The suburbs where home owners are spending the most on renovations during the pandemic

Well-heeled home owners in blue-chip suburbs have poured millions of dollars into renovations since the pandemic began, new figures reveal.

The renovation boom has continued to steamroll ahead with a staggering 116,000 renovations worth almost $1 billion approved across Australia in the 12 months to May 2021, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.

It was the largest number of renovations approved in the space of one year despite the value dropping 12.7 per cent in the past month, the data reveals.

Once again, it was the top-end of town that was spending big.

Sydney’s affluent harbourside suburb of Mosman led the way, nationally and in NSW, with home owners spending a cool $87.2 million on renovations in that period.

Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula followed with $61.8 million dollars spent on renovations in Portsea, Sorrento and Blairgowrie.

Suburbs spending the most on renovating

	Value ($M)
Sydney
Mosman	87.2
Willoughby – Castle Cove – Northbridge	56.0
Rose Bay – Vaucluse – Watsons Bay	51.4
Melbourne
Portsea – Sorrento – Blairgowrie	61.8
Albert Park	51.9
Malvern – Glen Iris	46.3
Brisbane
Paddington – Milton	28.6
Ashgrove	26.3
Camp Hill	21.3
Perth
Mount Lawley – Inglewood	15.5
Mount Hawthorn – Leederville	12.1
Fremantle	11.6

Source: ABS Building Approvals May 2021, Ray White

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The enduring pandemic, closed borders and snap lockdowns have meant home owners have continued to save more money than usual, leaving many to upgrade their homes as a result, said Nerida Conisbee, Ray White chief economist.

“These sprawling lockdowns and these higher savings rates are really the reality until borders start to open and we start to travel more freely, and there are other things people can spend their money on,” Ms Conisbee said.

Given runaway house prices since the start of the year, it was hard for home owners to “overcapitalise” on their homes, she said.

But beyond that, many home owners found it made more sense to add value to their homes rather than racking up huge transactional costs such as stamp duty if they were to sell and upgrade.

“That’s a big deterrent. Stamp duty on a million-dollar property is already $40,000. That gets you a pretty nice kitchen,” she said.

But the lack of stock was also one of the biggest drivers for home owners to spend such huge sums on their properties, said David Murphy of David Murphy Residential.

In lieu of upgrading, more significant renovations were being completed to increase space, such as semi-detached houses being extended, he said.

“The most common cost range is probably between $400,000 to $1 million. That is opening up a living area or creating an extra bedroom,” Mr Murphy said.

But there was a lot of demand from cashed-up downsizers, too, who were willing to pay top dollar for homes that were ready to move into, he said.

“When people are going to sell, a large part of the Mosman market is made up of the downsizers … They want something that is turn-key. People are renovating to meet that need.”

Many builders have a six to 12 month wait time as a result, he said.

In Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula, the influx of inner-city families was creating a large renovation market, said Louise Lupton of Marshall White Mornington Peninsula.

“It’s either knock over and rebuild, or they’re buying a ’70s home, and they’re doing a full renovation,” Ms Lupton said.

The same locals, builders and developers were tapping into this trend as most families were keen to upgrade to a home on the coast without the need to “lift a finger”, she said.

“There’s a lot of the same people that seem to continue to flip and then try to find another one.

“It’s the lifestyle for people. That’s what’s driving it. People are realising they don’t need to be there [in Melbourne]. That’s what’s driving the growth at the moment.”

Suburbs spending the most on renovating

	Value ($M)
Adelaide
Goodwood – Millswood	25.2
Unley – Parkside	22.9
St Peters – Marden	22.9
Hobart
Sandy Bay	11.3
West Hobart	6.6
Launceston	6.0
Canberra
Kingston	22.2
Griffith	6.6
Kambah	5.1
Darwin
Nightcliff	3.0
Leanyer	2.7
Malak – Marrara	2.3

Source: ABS Building Approvals May 2021, Ray White

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In Brisbane, too, home owners have turned to renovating instead of upsizing due to the limited number of homes on the market.

