Smart Buying: How to Navigate Australia’s Spring–Summer Property Market

With first-home hopefuls set to face rising prices already in the housing market this year, the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme will offer help to a select number of buyers who may not have the backing of wealthy parents.  The scheme will allow 10,000 first-home buyers to purchase their first home each financial year with as little as a 5 per cent deposit, without incurring lenders mortgage insurance.

As a landlord or a tenant, it is crucial you know your rights and responsibilities if the property you own or rent has been affected by a natural disaster.

With the shock of the recent bushfire crisis, we thought it appropriate to answer a few questions about what to do if a residential rental property is destroyed by a natural disaster like a bushfire.

"We were so humbled and overwhelmed by the support from our community, in a matter of hours we had donations piling up in our boardroom to help those in need."

The year 2019 was "one of the stronger in recent times" for the Illawarra's commercial property market. Tim Jones, managing director of commercial sales at MMJ Wollongong said there was a sentiment that "not everything's going to the open market now - there's a fair bit of off-market activity".

186-190 Lygon Street, Carlton, a former hotel and now commercial office building has sold for $6.8m, the first and only sale on the iconic strip for 2019. The imposing corner freehold was offered as a blank canvass, appealing to occupiers, investors and developers.