From ABC News in Australia. "When Michael Neal found a house he wanted to buy in the Blue Mountains mid last year, he jumped on it. He purchased the home before selling the one he already owned. At that point the property market was on a run and his plan was to fix up his original place and sell it on the rising market. But then the bushfires broke out and the RFS volunteer had to put his home renovation on hold. 'The plan had always been to renovate it and sell,' Mr Neal told 7.30. '[But I] started renovating and the bushfires happened, so I was off fighting fires for three-and-a-half months.'"

"By the time he was able to get back on the tools to finish work on the house, Australia — and the property market — had changed significantly. Two weeks before he finished the renovation, COVID-19 restrictions for home inspections and auctions began being announced. Mr Neal was now facing a shaky real estate market, two mortgages and being stood down from his job as a sole trader for a bus-building company. 'I was basically racing against time,' Mr Neal said. 'I missed out on getting it on the market by two weeks.'"

"Almost all the major drivers of property price increases have fallen in unison. There has already been a steep rise in unemployment and fall in wages with the jobs market expected to continue to deteriorate. Less money in people's pockets means they have less money to bid up property prices and less money to bid up rents."

"The short-term rental accommodation market (think websites like AirBnB) has all but disappeared overnight due to restrictions on both international and national travel. Many owners of those properties are now attempting to find longer-term tenants, but the increased supply will lead to lower rents. Australia's high population growth is set to come to a screeching halt."

"In Sydney, 13.1 per cent of live listings on the Domain website were discounted in April, compared to 5.7 per cent in October 2019. In Melbourne, discounted listings jumped from 2.8 per cent to 10.7 per cent over the same period. 'The trend shows an uptick in discounting,' Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell said. 'The market has only really just been impacted, roughly since mid-March, with listings declining, clearances declining and discounting rising. Hobart had the largest jump in discounting rates. Hobart will be more exposed to the economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic than other Australian cities due to the reliance on tourism, hospitality, the arts and recreation industries.'"

"Mr Neal said buyers had been low-balling offers on his three-bedroom home in Winmalee in the NSW Blue Mountains by as much as $80,000 below the asking price. 'If someone came in close to under my figure, I'd sell. There's no problem with that,' he said. 'There's a few very low-ball figures, people hoping that I'm desperate to sell, but I'm not desperate yet.'"

From Domain News. "Price discounting on Sydney properties is back on the rise amid the coronavirus pandemic, new data shows, with vendors in some pockets slashing prices by six-figure sums to sell. Sellers who lowered their price expectations to sell over the past three months gave an average discount of 5.37 per cent for houses and 5.81 per cent for units, Domain figures show."

"That is a discount of about $62,765 on a house that hit the market at Sydney’s median of $1,168,806, or a price drop of about $43,265 on a median priced unit – at $744,672, according to the latest Domain House Price Report. Sellers on the lower north shore have been offering the biggest price cuts, dropping house asking prices by an average of 9.14 per cent to sell over the six months to April. That’s a price reduction of almost $240,000 on the region’s median house price of $2.623 million."

"Geoff Smith director of Ray White Lower North Shore said buyer demand and prices in the region had been holding up well, but noted some properties were back at prices from 12 to 18 months ago. 'Some vendors have come down in price, but to others we’ve said, 'Your house is worth the money, we should wait.' he said."

"Mr Smith was surprised by the region’s higher discount average, and felt this was more likely due to vendors aiming higher with asking prices and revising down when necessary, as opposed to forced price cuts. He added most vendors hitting the market now had realistic price expectations. The lower north shore was followed by the northern beaches and upper north shore with average discounts of 7.97 and 7.17 per cent – equivalent to six-figure price cuts on both their medians."

"Bronwen Lipscombe of DiJones Real Estate North Shore said most vendors hitting the market now understood that their pricing had to be sharp and realistic to attract buyers. 'Vendors understand that we can’t go out with boom-time expectations on price, so discounting may be showing as less [than last year] because the owners are more realistic to begin with … rather than having to make significant adjustments throughout the campaign.'"

"Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell said the upper end of the market had led the downturn and then the recovery, which left it more exposed to the latest slowdown. 'If we are going to see a slowdown in prices, it’s likely to be in similar vain to the most recent downturn,' Dr Powell said. 'Those more expensive areas do tend to have more discounting than other areas.'"

"While the citywide discount was greater for apartments than houses, Dr Powell said, this was a trend that only began late last year. She said the widening gap in the discount rates in recent months could partly be due to the pullback in demand for apartments as buying activity from investors, new arrivals and foreign buyers subsided in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. She added as unit prices recorded smaller falls during the downturn, they potentially had further to fall now."

The Sydney Morning Herald. "A dispute has erupted between the company owned by billionaire developer Harry Triguboff and Randwick City Council over plans to build 1900 apartments at Little Bay. A Meriton spokeswoman said the company would 'build tomorrow' if planning approvals were issued for the proposal, which she said would provide up to 7800 jobs and $750 million in government taxes. Meriton’s Little Bay development was not among the 24 projects chosen last week by the state government to be fast-tracked through its Planning System Acceleration Program."

"Meriton’s plans have also met opposition from community group Save Little Bay, whose spokesman Olde Lorenzen said it 'completely disregards' local planning controls and an 'enormous oversupply' of high-rise development in the area."

The Daily Mail. "Tenants looking for beachfront homes in Sydney have been encouraged to make the most of plummeting rental prices brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Ric Serraro from Raine & Horne in Double Bay said they have seen up to 30 per cent price drops on some properties in the city's exclusive eastern suburbs, including at Bondi Beach, due to the health crisis."

"'The tenants have got more choices, if you're looking to move into a suburb where you thought you may not have been able to afford, now may be the time,' he told Nine News."

"A two-bedroom apartment across the road from Bondi Beach has dropped its weekly rent from $920 to $650 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Rental property prices have also been slashed on the Northern Beaches. A four-bedroom home in Fairlight, which neighbours Manly Beach, has been discounted by $445 per week. 'Property has been significantly reduced to $950 per week for the first 6 months of the lease agreement, rental will then return to market value of $1,395 per week,' an advertisement read."