A report from the Daily Telegraph in Australia. "Things are finally getting easier for Sydney’s long frustrated home seekers. The median price of a Sydney home has dropped close to 15 per cent since the market peaked in July 2017 and is now about $808,000. That price is 8.5 times the average household’s annual income — still the highest in the country but lower than in 2017, when prices were almost 10 times typical wages."

From ABC News. "The Reserve Bank's decision to cut its official interest rate to a record low is good news for housing affordability, but will not do much to drive a recovery in Perth or the state's housing market, experts have said. Real Estate Institute of WA president Damian Collins said prices in outer suburbs were still falling due to an oversupply of about 5,000 houses in areas including Baldivis, Ellenbrook, Byford and new subdivisions north of Butle."

"'Certainly the cheaper money will help people with affordability, but what we ultimately need to solve our oversupply problems in those outer suburbs is more people coming into the state,' Mr Collins said."

The Australian Financial Review. "A two-bedroom apartment at Meriton’s Altitude apartment tower in Parramatta in Sydney’s west has sold at 23 per cent below its off-the-plan price, as the apartment market continues to struggle. Public records show the three-bedroom unit – once marketed as the 'Versace Suite' – at the high-profile building at 330 Church Street resold for $990,000 in May, below its 2015 off-the-plan sale of $1.285 million."

"There were also many other resales in the tower with those sold in the past year making either little profit or at a loss of up to 23 per cent against their original purchase prices around 2014 and 2015 when the project was launched. In March, a two-bedroom apartment at level 43 resold and settled for $820,000, at nearly 20 per cent lower than its off-the-plan price of just over $1 million."

"Big premiums were paid for these apartments during the boom of 2012 to 2017 when local and foreign investors fought it out to snap up off-the-plan units, valuers Herron Todd White said. 'As the wider market weakens, we are continuing to see settlement valuations not meeting the off-the-plan purchase price,' the valuer said."

"The outlook continues to look bleak for unsold units, evidenced by developers offering incentives to buy units, Herron Todd White said. In Schofields, one of the newest greenfield housing areas 45 kilometres west of Sydney, developer Bathla is offering $1.2 million in lucky draw prizes to new apartment purchasers at its Pelican Estate project."

"'Incentives and giveaways such as this are not typically seen during a booming market and are considered a sign of the times,' Herron Todd White said."

From Domain News. "Landlords are slashing prices, accepting shorter leases and making alterations to their properties to secure tenants in Sydney’s cooling market, as vacancy rates rise and the average time to rent a property stretches up to almost nine weeks."

"While the cooler rental market is welcome news for tenants, it’s put pressure on landlords like Ayla Estacio to lower rents and spruce up their properties to stand out from the competition. When Ms Estacio’s unit returned to the market this year, it took about eight weeks, two price cuts worth $100, a shorter six-month lease and changes to her apartment — including new flyscreens and kitchen upgrades — to ensure she got a tenant before her property was left vacant."

"'[My tenant] wanted a few changes … and I thought I was better off making this investment now and having someone good in there,' Ms Estacio said. 'It’s very much their market at the moment. It was a dramatic change. [Landlords] started being more competitive in dropping their prices … I never expected that to happen in Sydney, but there’s a lot more options now [for renters].'"

"Property manager Melissa Morgan said older stock in the area was often languishing on the market due to the oversupply of new apartments. ' In Meadowbank there was over 100 other two-bedroom properties in the market for rent at the same time, so we needed a slightly different approach,' Ms Morgan said. 'For the first time in over a decade I’m seeing some significant rent declines in these areas, which requires strategy, negotiation and flexibility in order to minimise vacancy periods or retain the existing tenant.'"