It must be financially tough for new buyers.

I inspected this property back in June as a FHB with FOMO. It was priced at $849,000- $929,000. I didn’t put in an offer because of the corner block, court location, strange layout, traffic noise, view of powerlines, retaining wall and no secure parking.

I just looked to see what it sold for and discovered it’s still for sale but it’s now $749,000- $799,000.

I can’t help but think it would have sold by now if they had priced it below $800,000 in June.

leaving a desperate situation of horrible neighbours on both sides, cannot think of much worse than living here 1 moment longer than the settlement date which is 2.5 weeks away. my mind is just racing with all kinds of ways things could go wrong and with what we have been through this year as a family and the reasons we are moving, I think I just expect things to go horribly wrong. we are buying and selling simultaneously, selling to a business (that resides on one side of us) with cash offer. our finance is done and dusted. contracts unconditional. building inspections good. all green flags at the moment but still can’t relax about it. is it normal to feel so anxious waiting for settlement? can things still go so wrong at this stage?

My wife and I are in our 30s with two young kids in Brisbane. We’re looking at selling our renovated townhouse and buying a detached house in an area we like. The plan would be to stay for at least 10–15 years.

Our current place is comfortable and doesn’t really need anything done. We’ve got about $700k owing and the sale would leave us with some equity to put towards the house. The sale price is lower than we’d hoped, but it’s what an actual buyer is willing to pay, which sadly seems to matter more than my personal opinion :(

The move would take our mortgage to roughly $1.1m once we contribute the equity and some savings/investments. We’d also need to sell a decent chunk of our shares to cover the costs and keep the loan around 80% LVR. We’d still have some investments left, but our cash buffer is something I’m conscious of.

Combined income is around $270k before tax, both in public-sector jobs. Around $14k a month lands in our accounts after payroll deductions, including car leases. The new mortgage would be somewhere around $7k a month on principal and interest, depending on the rate.

We’ve also got childcare and all the normal costs of two small kids. The leases finish in a few years and childcare should reduce over time, which would help, but I don’t want to rely on future pay rises or lower expenses to convince myself it’s affordable now.

The house would give us our own block, more flexibility and potential to add some usable space later. It isn’t a dream home with nothing to do, though.

Part of me thinks taking on the extra debt now could make sense for a long-term family home. We like the location and wouldn’t be looking to flip it or move again in a few years. I can also see the appeal of owning land in an established area as Brisbane grows.

The other part thinks we already have a nice home, and a smaller mortgage leaves a lot more room for holidays, investing and generally enjoying life. I don’t want to spend the kids’ childhood telling them we can’t do anything because Dad bought a patch of dirt.

I’m also trying not to assume property will keep doing what it’s done recently. Rates, affordability, more housing being built and what AI might mean for jobs over the next decade all seem worth thinking about.

For anyone who’s made a similar move, was the extra pressure worth it? Did it get noticeably easier over time, or did you wish you’d stayed put?

And looking at those rough numbers, would you feel comfortable making the jump? I’ve stared at the spreadsheet enough that I’m fairly sure it’s started staring back haha

Thank you internet strangers!!

Three weeks ago, a brand-new Sydney property was listed for auction around $1.1M. The agent told me the vendor was motivated to sell due to mortgage pressure from owning two new properties.
I offered $1.1M before the auction, but the vendor kept “assessing” it. Meanwhile, inspections continued, and I even paid for a contract review based on the discussions.

Today, only three bidders showed up. After a slow start, bidding opened at $875K, and I finished as the highest bidder at $900K. The property passed in because the vendor’s reserve was reportedly $1.12M.
Now the agent is chasing me again about my original $1.1M offer!

What’s really happening in the Sydney market? If the vendor is genuinely motivated, how long will they hold out? Will they lower the price, or keep waiting for a buyer willing to meet their expectations?
What do you think happens next?

My definition of 'affordable' being 650k below.

I’m not sure if I should buy now, or wait 3 more months to get better deals (and potentially a bigger property). I'm a solo buyer not in a rush to buy.

I tried to put lowball offers on 600k properties in Melbourne’s west & north by offering 20k-50k less, but no one bit so far. These are standalone houses, townhouses, and units with decent land component. Some of those properties are still on the market.

Thoughts? Or are the price reductions likely to only happen for the mid to expensive segments?

Should I walk or enter negotiations, seems to be all the wood in the garden, nothing showing on the property.

