A report from Nine News in Australia. "A new report by the Housing Industry Association revealed home affordability is at its best since 1999. However, Nine Finance Editor, Ross Greenwood, urges caution. 'Bear in mind it’s the housing industry telling us this, they have a vested interest. They want you to buy a house, they want confidence to come back,' Greenwood told Today."

"'House prices have come down in Melbourne and Sydney between 15 and 20 per cent and 25 per cent in some areas,' he said. 'If you go to Perth they are more than 25 per cent. In Darwin (prices are down) more than 30 per cent and then Brisbane and Adelaide are starting to fall. Canberra and Hobart are really the only ones holding up.'"

From News.com.au. "The sharp drop-off in investors purchasing properties dragged the national housing market to its heaviest losses this side of the Global Financial Crisis, experts say. 'We are now looking at a very different property market to what it was like during the boom,' realestate.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee said. 'Over the past 12 months alone, property seekers from China have dropped by over 60 per cent to the lowest level we have ever recorded.'"

"CoreLogic head of research Cameron Kusher said investors abandoning the sector could be attributed to property policy as well as an oversupply of dwellings. Mr Kusher said investors account for about one-third of the market, therefore a dramatic pull back in purchases was always going to drag prices lower."

"'And now we’re also seeing the owner-occupier segment drop off as well,' he said. 'That’s a key contributor to why dwelling values are falling, when a third of the market starts to slow pretty rapidly, it does have an impact.'"

From Property Observer. "A one bedroom, one bathroom East Perth apartment has sold for $275,000, some $145,000 less than its $410,000 off the plan sale in 2012. The apartment at 13/35 Wellington Street in the 2015 built VIBE complex initially sought $315,000 before its asking price was reduced to $299,000."

"The unlucky vendors sought to flip the apartment on its completion, listing it unsuccessfully in 2015 asking offers from $449,000. According to CoreLogic data, the change in East Perth's median price over the past 5 years is -23.7%."

From Domain News. "Sydney tenants are enjoying the biggest annual fall in rents in at least 15 years amid a continuing market correction that began last year, new figures show. Prices began to fall last year and the latest data means they are still at 2016 levels, according to the Domain Rental Report for the June quarter."

"The Agency national director of property management Maria Carlino said Sydney’s huge construction pipeline had finally had an impact. 'It’s definitely a tenants’ market, they haven’t been silly in relation to offers,' Ms Carlino said. 'They’ll come in with [an offer] 10 per cent cheaper and negotiate from there.'"

"She had noticed a glut of one-bedroom apartments on the north shore, while two-bedroom units and new builds leased quicker.
Landlords unwilling to negotiate asking rents or spend on a renovation to spruce up their investment property risked losing income while it remained vacant, Ms Carlino said."