been behind were catching back up.

“If you had a $500,000 mortgage at 6 per cent that was $3000 a month, but now it’s down by about $300 to $2,685 — and that’s a lot of relief,” Mr Decru said.

He added that while relatively few had been forced to sell, many today were asking if they should fix their rate now as they sought a more secure financial future.

“I think they are a bit damaged,” he said.

With the relief being felt, those who had coped with the rate hikes better were now inquiring about selling and bridging finance as they plotted their next property purchase, he added.

“So they are now looking to upsize to a bigger family home,” Mr Decru said.

Melbourne’s top postcodes for mortgage arrears

Fountain Gate 3805 — 2.79%

Point Cook 3030 — 2.19%

Craigieburn 3064 — 1.75%

Cranbourne 3977 — 1.74%

Pakenham 3810 — 1.74%

Hoppers Crossing 3029 — 1.71%

Supplied: S&P Global

How Victorian home loan payments have responded to rate hikes

Supplied: S&P Global

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Mortgage stress is sweeping across the nation, and new data has revealed the suburbs feeling the heat the most.

From outer-city battlegrounds to regional towns on the brink, rising interest rates and soaring living costs are pushing homeowners to breaking point.

If you think your suburb is immune, think again – the financial strain is spreading, and it’s not always where you’d expect.

Take Toowoomba in Queensland, where a staggering 74 per cent of homeowners are grappling with mortgage stress, or Craigieburn in Victoria, which tops the nation for late repayments.

In Forrestfield, Western Australia, nearly five per cent of mortgages are in arrears, while coastal towns like Budgewoi in New South Wales are struggling with the state’s highest rate of missed housing loan repayments.

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These suburbs are just the tip of the iceberg in a growing crisis that’s reshaping Australia’s property landscape.

According to Dennis Cowper, Director of Real Credit Repairers, the financial pressure on Australian households is no accident.

“Australians are still taking on record levels of housing debt – loan commitments remain more than 30 per cent above pre-pandemic levels,” he explains.

“People haven’t stopped borrowing, but they are stretching themselves further than ever to get into the market.”

The reasons behind this financial strain are as varied as the suburbs themselves.

In outer-metro growth corridors like Craigieburn (VIC), Pakenham (VIC), and Palmerston (NT), families stretched their budgets to buy homes during the property boom, locking in large mortgages when interest rates were at record lows.

Now, with rates climbing and inflation driving up everyday costs, many households are finding themselves in uncharted territory, struggling to keep up with repayments.

Regional centres like Toowoomba in Queensland and Elizabeth in South Australia face their own challenges, with older housing stock and long-term unemployment compounding the issue.

Meanwhile, lifestyle towns such as Nerang in Queensland and Budgewoi in New South Wales are feeling the aftershocks of post-Covid job market shifts, leaving many residents exposed to financial stress.

It’s a perfect storm of rising repayments, stagnant wages, and increasing living costs that’s hitting homeowners where it hurts the most – their mortgages.

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Cowper points out that first-home buyers are particularly vulnerable to these pressures.

“First-home buyers now make up more than 40 per cent of loans in the Northern Territory and the ACT, but their share is slipping in NSW and Queensland. That split tells us affordability is blocking new entrants in the big markets, while smaller states are seeing younger households pile in,” he says.

The numbers back this up.

“The average new home loan has blown out to over $800,000 in New South Wales and more than $660,000 in Queensland,” Cowper adds.

“Even with low interest rates, those balances are enormous and leave households exposed if conditions change.”

But while some suburbs are buckling under the pressure, others are thriving.

In affluent areas like Mosman in New South Wales and Toorak in Victoria, homeowners are staying ahead of the curve, buoyed by high incomes, stable property values, and access to financial advice.

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These suburbs are proving resilient, with residents proactively managing debt and avoiding risky loans.

The divide between Australia’s property haves and have-nots has never been more stark.

What does this mean for everyday Australians? More than you might think.

Lenders use postcode data to assess risk, meaning living in a high-stress suburb could impact your ability to secure a competitive mortgage or refinance your home loan.

On the flip side, strong credit health in a suburb can boost local property values, improve access to finance, and create a more stable economy.

Cowper warns that the signs of financial strain are already showing in household behaviour. “Households are shuffling debt just to stay afloat – refinancing volumes are at record highs and personal loan commitments have doubled to $9 billion a quarter. That’s a clear sign people are leaning on unsecured credit to cover the basics,” he says.

The post New data exposes Australia’s worst suburbs for mortgage stress appeared first on realestate.com.au.

Last week, mortgage rates hit a new low for 2025, as the labor market proved more critical to the bond market than inflation. The big question is: what will happen after the Fed cuts rates this week? Last year at this time, mortgage rates hit a yearly low of nearly 6% and the Fed cut rates — only to see mortgage rates shoot back up to 7.25%.

Will this happen again? Let’s dive into the answer with our weekend Housing Market Tracker data.