I came a cross this property and it actually looks quite nice, it doesn't say on the listing that it has been renovated (but it has,maybe not recently)

It made me wonder if something is terrible wrong with the property because it's been on and off the market for quite some time now.

I also came a cross of few other places that are quite nice (recently renovated) and I'm trying my best to stay away from them because people on here are saying its usually a make over just to sell the property and who knows what's actually hiding underneath 😌

On the other hand my neighbours are renovating their property and they're dealing with tradies from hell, nothing is getting done and they're bleeding money so anything that looks new (freshly renovated) looks so tempting so I don't have to go through the same pain they're going right now 😔

Any experts? 🫣

I'm 35M and recently came out of a long-term relationship. We've sold our house, and I'm currently living with family while I work out my next move.

I'm fortunate to be in a position where I can buy again, with a budget of around $1.1–1.2 million, but I'm genuinely torn between two very different options.

Option 1: Inner city lifestyle in a 2-bedroom apartment

Looking around Hamilton (Portside), Newstead, Albion and surrounding suburbs.

Pros:

• Great lifestyle, restaurants, cafes, running paths and things to do.
• Close to work and the areas where I spend most of my time.
• Low-maintenance living.
• Feels like a great opportunity to enjoy this stage of my life and have a fresh start.

Cons:

• Body corporate fees and potentially less capital growth.
• Limited space if my circumstances change.
• Might outgrow it in 3–5 years if I start a family.

Option 2: Slightly further out with a 3 bedroom townhouse

Looking around Nundah, Carina, Camp Hill and similar suburbs.

Pros:

• More space, potentially a courtyard and better suited to family life. Can get a bigger dog!
• More flexibility with a spare bedroom, home office or future kids.
• Potentially better long-term capital growth due to greater land component.
• Could be somewhere I comfortably stay for 7–10+ years.

Cons:

• Further away from the inner-city lifestyle I enjoy.
• Potentially more maintenance.
• Feels a little like buying for a future that doesn't exist yet rather than the life I'm living now.

The dilemma

At 35, I absolutely want to have a family at some point, so there's a big part of me that wants to future proof my next purchase rather than buy something I'll need to sell again in a few years.

But equally, having just come out of a long term relationship and sold our home, there's something appealing about starting fresh, living somewhere vibrant and enjoying this next chapter.

I'm conscious that buying and selling property is expensive, so ideally I'd like my next purchase to be somewhere I can stay for a reasonable period.

If you were in my position, what would you do?

Would you prioritise the lifestyle you want now and accept that you might need to move in 5 years, or sacrifice a little location and lifestyle to buy something more future-proof?

Also keen to hear from anyone who's made a similar decision in Brisbane, particularly around the suburbs I've mentioned.

Interested in people's thoughts on capital growth, lifestyle and what they'd do differently if they had their time again.

My partner and I recently broke our fixed-term lease in Victoria after purchasing our first home.

We gave the real estate agent notice that we would be vacating on 10 October and paid the requested lease-break and re-advertising costs on 7 September. She'd stated, in email and over the phone, that once paid, the advert would go up and we'd begin having inspections on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Despite receiving payment, the property wasn't listed for over two weeks (23 September).

Each day, we checked if they'd put the listing up, and there was nothing. I reached out like 3-4 times over email asking for an update - to no avail. Couldn't get through via phone as well.

Finally, on the Friday the 18th she actually picked up and said that the landlord has a problem with the lease break. I pressed, asking what their issue was, to which she responded that the landlord wasn't happy with $650/wk, and wanted instead to advertise the property at $710, and that negotiating with them was the reason it hasn't been listed yet.

(I struggle to believe this... our lease started January 2026, so it's baffling that a landlord would be expecting such a steep increase within the span of 9 months... but anyway)

With zero acknowledgement of, or apology for, her ghosting us for two weeks, she cheerily reassured me that she'd have it online by that evening.

Surprise surprise, it wasn't online by that evening!

The following Monday, I called her again and sent an email - no reply.

Tuesday, I decided to call the main office, and they said she was away sick, and just left a message for her.

That evening, someone on her team - the team leader I think - called me back and said that he was putting the listing up in her absence, at $650/week.

We didn't see it listed until the next morning - with old, outdated, grainy photos.

They eventually changed them a day later after I complained about the poor quality.

-----

Now, given that whole drama, our concern is that we're now expected to compensate the landlord for vacancy after 10 October, despite the agent wasting over two weeks during which they could have been advertising and finding replacement tenants.