The riverside inner-city suburbs of Paddington and Milton topped the list in Queensland, with home owners spending $28.6 million on renovations.

Glynis Austin properties principal Glynis Austin said unless more properties hit the market, home owners will turn to renovating their homes.

“People traditionally move rather than renovate; however, because we’ve had a chronic lack of stock, many people have elected to renovate and spend more money on where they are,” Ms Austin said.

“That can be anything from building in under a house, adding a small extension to a full renovation.

“I think COVID has particularly made people more sensitive to their surroundings and more inclined to make their homes work for them now.”

‘The bathroom is not your office’: Hygiene guidelines to adhere to in lockdown

“We do NOT eat hot cocoa while pooping!” These words of what some might call obvious wisdom came flying out of my best friend Jessica’s mouth last week after she discovered a mug of half-finished Milo next to the toilet in the bathroom she shares with her husband and two small kids.

“I had to bellow the words because I don’t know who did it”, she explained over text, her faith in her family vanquished. “I will probably never know.”

One thing we both know is that, since Sydney and Melbourne have gone into extended lockdown, the lessons we gleaned from the pandemic last year regarding proper hygiene standards have, for our loved ones, yet to be fully realised. And we are far from alone. A survey undertaken by the research and analytics group YouGov found that 17 per cent of Britons had abandoned daily showers during the pandemic, with many people on Twitter saying they had done the same.

The Washington Post reports that anecdotally, people in the US were not just foregoing bras and jeans but showering and shampooing less in lockdown, too.

iStock-1213680761_fs0mch — Many people stopped showering during the pandemic. Photo: iStock

Most doctors and dermatologists agree that showering every day is unnecessary and may even damage our skin. It’s one thing to skip a day (especially in the thick of winter), but it’s quite another to sip a frothy hot mug of Milo while on the can.

With roughly 10 million people currently stuck at home – many of us sharing with people we thought we could trust to uphold the social contract of not being gross – here are some hygiene guidelines on what to do in lockdown for the sake of your loved ones.

Use deodorant

If you absolutely do not want to shower every other day, please – for the sake of your family or housemates – use deodorant. To paraphrase one famous tweeter, the stakes are too high for you to be experimenting at this time – go the hardcore aluminium. Go the one that says “48-hour protection” or “so powerful you can skip a day”. You can go back to that natural vegan one when we get out of lockdown.

The bathroom is not your office

That means no Zoom meetings in the bathroom. That should be obvious, but apparently, it’s not, at least according to a couple of people I know. Absolutely nobody wants to hear that tell-tale splash of the toilet water as you kill two birds with one stone – least of all your boss. I don’t care if the “acoustics are amazing”. All that means is other bodily functions are amplified. Just don’t.

Always flush

iStock-994648658_kamq01 — Always flush: we don’t need the place where we brush our teeth to smell like a public toilet. Photo: iStock

It’s a well-established fact that fathers like to hide out in toilets. A 2018 study found that, on average, men spend seven hours a year in the bathroom – hiding from their kids, their spouse and a litany of chores. The findings also revealed that 25 per cent of men “don’t know how they’d cope” with the stress of home without the bathroom trips, and 23 per cent called the bathroom their “safe place”.

OK, so we know you guys need your potty time, and you need to bring your phone in there too, which is revolting, but we’ve accepted it. But, can you do everyone else a favour? Could you flush as soon as you go? Yes, normally, “leaving it mellow” is good for the environment. But, speaking for those in your immediate environment, we don’t need the place where we brush our teeth to smell like a public toilet.

Brush your teeth

This is lockdown, not Survivor.

Clean up your mess

dirty dishes — Just because you made dinner doesn't mean you get out of doing the dishes. Clean as you go. Photo: iStock

It’s hard enough having less personal space when everyone is home all the time. We do not need clutter added to the burden. And this is an evergreen gripe, but you don’t get to make a huge mess when you cook and say, “But I made dinner!” If you don’t want to end up in the titular role of a true-crime podcast about a murder in a “nice family home” during COVID, please: clean as you go.