10-year yield and mortgage rates

In my 2025 forecast, I anticipated the following ranges:

• Mortgage rates between 5.75% and 7.25%
• The 10-year yield fluctuating between 3.80% and 4.70%

So far in 2025, the 10-year yield has stayed in my range most of the time. If I account for some wild after-hours trading, the range has been between 4.79% – 3.87% this year, with most of the year being below 4.70%. We briefly dipped below 4% last week.

I recorded two important episodes of the HousingWire Daily podcast last week discussing why the labor market continues to play a crucial role in the bond market, as it has for many years. This dynamic helps explain why mortgage rates reached a yearly low last week, despite inflation concerns.

This podcast talks about the impact of tariffs, while this one is on jobless claims data. Clearly, the labor market has dominated in 2025, pushing rates down even with inflation above targets, trillions in debt that need to be issued and the Fed maintaining a modestly restrictive stance.

So what about the Fed meeting this week and the rate cut that is expected?

Last year at this time, the 10-year yield reached 3.63%, which to me was pricing in a recession at that point because Fed policy was too restrictive to have the 10-year yield that low. The Fed cut rates by 0.50%, but the more critical variable was that the economic data was improving, so bond yields shot up — as they should have.

The labor data was significantly better last year than it is this year, and mortgage spreads were larger. The current situation is different given the labor market is much softer and mortgage spreads are much better in 2025. So, we don’t exactly have a similar backdrop, as the 10-year yield is at 4.07% and not at 3.63%.

If labor data improves and inflation remains above target, the 10-year yield should rise toward the range of 4.35% to 4.50%, taking mortgage rates higher with it. On the other hand, if the Fed decides to move away from a moderately restrictive stance and the labor data gets softer,  the scenario can send rates lower. However, this Federal Reserve has not given me any reason to believe they intend to remove their modestly restrictive policy stance. As a result, I believe a lot of rate cuts are currently priced into mortgage rates.

Mortgage spreads

Mortgage rates would not have reached a yearly low last week if it weren’t for improved mortgage spreads in 2025. Historically, mortgage spreads have ranged between 1.60% and 1.80%.

If the spreads today were as bad as they were at the peak of 2023, mortgage rates would currently be 0.81% percentage points higher. Conversely, if the spreads returned to their normal range, mortgage rates would be 0.49% to 0.69% lower than today’s level.

If we had the best levels of normal spreads, we would have mortgage rates at 5.60% to 5.80% today.

Purchase application data

We saw positive growth in purchase application data this week, with week-to-week growth of 7% and year-over-year growth of 23%. I wrote more about this positive growth in this article. For me, it’s simple. Housing data tends to get better when mortgage rates are below 6.64% and heading toward 6%, but they need duration. So far, we have had a positive 6-week trend since mortgage rates fell below 6.64% and we need another six to eight weeks of this for it to mean something, similar to what we saw last year and in late 2022. 

Here is the weekly data for 2025 so far:

• 17 positive readings
• 12 negative readings
• 6 flat prints
• 32 straight weeks of positive year-over-year data
• 19 consecutive weeks of double-digit growth year over year

Total pending sales

Note: Holidays can affect demand data for a two-week period so the data will be back to normal next week.

The latest total pending sales data from HousingWire Data provides valuable insights into current trends in housing demand. Last year, we observed a significant shift when mortgage rates decreased from 6.64% to around 6%. We have achieved consistent low-level year-over-year growth recently and last week continued that trend. It will be interesting to see this data line over the next few months if rates can stay at the low-6% level. 

Total pending sales last week in the previous two years: 

• 2025: 363,763 
• 2024: 357,437

Weekly pending sales

Note: Our weekly pending home sales can really be wild for two weeks when one of the weekends has a holiday. 

Our weekly pending home sales provide a week-to-week glimpse into the data; however, this data line can be impacted by holidays and any short-term shocks. We are still showing slight year-over-year growth in this data line. The pending sales data will typically hit the existing home sales report 30-60 days out.

Weekly pending sales for last week:

• 2025: 62,185
• 2024: 60,996

Weekly housing inventory data

Note: Weekly inventory data does get impacted by holidays as well.

Last week, we observed a significant and unusual decline in inventory. However, I chalked it up to the holiday weekend, a variable I talked about the previous week. I had anticipated a rebound in inventory and we’ve achieved it and next week we can return to normal again. Inventory growth is still the best housing story for 2025, but since mid-June, that growth rate has slowed.

• Weekly inventory change (Sept. 5-Sept. 12): Inventory rose from 846,516 to 860,219
• The same week last year (Sept. 6-Sept. 13): Inventory rose from 703,376 to 713,193

New listings data

The new listings data peaked during the week of May 23 this year, reaching a total of 83,143 listings. Since then, this number has gradually declined. The two-week impact we see here is that the new listing data is slightly lower year over year. We should be back to normal next week, but the new listings data having it’s seasonal decline is normal.

