Two reports from Domain News on Australia. "Sydney is in the middle of the steepest downturn in house prices in decades and top experts say there’s a way to go yet. In the year to September, more than $75,000 slid from the median house price which is now down 8.1 per cent since the peak mid-last year, with unit prices also falling 4.4 per cent. The longest downturn before the current one ran from early 2004 to late 2006, when the median house price fell 7 per cent."

"'The clearance rate says to us that the values sellers are putting their properties up for is being rejected by buyers,' said Matt Hayson, director of Cobden & Hayson, adding that vendors were caught out by sharper than anticipated price falls, and buyers were holding back because of reduced borrowing power."

"The inner west took the biggest hit to prices in the year to September, with a median drop of almost $180,000. The city’s biggest drop was in Rose Bay, where the median dropped 20.4 per cent to $3.25 million. This was followed by Russell Lea, Lane Cove North and Glebe."

"'The peak of conversions [to principal-and-interest loans] will be in 2019-20 … so that will be a true test of the market,' said Ilya Serov, associate managing director at Moody‘s Investors Service."

"A run of ultra-prestige house sales this week should be good news for trophy home owners, but agents fear it’s the first sign of a cold headwind blowing in their rarefied market. Sydney’s harbourside home values have remained largely immune to price falls this year thanks to a shortfall in the number of suitably luxurious homes to meet demand."

"And while agents say there are still plenty of buyers at trophy home levels, it is vendors who are no longer willing to wait it out for the right price. 'I’m telling people to get out before Christmas because we don’t know what the market will be like when it returns in February and March,' said Bill Malouf, of LJ Hooker Double Bay."

"On Vaucluse’s Wentworth Road, the grand Federation mansion of the late Helen and Andrew Andrews has sold for between $19.5 million and its $20 million guide through Sotheby’s Michael Pallier."

"Listed almost two years ago, it received an offer through Mr Malouf of $20.4 million last year but the deal fell through when the buyer from China was unable to access their funds."

The Herald Sun. "Melbourne could see fewer homes going to auction and sales even more skewed towards buyers after it failed its biggest market test in six years. Less than half of Melbourne’s auctions, 49 per cent, ended in a sale yesterday, according to preliminary CoreLogic figures. It’s the second week clearances have dipped below 50 per cent during the busiest time of the year for home sales."

"Advantage Property Consulting director Frank Valentic said consecutive weeks of clearance rates below 50 per cent had left buyers well and truly in control. 'What this means is that we are definitely in a buyers market — and there will be a hell of a lot more opportunity for buyers,' Mr Valentic said. 'They will be able to pick the eyes out of the market.'"

The Sydney Morning Herald. "A real estate agent specialising in luxury properties with high-profile owners has been charged with 15 fraud offences after she allegedly misused $3.69 million which was placed into her agency's trust account by various clients over the course of two years."

"Nicolette van Wijngaarden, 44, is the director of Unique Estates, a boutique real estate agency now under liquidation which specialised in selling multi-million dollar properties in NSW, Victoria and Queensland."

"She is accused of fraudulently dealing with home deposits paid to her company, including $105,000 from the sale of Ms Dinnigan's Surf and Stables retreat at Milton on the NSW south coast in late 2017."

"Ms van Wijngarden is also accused of 'falsely representing' that $1,165,876 from rental properties would remain in the Unique Estates trust account until the money was paid to the property owners. The charges span from May 2016 to February 2018."

"Unique Estates was placed into liquidation in May, owing an estimated $4 million to 26 employees and other unsecured creditors including BMW Australia Finance, the Australian Tax Office and the Office of State Revenue. According to a liquidators report published by ASIC, the Office of Fair Trading have identified "'a number of deficiencies in the trust accounts' of Unique Estates."

"Liquidators from PwC also identified a 'bookkeeping error' where the value of certain assets was 'significantly overstated.'"