And for those who do clean and do uphold the social contract, remember that though we are all in this together, it hopefully won’t be for much longer.

Sydney lockdown: The real effect of unaffordable and insecure housing in a pandemic

A person’s living situation is one of the biggest factors in controlling the virus, and the pandemic highlights the haves and have-nots in Sydney once again, leaving south-west Sydneysiders at higher risk.

The NSW government at the weekend locked down three entire local government areas – Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury-Bankstown — in a serious escalation of the health order in a bid to stop the virus from spreading in two main settings: the workplace and the home. Doing so laid bare the housing inequalities residents face in these communities where the virus has taken hold and is spreading through entire families.

That’s because households in south-west Sydney look a little bit different: multigenerational homes have been on the rise for many decades and have almost become the norm. Sometimes by cultural choice, sometimes by economic necessity.

But the rates of overcrowding – a form of homelessness – are much higher too. This is a living situation when three additional rooms are needed to house a family comfortably, according to international standards.

Homelessness in south-west Sydney significantly increased between the 2011 and 2016 census: in Canterbury-Bankstown by 86 per cent, Fairfield 61 per cent and Liverpool by 36 per cent. And experts say that is a trend that is only likely to rise in the upcoming census.

By suburb, Auburn had the highest rate of overcrowding. Other postcodes that recorded high rates of overcrowding were Canterbury, Fairfield and Merrylands-Guildford.

Combine this with the fact that many of these households do not have the luxury of working from home with higher rates of blue collar workers, the chance of completely locking down without economic consequences for many becomes a near impossible task as multiple people return home each day after spending time in different pockets of the city.

DSC_4096_fiyzgn — Long queues for the 24 hour COVID testing drive through clinic at Endeavour Sports Reserve, Fairfield West. Photo: Louise Kennerley

The very nature of big, multigenerational households zigzagging across the city increases the chances of spreading any infectious disease let alone a virus as contagious as the Delta-strain of coronavirus.

Public health expert and University of Sydney professor Julie Leask, who has worked in south-west Sydney for years, said it was public health 101 that a person’s living situation was one of the biggest determinants of virus containment.

“It is something we always look at in infectious disease prevention. It has a large influence on infectious disease,” she said. “That’s why when we talk about infectious disease we remind people it’s not just about individual choices and motivation. It’s about people’s capability and opportunity to do what is needed.”

Having big, vibrant families was positive for many reasons but the health response required to contain a virus like the Delta-strain had to appropriately reflect these communities’ living situation, Professor Leask said.

“That’s partly why the focus on policing was such a problem; it implies the community is unmotivated rather than unable to do what it is needed. It frames communities in a negative way. The social determinants of health where you live, where you work and where you play all influence your health.

“When we hear these urges to do the right thing and follow the rules and see the mounted police on the street. We’re told it’s people’s disobedience.”

The reality, she said, was that there was a high motivation to contain the virus among these highly diverse, Indigenous and non-English speaking communities, but they needed the tools and ability to do so.

DSC_6338_un7gur — People queuing for the Fairfield respiratory COVID-19 testing clinic. Photo: Louise Kennerley

But what does that look like? What the latest outbreak in this pandemic has highlighted is the lack of safe, secure and affordable housing that has snowballed over the years.

Homlessness NSW chair Evelyne Tadros, who has worked on the ground for more than two decades, said though multigenerational living was normal in these parts of Sydney, there was a growing housing mismatch.

“We don’t have homes that are built with six bedrooms [to] allow for intergenerational housing,” Dr Tadros said. “You need to make it suitable, diverse and affordable. Don’t just stock standard-build three bedroom houses. Within a community you need to have a variation.”

These areas have some of the largest non-English speaking communities, including Lebanese, Iraqi, Assyrian, Vietnamese and Chinese in the state, as well Indigenous communities where multigenerational households were not only a cultural norm but an economic necessity.