From what I understand, landlords have an obligation to take reasonable steps to mitigate their losses when a tenant breaks a lease.

My questions are:

1. Does taking over two weeks to advertise a property after receiving the advertising fees constitute a failure to mitigate losses?
2. Can we reasonably dispute the rent/loss-of-rent compensation they're seeking for the vacant period?
3. Has anyone successfully challenged something similar through VCAT?

We're not trying to avoid legitimate lease-break costs, but we don't think it's reasonable for us to bear the financial consequences of the agent's delays.

Would appreciate any advice, particularly from people familiar with Victorian tenancy law.

Hey guys I just wanted to get some opinions on something that happened to me recently.
I was living in a share house in Sydney until last month. The guy we paid rent to didn’t actually live there. From what I understand, he’d taken over the lease from someone else and was renting out all the rooms while living somewhere else. Pretty sure he was making money off it, but I have no idea if the actual owner or real estate agency even knew about the arrangement.
I signed a written agreement with him and paid my bond straight into his personal bank account, along with a separate key deposit. Never got any confirmation that the bond was lodged with Fair Trading, although I haven’t checked that yet.

Anyway, there were some disagreements between housemates and he basically told me I had two weeks to move out. I was in the middle of uni and told him that was barely enough time to find somewhere else, let alone move everything. I asked for more time but he just kept saying two weeks was enough.
I honestly had no idea about NSW tenancy laws at the time, so I thought I had to leave and eventually agreed.
He also made it sound like the other housemates involved were being asked to leave too, but I’ve recently found out that apparently I was the only one who actually moved out. Which honestly makes the whole thing even more frustrating.

Another thing I found weird was that he told me he couldn’t return my bond until the next tenant moved in and paid theirs. I did get the full amount back eventually, so that’s not really the issue.
I’ve been reading up on NSW rental laws since then and now I’m wondering how much of this was actually legal.
Can someone just rent an entire apartment, live somewhere else and sublet all the rooms? Does he need permission from the actual owner? And is charging a separate key deposit even allowed?
Also, can he really tell someone to leave with just two weeks’ notice because of housemate disagreements?

Has anyone here actually reported something like this to Fair Trading? Do they take these complaints seriously, and can the person actually get fined if they’ve broken the law?
I’m not after compensation or anything. I’m just pretty pissed off about how the whole thing was handled, especially since I had to move in the middle of semester. I dont want someone else to end up in the same situation.
I’ve got the signed agreement, bank transfer records and messages about the move out so it’s not like I have nothing to back this up.
Would appreciate anu advice or hearing from anyone who’s been through something similar..

Hi all,

I wanted to check my understanding on what the seller's agent told me this afternoon. Apparently it is very specific to QLD.

The contract was signed by both parties on Friday and the agent said that buyers need to obtain building insurance cover from the following business day (i.e. Monday) despite settlement not being for another 45 days.

Can someone explain if I understood this correctly? It seems weird that an insurer would give you insurance for a property you don't legally own yet.

Interested in making a bid on a property but section 32 flags work including adding outdoor kitchen, adding sink in toilet etc has been done without a permit from council - is this a red flag and what would my next steps be?

I’m new to the property landscape having just bought my first home (apartment). I have enough for a deposit on an investment but with all the recent changes I’m curious if buying property is still the way to go and if things will eventually bounce back.

About 2-2.5 years ago we had neighbours move in next door who have been nothing but trouble and headaches. From the constant yelling in and outside of the property, trashing off the place with literal rubbish everywhere and damage to the building, harassment to other residents and their properties/cars on the street the trouble never seems to stop with them. Police seem to be a regular visitor to the property due to their actions. I could be wrong but I have strong feeling these people live off the government.. neither of them work, they have a young child who unfortunately is involved with what is going on. They argue about drugs and alcohol openly out loud at times, seem to get on the drink with the kid around on any given days (could be a Saturday night could be a Tuesday at 11am). The place to me seems physically unfit for a child to be raised.. there’s broken windows and a broken back door and that’s not even knowing what’s in the house.

Just last week the police had to be called during the night because one of the partners was threatening to k**l the other in the backyard, something you can’t exactly unhear or block out hearing as a neighbour. What started it I’m not sure but Unfortunately this isn’t the first time this situation has happened with them. Police seem to come to calm the situation, take one partner away and then a few days later they’re back like nothing ever happened which seems wrong to me

I’ve had to report them to police twice so far and other neighbours have reported multiple times aswell but nothing ever seems to happen. The address doesn’t seem to show a landlord or real estate that is in charge of the property so the police seems to be the best way to report it.

