A report from Bloomberg on Australia. "Signs are strengthening that Australia’s two-year property slump is over, with house prices eking out a small gain last month. Home values rose 0.1% in the combined state and territory capitals in July, CoreLogic data showed. Sydney and Melbourne, with prices rising 0.2% in each city. The housing market 'may have found a floor in July,' Tim Lawless, CoreLogic’s head of research said."

From Mortgage Business. "Over the past few months, there have been suggestions that green shoots have begun to emerge in the housing market, following two years of price declines. However, according to principal of Digital Finance Analytics Martin North and investment manager of Aldo Capital Tony Locantro, housing market speculators are at risk of being ensnared in a 'bull trap,' claiming that recent reports of a recovery in the housing market may be premature. 'My research suggests that around 300,000 households across Australia are potentially in risk of being mortgage prisoners,' Mr North said."

"Mr North claimed that concerns over building quality, brought to the fore by the Opal Tower crisis, would also weigh on demand, and in turn stunt price growth. 'We’re finding more and more properties that have issues, he said. 'My worry is that there’s a whole bunch of people who are sitting in properties with defects, but nobody wants to talk about them because if you start talking about them, then you basically pull the value of your property down.'"

The Sydney Morning Herald. "Building materials group Adelaide Brighton could be the canary in the coal mine, revealing the toll of damages resulting from the turndown in residential construction, and the risks such a decline may pose to employment. The company's profit downgrade for the 2019 financial year took the market by surprise and infected other building materials companies - sending the share prices of Boral and CSR spiralling."

"It seems that not only is the construction party over - the hangover looks to be more severe."

From Reuters. "In a sign the property sector turmoil could extend, separate data on Thursday pointed to a slowdown in annual wage rises in new enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs), with weakness seen across public and private sector firms. There is little cheer for real estate firms. Residential developer Ralan Group called in administrators this week, becoming the second major real estate company to collapse over the past two months."

From ABC News. "Les Ladki thought he'd found his very own slice of paradise when he bought his house in a quiet suburb in Sydney's north in 2001. He and his wife, Samar, bought the Forestville property for half a million dollars, taking out a $250,000 home loan."

"But two decades later, the loan has ballooned to over $600,000 and the couple are struggling to pay it back, along with several other debts, which total more than $1 million. When Mr Ladki's business ran into trouble, he slowly increased the mortgage from $250,000 to $609,000. Then the couple were hit by several major health problems at once: Ms Ladki was diagnosed with Parkinson's, and doctors discovered Mr Ladki had a blockage in his heart that required surgery."

"But now they have three months to sell the family home and pay off the other debts before the bank takes possession of the property."

"Perth mother Barbara Finlay found herself in that situation, after buying a property with her husband in 2011. The trouble started when the couple split up. 'I didn't want to move out because rental prices are higher than what my mortgage was,' she said. With interest accumulating, Ms Finlay is now $2,000 behind on her mortgage repayments, owes almost $10,000 in bills and is facing the very real prospect of losing her house."

"JP Morgan Chief Economist Sally Auld told 7.30 a weak housing market was only adding to the problem. 'If you are in difficulty with your mortgage, it's very easy to exit that in a stronger housing market, because prices are going up, there is demand for property and it's easy to sell and get rid of the debt,' she said. 'In a softer housing market that's a lot more difficult to do, because you might have to take a hit on the price that you receive.'"

From Smart Property Investment. "Certainty Property director Simon Peisley said these figures are due in large part to the oversupply of apartments on the Sydney housing market, and with construction still booming in the NSW capital, the problem is unlikely to let up in the near future."

"'We have more cranes in the sky in Sydney at the moment than in New York and there’s a lot of stock still coming up,' Mr Peisley said. 'There are about 56,000 new apartments coming online in the next six months in Sydney.'"

"Mr Peisley added that economic concerns are another factor suppressing prices and demand in the rental market at the moment, due to Australia’s high levels of private debt and speculation that a recession is imminent. 'There’s really no room for the RBA to loosen [interest rates] any more, and if people lose their jobs they won’t be able to pay their rent,' he said. 'All of our debt has been transferred to households in this country, so if there’s an economic shift it would have much more impact compared to other economies.'"

The Property Observer. "A Willoughby, South Australia mortgagee cottage listed six times in the past five years has had its asking price reduced again. The earliest indicate of its mortgagee status came in December 2018. Situated at 2332 Cape Willoughby Road, the holding is listed for $450,000."

"The asking price is a $330,000 reduction on what it originally sought back in July 2015 of $780,000."