In Fairfield, thousands of refugees were resettled from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria as part of an additional humanitarian intake in 2017, and many families arrived with up to four children, Dr Tadros said. That meant many families were in homes overcrowded from the beginning.

While many families choose to live with several generations or extended families for cultural reasons or economic support, if they had better housing options, some would be living in better housing or move out on their own.

In other communities, Dr Tadros said, she often saw multiple bunk beds or mattresses on the floor in homes to accommodate as many children in each bedroom as possible to make room for grandparents and aunts and uncles who lived in separate rooms.

DSC_6843_wrnrdv — People making essential shopping trips in Fairfield during Sydney kockdown. Photo: Louise Kennerley

These types of stretched living conditions were only compounded once the pandemic hit; many families burnt through savings last years, so their resources are now stretched. This meant it was a “fine line” between going to work and obeying stay-at-home orders, Dr Tadros said.

Australian National University demographer Liz Allen said the latest outbreak should be a wake-up call for governments that housing inequality had broader repercussions than just for individual households.

“Ultimately, the spread of COVID in Australia is largely one reflecting structural disadvantages that governments and policy makers have pretty much ignored throughout history,” she said. “Perhaps COVID is the wake-up call that Australia ignores socioeconomic inequalities at its own peril.

“COVID loves company; the virus thrives on social interactions. In areas where social interactions are increased, for example due to socioeconomic need or household composition, COVID does well.

“Not everyone can work from home, but everybody needs to survive financially. Working from home is more common, and the capacity to do so is greater, among jobs requiring higher levels of education and training,” Ms Allen said.

“It’s understandable that Sydneysiders want to understand how COVID is spreading. The trouble is that individuals and communities are often blamed and stigmatised in our endeavours to understand geographic differences in COVID infections.”

The suburbs around Australia where rents are cheaper than they were five years ago

Despite rents generally soaring across the country over the last five years, there are still spots in most capital cities where it’s possible to find rents that have actually fallen since 2016 – and sometimes spectacularly.

Rents in one suburb of a city plunged by nearly half over the period, in another they fell by over one-third, and in another by over a quarter, according to the latest quarterly Domain Rent Report.

“COVID-19 has been a key driver of huge change across the country,” said Quentin Kilian, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory. “People are now looking for lifestyle changes, there’s new technology that wasn’t available a few years ago, and everything has changed.”

The disruption and economic changes have caused some rents to rise, and others to absolutely plummet. Those seeking the biggest bargains could do a lot worse than checking out houses in the city centre of Darwin, for instance, where rents are, on average, an astonishing 42.7 per cent cheaper than they were five years ago. Today, they sit at just $430 a week.

Nowhere else in Darwin comes close to such amazing falls. The city’s next biggest house rent fall, compared to 2016, was in Nightcliff in the north, where rents fell by 15 per cent to $510 a week. Malak was close behind with a fall of 13.6 per cent to $445.

There were some Darwin suburbs where unit rentals fell substantially, too. In Rapid Creek, rents fell 16.7 per cent to $127 a week, in Darwin city by 13.6 per cent to $475 – $45 more than a house rent there – and both Leanyer and Marrara by 12.5 per cent to $350 each.

These long-term falls have been the result of Darwin’s boom-or-bust economy, with the $40 billion Inpex gas project coming to a close and its 8000 workers leaving town.

Pacific Breeze LNG tanker arriving in Darwin Harbour to deliver a preparatory LNG cargo to Inpex Corporation's Ichthys LNG export project. — The Darwin economy is boom and bust, and the end of the Inpex project meant rents plummeted in many areas.

By contrast in these topsy-turvy times, in the last year alone, rents picked up on average across the whole of Darwin by a record 20.9 per cent for houses, and by 18.4 per cent for units, mostly from people now coming to live there as a COVID-19 safe haven.

“As a result of that, we’re now seeing record yields, with rents now increasing faster than prices for houses and units,” said Domain chief of research and economics Nicola Powell.