To give you some perspective, during the years of the housing bubble crash, new listings were soaring between 250,000 and 400,000 per week for many years. Here’s last week’s new listings data over the past two years:

• 2025: 64,443
• 2024: 65,170

Price-cut percentage

Note: The price-cut percentage data is the only data line this week that surprised me. I had anticipated it to rise this week, due to the impacts of a 2-week holiday run-off, which didn’t happen.

In an average year, approximately one-third of homes experience price reductions. Homeowners often lower their sale prices when inventory levels increase and mortgage rates remain high, which is why the percentage of price reductions is greater in 2025 than it was last year. This has been another great story for housing in 2025, as the housing market has become a much more friendly market for buyers in 2025. 

Here are the percentages of homes that saw price reductions last week in the past few years:

• 2025: 41.5%
• 2024: 39%

The week ahead: Fed meetings, retail sales and housing starts

It’s Fed week and we all get to see what Jerome Powell and certain members really feel about the labor market after a batch of data lines that question the Federal Reserve’s stance that the labor market is solid.

Additionally, we will receive data on homebuilder confidence and housing starts. It’s noteworthy that last year, when mortgage rates neared 6%, builder confidence and housing data showed improvement. Therefore, I anticipate some positive movement in the confidence data in the upcoming week. Retail sales data will also be released on Tuesday. Regarding the recent spike in jobless claims data last week, I don’t believe the Fed will be overly concerned about it.

I believe the Federal Reserve will ignore this spike, as it was an abnormally large spike from one state — Texas. This report should show a decline next week. In any case, buckle up, folks.

In Australia’s bustling suburbs, a new kind of luxury is driving up property prices – not a designer kitchen, a backyard pool, or even a waterfront view. It’s the humble parking space.

A new study reveals that homeowners are paying up to $156,000 more on average for properties with dedicated parking, turning garages and driveways into some of the most valuable real estate features in the market.

The research, conducted by Australian-owned furniture retailer Luxo Living, analysed property sales across the nation’s most populous suburbs over the past two years.

By comparing homes with and without dedicated parking spaces, the study uncovered the staggering premiums buyers are willing to pay for the convenience – and exclusivity – of private parking.

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Winston Tu, Founder and CEO of LuxoLiving.com.au, says the findings highlight a growing trend in suburban real estate.

“As suburban areas become denser, this study shows that dedicated parking is becoming more scarce for everyday people,” he says.

“The findings reflect that what was once considered a standard feature of a home is now being treated as an additional upgrade, driving up the price of property in an already competitive market.”

This scarcity has transformed parking from a practical necessity into a status symbol.

In suburbs where street parking is limited or fiercely contested, the value of a private parking space has soared, making it a must-have feature for many buyers.

The Suburbs Where Parking Costs the Most

The study identified five suburbs where the price premium for parking is particularly striking.

Newtown, NSW

At the top of the list, Newtown homeowners are paying an average of $155,868 more for properties with dedicated parking.

Known for its lively culture and proximity to Sydney’s CBD, Newtown’s narrow streets and limited parking make private spaces a prized commodity for families and professionals.

Collaroy, NSW

In this beachside suburb, properties with parking command an additional $155,858 on average. Collaroy’s stunning coastal views and bustling tourist activity come with a downside: scarce street parking, driving up demand for private spaces.

Coogee, NSW

Buyers in Coogee are paying an extra $154,941 for homes with parking. As one of Sydney’s most densely populated coastal suburbs, Coogee’s limited parking availability has turned garages and driveways into highly sought-after assets.

Highgate Hill, QLD

In Brisbane’s inner-city suburb of Highgate Hill, the parking premium reaches $153,639. With street parking often unreliable, private spaces offer the convenience and security that many homebuyers are willing to pay for. 5.

Cottesloe, WA

Rounding out the top five, Cottesloe properties with parking add $152,679 to the average sale price. The suburb’s popularity as a coastal destination means parking is at a premium, making private spaces a valuable feature for residents.

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What this means for buyers and sellers

For buyers, the inclusion of a parking space can significantly impact affordability, particularly in high-demand suburbs.

For sellers, the findings underscore the importance of highlighting parking features when marketing properties, as they can add substantial value in competitive markets.

“As suburban areas become more crowded, parking is no longer just a convenience – it’s a lifestyle upgrade,” Tu said.

“The data reflects how Australians are willing to pay a premium for the peace of mind and practicality that private parking provides.”

With suburban density on the rise, the value of parking is unlikely to diminish.

For those navigating the property market, the question remains: is the convenience of a private parking space worth the extra cost, or could alternative solutions – like improved public transport or car-sharing – help ease the financial burden?

One thing is clear: in today’s real estate market, parking is no longer just a space – it’s a statement.

The post Revealed: The Aussie suburbs where parking adds most to house prices appeared first on realestate.com.au.