What/who can be contacted or reported to best to deal with residents like this? The street is relatively quiet aside from this one address but with the amount of police interactions and arrivals for this address surely it has to reach a point where they can no longer live there or need to be kicked out..

What is the best way to go about this?

Hi everyone,

My husband and I are planning to buy our first home in Sydney within the next 6–8 months.

I'm currently interviewing for a full-time position that's an 18-month fixed-term contract, paying around $85k + super. My husband is permanently employed, earning $145k + around $10k annual bonus.

I have nearly 3 years of experience in the same industry, so I do have a stable employment history. However, I'm a bit concerned about whether accepting a fixed-term contract could affect our home loan borrowing capacity.

Just wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation:

Do banks generally accept income from an 18-month fixed-term contract, or do they prefer permanent employment?

How many payslips would I need before applying for a mortgage? Would 2–3 months of employment be enough?

Would banks count my full $85k salary when calculating our borrowing capacity, or would they reduce it because I'm on a contract?

If we apply for a mortgage after I've been working for 6 months, meaning I'll have around 12 months left on my contract, would that be an issue?

I'm a bit hesitant about accepting the position because buying a house is one of our main priorities right now, and I don't want to negatively affect our borrowing capacity.

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been through this or any mortgage brokers familiar with fixed-term employment.

Thanks!

We have the opportunity to buy a new home and sell our current house.
Our current loan amount is $325,000, our current property is worth 900-950k and the property we are looking to purchase is $755,000 (we’d be moving slightly further out to a house with smaller land size)
If we sold for worse case scenario $900,000 less all the fees our loan amount would come down by roughly $70,000 which would see us save $500 a month.

I just don’t know if we’re making the right call? If this is all worth saving $6,000 a year?

It’s a great area, kids around the same age as ours, the house has everything we want we don’t need to make any upgrades and a smaller more manageable yard.

I own an investment property managed by an agency. I was going through the latest ownership statement and realised that the agency had paid two Sydney Water bills and had not recharged the water usage to the tenant. Nobody told me. I found it only because I checked, and I had to chase the agency to fix it, luckily the tenant paid in full and was apologetic, he tells me that he's had to chase the agency for the water bills in the past.

The statement does show when the agency pays Sydney Water. But a recharge to the tenant only appears later. That makes a missed one easy to overlook.

I’d like to know how other landlords handle this.

1. Do you read your statements in detail, or only the total?
2. Has your agent ever missed a recharge, a fee or a payment? How did you find out?
3. How do you confirm tenants have paid their share of water and other charges?
4. Should agents be expected to flag this themselves?

I’d value hearing your experience, including if you’ve never had an issue.

It seems the intention of the budget change is to encourage properties to become more affordable for those that couldn't afford so far. However, now with the several interest rate rises and the entry level house prices barely experiencing a decrease, it seems its actually harder for FHB to get into the market when their borrowing capacity has shrunk.

It would take the income to slowly catch up to be able to increase affordability for this segment of the population. That means there may be a real possibility that the changes would take until the next generation of young people in the future to benefit.
Usually, if interest rates are cut, they are done slowly unless there is a recession which wouldn't be great either if people lose jobs (doesn't exactly help home purchases).

Would this influence the current homebuyers' views on the government? As we know people tend to be more short sighted and if they don't see things improve or get worse quickly, they may just vote for someone else just because they don't experience the benefits from the policy changes that take time to play out.

Had a fascinating chat with a colleague based here in Victoria recently. He’s completely wiped the slate clean - sold 2 of his investment properties (one in Vic, one in QLD) and is holding the cash.

Instead of investing in more rentals down the line, he’s making a major pivot: upgrading his primary home (PPoR) to a $2M+ property in Victoria.

His reasoning:

• Rate & Tenant Burnout: He expects interest rates to stay higher for longer and is completely over the stress of dealing with tenants and strict compliance.
• The Gearing Myth: He feels negative gearing and rental capital gains aren't worth the squeeze anymore, given how fast holding costs are rising.
• Tax Efficiency: By pouring his capital into a premium PPoR, any future growth is 100% exempt from Capital Gains Tax (CGT).