But the next city to endure such heart-warming – or heart-breaking – falls, depending on whether you’re a tenant or a landlord, is Sydney. Even though rents have hit dizzy levels in some suburbs, in others, they’ve hit rock bottom.

Units in Millers Point, for instance, in the newly bijou area of the city after Housing Commission tenants were moved on, have crashed by 33.8 per cent to $660 a week. In the south west’s Canterbury-Bankstown, Bass Hill rents have fallen by 29.1 per cent to $433, and in North Ryde on the Upper North Shore, they’re 29 per cent cheaper at $477.

Millers Point also had the biggest drop in house rents, of 20 per cent to $1000, while Ultimo on the city fringe dropped 15.2 per cent to $655 and Waverley in the east by 14.4 per cent to $1113.

Elizabeth Quay — Rents in some Perth suburbs have fallen sharply over the past five years. Photo: ZambeziShark

Perth had the next biggest falls in the country, with North Coogee, in the city’s coastal south-west, seeing house rents down 27.7 per cent to $543 a week. Rents for houses in inner-city Northbridge also fell by 10.6 per cent to $1225 and in nearby Highgate by 9.5 per cent to $430.

Unit rents also softened considerably over the past five years in Burswood, home of the Perth Crown complex, by 13.8 per cent to $430, in Ellenbrook to the north east by 11.8 per cent to $300 and in Shoalwater to the south by 11.1 per cent to $240.

Melbourne’s Docklands and Southbank were the biggest losers in more ways than one over the past five years in terms of rental returns. Rents for Docklands units plunged by 24.5 per cent to $400 a week, while its houses delivered 22.5 per cent less than they did in 2016 to a weekly rent of $500.

Southbank endured the same size drop in unit rents, at 24.5 per cent to $390 while houses there fell by slightly less – 20 per cent – to $400. The size of the drop in rents for houses in Melbourne city were sandwiched between the two, at 22.2 per cent to $350, while unit rents in Caulfield East dropped 22.8 per cent to $285.

Domain Suburb Fortitude Valley, — Rent prices in Fortitude Valley have slipped since 2016. Photo: Tammy Law

Brisbane generally had fewer suburbs were rents fell compared to five years ago, and the drops weren’t quite as large. For houses, South Brisbane was the biggest downward mover at 16.1 per cent to a weekly rent of $470, Park Ridge in Brisbane’s west had a 15.2 per cent drop to $390 and Fortitude Valley to the north had a 12 per cent fall to $475.

The biggest drops in Brisbane’s units were in Brisbane City at 18.2 per cent, down to a weekly rent of $450, Rocklea in the west with a fall of 12.5 per cent to $280, and Spring Hill in the north, dropping 9.1 per cent to $400.

And those traditionally quiet achievers of the property market, Adelaide and Hobart, were both remarkable for not having a single suburb were rents fell compared to their level five years ago.

The Sydney suburbs where rents are cheaper than they were five years ago

House rents across Greater Sydney are holding at a record high, but rents in a string of suburbs are still more than $100 a week cheaper than they were five years ago.

Inner-city Millers Point and Ultimo, and Clovelly in the eastern suburbs, are among 11 suburbs where the median weekly asking rent has dropped more than 10 per cent below what it was back in 2016.

While the harbour city’s median house rent held at a record $550 per week over the June quarter, according to the latest Domain Rent Report, asking rents for houses in more than 170 suburbs were cheaper than they were five years ago – though the bulk of these suburbs only recorded falls of 5 per cent or less.

