A report from the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. "Opal. It may be apt - after the huge New Year’s Eve rail-fail left people muttering 'Sydney is over' - that our transport card should name-share with the building that may come to symbolise Sydney's final fall from grace. There's been much talk of cracks and crackdowns after the Opal Tower fiasco forced Olympic Park residents of new apartments to spend Christmas in their cars."

"The immensity of the boom, and the abject failure of successive governments, to sustain either built quality or essential services, could transform this glorious city into a sad hole where trains don't run, buildings collapse, cladding combusts without warning, homes are unsafe."

"Here we are, with people who've slaved for years at some soul-destroying job, scraping together sufficient deposit to plead with dishonest banks for a lifetime's mortgage on a tiny chunk of exorbitant Sydney and now, through no fault of theirs, they can't inhabit even that tiny chunk."

From News.com.au. "As a number of design and construction issues have been confirmed in Sydney’s cracked Opal Tower by an independent investigation — subcontractors who worked on the building have revealed some worrying details Australian Subcontractors Association spokeswoman Louise Stewart toldThe Saturday Telegraph workers were employed at 'bargain basement prices' and claim they were not paid on time."

"However a spokeswoman for the tower’s builder’s Icon said the firm 'categorically rejected' any claims of late payments to subcontractors. It comes as the independent investigation has found numerous building faults."

The Daily Mail. "An additional 50 apartments in Sydney's troubled Opal Tower have been gutted as engineers attempt determine a cause for the structural damage. After a preliminary independent investigation confirmed a number of design and construction issues, residents returned on Saturday to find their homes 'absolutely trashed'."

"Pictures reveal one unit has had its ceiling and flooring torn away to allow equipment to prop up the concrete slabs separating each floor. The ground level of the building has also been jackhammered and pavement ripped up."

From ABC News. "Engineers engaged by the NSW Government say Sydney's Opal Tower building, which was evacuated after a crack formed in concrete, has 'a number of design and construction issues.'"

"Residents have previously been warned the investigation may take 10 days but there was no guarantee when they would be allowed to return. They have been put up in nearby hotels and compensated."

The Australian Financial Review. "A half-built apartment project is up for sale in southern's Sydney's Cronulla, after developer Lainson Holdings' non-bank financier called time on its unpaid loans. Builders walked off the 25-29 Tonkin Street property after the local developer's unidentified private lender called in administrators on the 28-unit project, six months before the scheduled settlement with buyers."

"There is growing distress among apartment developers amid slowing sales in a slumped and credit-starved housing market. Other recent private lender-led receiverships include the 100-unit Royal Plaza property in Woodville Street in Hurstville and the 176-apartment towers at 30-32 Guess Avenue, Wolli Creek, both in Sydney. But unlike Lainson's tower, the Royal Plaza was mostly completed while Wolli Creek had not even commenced when lenders swooped in."

"While unfinished properties are not common in Australia, they are often a symptom of a housing crisis and a reminder of how things can turn against overambitious developers. In China, there are more than 60 million empty apartments sitting in eerie ghost towns, a result of a debt-fuelled housing bubble, leading to many projects being left either unsold or uninhabited."

"In many parts of Asia, many apartment blocks were left uncompleted when the Asian Financial Crisis hit in the late 1990s."

From News.com.au. "There is perhaps no better symbol of Sydney’s transition from a glittering world city to a sad urban wasteland than the image of tens of thousands of New Year’s Eve revellers waiting on choking rail platforms for trains that never arrived. When NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian flatly refused to refund people’s wasted train fares, it was arguably another illustration of Sydney’s rapid downfall."

"Overall cost of living has skyrocketed, with groceries and general costs higher than other capitals, while the night-life has died and dozens of venues have closed. The roads are choked and the majority of infrastructure problems meant to fix traffic congestion are over budget and well past schedule."

"And increasingly, fed-up and frustrated locals are fleeing to other states, particularly Victoria, at the fastest rates in several years. The statistics speak for themselves — Sydney officially sucks. Just what went so horribly wrong?"