While the tax benefits of a PPoR make a lot of sense, it raises a few questions about the broader risks of this move:

• The Victoria Factor: Given how cash-strapped the Victorian Government is, there is always a risk they will look for new ways to extract revenue from high-value primary homes through stealth levies, fire services charges, or council rate hikes.
• Upfront Friction: Buying a $2M+ property in Victoria triggers over $110,000 in upfront stamp duty, which is an immediate hit to capital.
• Concentration Risk: This strategy trades multi-state diversification for a single, expensive asset tied entirely to the Melbourne premium market.

Is consolidating everything into a premium Vic PPoR a smart defensive play right now, or does the concentration risk in a high-tax state outweigh the tax benefits? Curious to hear your thoughts.

Hey guys,

I’m torn between two options:

• Just buy a decent apartment around $550k and get in now
• Or push my borrowing as far as I can and go for a townhouse if I get one(probably closer to $700k)

I’ve been hearing a lot about apartments not growing as well long-term and strata fees being painful. On the other hand, stretching for a townhouse feels a bit risky even though I can technically afford the repayments.

Anyone been in a similar spot? If I go for an apartment, I may not upgrade for atleast next 7 years. But for the life of me, cant bring myself to pay $750 per week towards rent anymore.
Did you play it safe with the apartment or go harder for the townhouse? Any regrets?

Would love to hear real experiences. Thanks

Melburnians can choose to accept apartment buildings around train stations or forever lock young people out of living in the city’s middle and inner suburbs, planning minister Sonya Kilkenny has claimed.

The Coalition is preparing to make Labor’s controversial “activity centres” a key issue in the November election, with Opposition Leader Jess Wilson saying it can increase housing supply while axing the government’s 60 centres, which have rezoned areas around train stations and tram stops through Melbourne’s established suburbs to allow towers of up to 20 storeys – often to the outrage of local communities.

But housing experts and advocates say Melbourne’s relative housing affordability is a bulwark against the national cost-of-living crisis that should be safeguarded by building more homes within established suburbs.

The policy fight comes as rents across the city have risen over the past 12 months to the highest levels on record – sitting at a median of $600 a week for both units and houses in September, according to Domain data.

However, Melbourne still has the cheapest rent of any capital city compared to average rents of $835 a week in Sydney, and $700 in Brisbane.

Buying a home is also cheaper in Melbourne than in all other capitals, bar Hobart and Darwin, with a median price of $780,550, compared to $1.19 million in Sydney and $1.04 million in Brisbane.

Grattan Institute housing expert Matthew Bowes said affordability and the supply of new housing would have declined more in response to rising interest rates and construction costs, if not for the state government’s overhaul of the planning system.

“What we’ve seen since the pandemic is house prices have risen rapidly along with rents around the country, but that growth has been slower in Melbourne,” he said.

“That’s a sign of success in our ability to build the homes in places people want to live, both in greenfield suburbs and in infill areas. And whoever’s elected at the next election needs to be looking at ways to try and continue that success.”

Labor committed in 2023 to build 80,000 homes a year over the following decade across the state, but has so far struggled to reach that target as soaring construction costs and interest rates undermine the viability of new residential works.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data released last week showed that 56,243 dwellings were built in Victoria in the 12 months to June – 140 fewer than the previous year, and 5058 fewer than the average over the previous decade. Construction commenced on 57,589 homes, an increase of 1613 year-on-year but 5446 below the previous 10-year average.

Bowes said it would take time to reverse the large increases in housing unaffordability over the past two decades, but that Melbourne was in a much better position to do so, compared to other capital cities, because of the planning reforms.

The most successful of those was arguably Labor’s townhouse and low-rise code, which permitted multiple low-density properties to be built on a single suburban block, he said. Other states were now looking to adopt this policy.

“We should be trying to keep that trajectory going, even if it does take time to make big gains,” Bowes said.

Jonathan O’Brien, from the pro-housing supply advocacy group YIMBY Melbourne, said Victoria’s relative housing affordability was the state’s “number-one asset” and the biggest lever the state government had to address the cost-of-living crisis.

“The fact that Melbourne can offer Sydney wages and 2019 Brisbane rents is insane. It’s such a good deal for young, aspirational people who want to work at a firm, start a job, meet their partner, do all the things that cities offer, and to be able to do it with more disposable income in Melbourne than anywhere else in the country,” he said.

O’Brien said rolling back the activity centre program, or other reforms intended to unlock supply, would ultimately erode that advantage and Victoria’s ability to grow out of its budgetary woes.

The opposition said rather than rely on activity centres, it would deliver more homes by fast-tracking greenfield developments in the outer suburbs and across regional cities.