Suburbs with the largest drop in house rents

Suburb	Median weekly asking rent	Annual change	5-year change
Millers Point	$1000	0.50%	-20.00%
Ultimo	$655	-12.70%	-15.20%
Waverley	$1113	-7.30%	-14.40%
Artarmon	$730	-5.80%	-14.10%
Liberty Grove	$650	-7.10%	-13.30%
Clovelly	$1050	-22.20%	-12.50%
Kensington	$850	-3.40%	-11.50%
Wareemba	$690	1.50%	-11.30%
Queens Park	$1250	-7.40%	-10.70%
Pyrmont	$698	-7.00%	-10.60%

Source: Domain

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Millers Point saw the largest drop of any suburb, at 20 per cent, recording a median house rent of $1000 per week over the year to June, down from $1250 over the same period five years earlier. That was despite rents holding relatively stable in more recent times – up 0.5 per cent over the past year.

Increased rental supply in the early stages of the pandemic, as short-term holiday rentals transferred across to the longer-term rental market, combined with a pullback in demand as borders remained closed, meant asking rents in the suburb took a hit last year, said Kate Sommervelle, of Ayre Real Estate.

While Sydney’s latest lockdown may slow any potential rebound, Ms Sommervelle said, asking rents had been tracking better this year – with Domain data showing the median was up 0.5 per cent over the year.

“There was no relocation during the peak of COVID last year; we didn’t place one corporate tenant,” she said. “We’ve leased more than 120 properties this year and we’ve had, to a lesser degree than usual, corporate clients coming in from overseas, and more Australians returning from overseas … and movement from interstate. That’s really helped us and prices are coming back.”

While the median was well down on what it was five years ago, Ms Sommervelle noted that some properties had recently been leased at the same rent they had achieved a couple of years ago.

256 Bulwara Road Ultimo — Ultimo's median house rent is now about 15 per cent lower than it was in 2016. Photo: Supplied

Millers Point was followed by inner-city Ultimo where rents fell 15.2 per cent, or $117, to a median of $655, and Waverley in the eastern suburbs, which recorded a drop of 14.4 per cent, or $187, to $1113 per week.

Artarmon on the north shore, Liberty Grove and Wareemba in the inner west, Pyrmont in the inner city, Narrabeen on the northern beaches and Clovelly, Kensington and Queens Park in the east, were also among the suburbs where rents were at least 10 per cent lower than in 2016.

Sizeable drops were also seen in the likes of Randwick, Bondi and Roseville, where rents dropped by $100 or more, though these suburbs saw smaller percentage declines.

iStock-508789092_xeqh2p — The median house rent in Bondi, at $1173, is $115 lower than it was five years ago. Photo: iStock

Shona Armstrong-Smith, director of property management at Century 21 Bondi Junction, said prices were still down on pre-COVID levels, but had stabilised, and that rents for some in-demand properties had been rising before the latest lockdown. While some tenants had been making below-market offers, most were willing to meet the advertised rent.

“With lockdown, some landlords have said, ‘If we need to lower [the rent] a bit to get a tenant in sooner, we’re open to it.'”

So far they are still seeing solid demand from renters, with one-on-one inspections allowed to go ahead, Ms Armstrong-Smith said. Larger homes continue to be in strong demand, she added.

“We’ve found because prices are down there has been a bigger interest in houses. They tend to go quite quickly and there haven’t been as many on the rental market, some people who couldn’t afford houses before now can,” she said. “More people have also got pets during the past year, they are working from home, even before lockdown, so they want that extra space..”

Suburbs with the largest drop in unit rents

Suburb	Median weekly asking rent	Annual change	5-year change
Millers Point	$660	-21.90%	-33.80%
Bass Hill	$433	-35.90%	-29.10%
North Ryde	$490	-5.80%	-29.00%
Revesby	$450	-29.10%	-26.20%
Burwood Heights	$430	-12.20%	-21.80%
Gordon	$510	-8.10%	-20.90%
Rozelle	$520	-13.30%	-20.00%
Pyrmont	$580	-12.10%	-19.40%
Concord West	$380	-3.20%	-19.10%
Harris Park	$340	-10.5%	-19.0%

Source: Domain

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Price drops were much more common for units, with Sydney’s median unit rent holding at $470 per week over the June quarter, still back at 2013 levels.

Asking rents across 225 suburbs were cheaper than they were five years ago, with prices in 82 suburbs down by at least 10 per cent.

Millers Point again saw the biggest decline, with the median down 33.8 per cent over five years to $660 per week.

Suburbs across the middle ring of Sydney also saw sizeable drops, with asking rents in Bass Hill, North Ryde and Revesby down by more than 25 per cent, and advertised prices in Burwood Heights, Gordon and Rozelle also down by more than 20 per cent.

Ms Sommervelle said the increased supply of new units in the inner city had put downward pressure on apartment prices in Millers Point, particularly for one-bedroom apartments.

“For one-bedrooms we are finding resistance, due to all the new buildings that have been completed in the city, but two-bedrooms are doing well. They are certainly not down from where they were five years ago,” she said.

“We recently leased two two-bedroom apartments in Observatory Tower and they achieved what they would have pre-COVID.”

Out of office: Australia’s bosses come to grips with the workplace revolution

The days of working five days a week at the office in a suit and tie are over for Greg Goodman, the boss of one of Australia’s top 20 listed companies and the nation’s biggest industrial landlord.

Like most people in Sydney and now Melbourne, Goodman worked from home this week during a hard lockdown designed to stifle a COVID outbreak that has yet again upended his, and many others’, professional lives.

It has been a frustrating experience for most, but for Goodman the COVID-19 induced turmoil of the past year has had at least one silver lining: it has given rise to a radical change in how we work. Companies are coming to grips with the new future of hybrid working and its associated intricacies, wrestling with a shift experts believe is permanent.

“Are you a company that’s going to embrace the change, or are you a company that resists change?” Goodman asks. “This has been an opportunity to sit back and say how can we make something of this difficult situation. We can be more productive, we can give back some work-life balance. It will make our business more profitable in the future”.

As the pandemic unfolded through the beginning of 2020, working from home became a necessity for the millions of Australians in office jobs and similar roles. Like many COVID consequences at that time, workers and employers alike thought it would be a transient thing, that office camaraderie would be back in full force by June, maybe July.

However, as lockdowns and outbreaks continued to occur, it became quickly apparent this new way of working was here to stay. ‘Hybrid’ and ‘flexibility’ were inducted into the dictionary of corporate jargon as managers started to confront a workforce that didn’t want to go back to the way things were.

A survey of Australia’s top 50 companies, conducted by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald this week revealed that not a single company in the sample expects staff to come back into the office five days a week, and just six companies intend to mandate a certain number of office hours each week.

All of them said they would be committed to hybrid working, in some form or other, even after COVID restrictions disappear. It would appear that the five-day office week is well and truly dead – at least for now.

Bosses ‘crossing fingers’ for return to normal

Despite the overwhelming support from the workforce to maintain a flexible model of working, there’s likely a number of companies hoping the whole thing might blow over in a few years, says Dr Ben Hamer, future of work lead at consulting giant PwC.

“It’s not palatable for them to come out and say it, but a lot of organisations and senior leaders will have their fingers crossed that in a couple of years it’ll be all over and done with and we’ll go five days a week back to the office,” he says.

This is causing concern among workers, many of whom have begun to make major life decisions – such as move to the country – based on the new opportunity for flexible work. However, Dr Hamer believes a full five-day office week is unlikely to return in force, though he admits some turning up to the office will likely be required.

“In reality, what we’ll see is a new normal where we do have about three days a week in the office. There will be less of an expectation to be in the office five days a week, but I don’t think it will necessarily be as fluid with as much of the control in the court of the employee as it is now.”

Dr Hamer says that right now in Australia, workers have more power than perhaps ever before, but notes that an “expectation gap” is emerging between workers who want to keep working from home and managers keen for a return to the office.

“There’s a number of organisations who are advocating for a return to the office despite hearing loud and clear from their employees that they want to work remotely,” he says.

“Those organisations are then mandating workers being in the office on certain days each week, or saying that you have to come back five days a week, and employees are revolting. If you give workers that flexibility … you can’t now just take that away from them.”