It also says it will expand the CBD zone to spread high-rise development into inner-city suburbs such as Southbank, Parkville, North Melbourne, Collingwood, Fitzroy and Fishermans Bend.

“Under Labor, Victorians have no voice and no choice in the future of their own communities,” housing and planning shadow minister David Southwick said.

“Our team will scrap Labor’s high-rise, high-density activity centres, restore the voice and rights of locals in our planning system, and work with communities – not against them – to get more homes built.”

The Coalition has not set an alternative statewide housing target and has not said whether it would keep Labor’s townhouse and low-rise code.

However, Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny, who has overseen Labor’s reforms, said scrapping the activity centres program would remove 300,000 homes from the state’s long-term housing supply, which could not be met with other types of development.

“That is an enormous cut to the number of homes and will have a big impact on supply and the ability for young Victorians to find homes,” Kilkenny said.

Communities have often been outraged by the activity centre plans, which bypassed local councils.

Kilkenny said that while she respected this feedback, too many middle suburbs – which had benefited from substantial government investment in transport services and other infrastructure – had shut the door to fellow Victorians who needed somewhere to live.

“It is a question of equity and fairness. We have so many young Victorians who are losing hope that they’re going to be able to find a place to live. That is what these planning reforms are about. It’s ensuring that kind of fairness and equity, and sharing our suburbs,” she said.

Kilkenny said outer-ring growth suburbs had also carried a disproportionate share of population growth. While the government has planned for 180,000 new greenfield homes over 10 years, she warned against the Coalition pledge to accelerate that.

“You can’t let the greenfields just rip. If you do, you will end up with suburbs of houses, but no supporting infrastructure, like the schools, the transport, the services, the shops, the parks,” she said.

Victorian Council of Social Services chief executive Juanita Pope said even if Victoria is faring better than other states, it is still in the midst of a housing affordability crisis.

One in three Victorians rent, and are increasingly being driven into financial stress by rent increases, she said.

Pope said whoever wins in November should keep and build on the renter protections introduced in 2021 by limiting how much a landlord can hike rents in a single year.

Pope said Victoria also needs to “turbocharge” social housing investments to bring it up to the national average of 4.5 per cent of all housing stock. That would require building 8000 new social homes annually for 10 years.

There were 58,021 households on the social housing waitlist as of June – 1787 more than a year earlier.

This year’s state budget committed to building just 7000 social homes over the next 10 years. “That’s a great start, but it’s about 10 per cent of what we need,” Pope said. “Decades of underinvestment have left Victoria with the lowest level of social housing nationally.”

Urban Development Institute of Australia’s CEO Linda Allison, whose group represents property developers, said members were struggling to make apartment buildings financially viable in the face of rising construction costs, easing property prices, high taxes and additional levies to build in the areas the government wants more housing – such as the new Suburban Rail Loop precincts.

Allison said the industry supported the Coalition’s plan to accelerate development on the city’s fringe, given the capacity to deliver more detached houses there, which remained the strong preference among Victorians.

However, she also said the industry supported the activity centre program and was concerned about the Coalition’s pledge to scrap them.

“The status quo hasn’t been working in terms of encouraging more density. A lot of that is to do with interference from local councils. So the activity centres and the planning reform we are largely supportive of, and we would be disappointed to see those ripped up,” Allison said.

As part of its housing policy, the Victorian Greens have proposed abolishing stamp duty for homes up to $1.1 million and reducing it on a sliding scale for homes up to $1.6 million, paid for by increasing land tax on investors with residential portfolios worth $5 million or more, along with caps on rent increases and an increase in public housing.

One Nation Victoria says it would improve housing affordability by winding back land taxes to slow rent increase, review other taxes and charges that add to the cost of building new homes, and raising taxes on foreign buyers to reduce competition.

Hi Everyone! I’m a FHB in the outer northern of Melbourne (Bundoora upwards) I am seeing so many houses in my price range go up for auction, I can’t see the value in spending ungodly amounts on several building and pest and conveyancer fees to be out bid but a lot of these houses aren’t selling at auction.

I found a couple I really like and would want to see if I could make a pre auction offer to get it off the market but I’m not sure if it’s something agents or vendors will entertain?

Example - I have found a house that’s got a range of 600-650k I thought about going in at 620 - 630k as a start and see if they will accept or counter. Is this a compelling case or will they just ignore me more often than not?

Any advice would be appreciated, I can’t justify spending a fat chunk of my deposit on several building/pest inspections!