Katie Hodgson, the chief people officer at Penfolds producer Treasury Wine Estates, agrees that some companies may want to switch back to the way things were once COVID becomes a distant memory. But this would be a mistake.

“That would be a missed opportunity,” she says. “It would be very hard to move back from what we have now, and I think companies would do that at their own peril.”

Instead, companies such as Treasury are taking a long-term view on how to set up their businesses for a permanent shift to hybrid work. Among the short-term decisions made in response to dealing with COVID outbreaks and lockdowns such as Sydney’s current predicament, Hodgson says she and her team are working out how it all plays out in the long run.

This includes thinking about what skills workers will need, how our ways of working will change, what roles may or may not exist, and what jobs might be done by machines, rather than people.

“What we’re trying to do now … is to start to build the skills for that future of work,” she says.

“That’s around how do you continue to motivate and inspire people when we’ve got a mixture of people working remotely as well as in the office? How do you continue to bring people together and create that sense of belonging?”

Dr Hamer says this will require a significant rewiring from both a management and industrial relations point of view. Companies will need to be cognizant of when and how their employees are working to ensure they are paying in line with modern awards. Performance management will need to be focused on outcomes, rather than outputs, as managers will no longer be able to have constant oversight of their employees as they work.

Home office hardware. Who pays?

Equipping workers to operate from home also requires some practical tweaks. Some firms are putting time and money into reinvigorating offices and equipping staff to work from home.

Goodman supplies its staff with wireless technology, laptops, keyboards, headsets and software upgrades that allow them to be used anywhere. It gives employees a $500 allowance for home office set-up and throws in an ergonomic check-up to boot. The firm also puts on virtual exercise classes – yoga, meditation, pilates – during lockdowns.

Sarah Zerella, a senor associate at design and workplace strategy firm Unispace, says flexible work arrangements require organisations to trust their employees “at a higher level”.

But, while placing trust in staff provides positive benefits for well being, work-life balance and autonomy, a distributed workforce can impact learning and development, staff attraction and retention, and employee’s experience of the organisation, she says.

Colliers Australia’s workplace management services head James Armstrong believes the fight for talent among firms has never been more important. “The long-term cultural fit has to remain at the forefront of recruitment in this tight market,” he says.

A gradual loss of workplace culture is unfolding as work from home takes root, he believes. “People are turning up for work on their first day and their managers and team work from home. They are sent new equipment and their first day experience is at home.”

The other downside of the extended lockdowns and enforced work-from-home is that it creates sub-cultures or silos among staff. “The knowledge sharing and transfer is actually narrower when people can’t communicate in person or overhear what others are doing,” Zerella says.

“The problem is ensuring that people are connected to one another and the organisation,” she says. But staff should be encouraged back into office by “motivation and purpose and not through force or fear.”

“If you force people into the office five days a week, you will lose them.”

Hybrid work favours older, established staff with larger homes and more space. “For younger employees in apartments or shared living, having physical space is a bit more tricky,” Zerella says. Nevertheless they value the autonomy and say remote working is “highly desired.”

Office design is changing as a result. Workstations are being removed and replaced by space that supports communal, collaborative and engaging activities. “It’s about coming into the office for a reason and not just because it’s a Monday,” Zerella says.

The move away from offices also raises tricky questions about employers’ responsibilities and is prompting some big corporations to shift jobs out of expensive city offices to relatively cheaper regional locations.

UNSW emeritus professor Michael Quinlan said if the home becomes a workplace, employers have responsibilities under occupational health and safety laws around working environments, safe plant and equipment, and safe systems of work.

“This would also apply to contractors in certain circumstances. The real issue is monitoring and enforcement of these conditions as inspectorates don’t normally visit homes,” he says.

Employees injured while working at home would also be considered to have had a workplace accident, he says.

“The pandemic has opened up opportunities for us to rethink how some traditional roles are done,” says NAB chief operating officer Les Matheson.

That includes rethinking where workers are based.

“We want to make sure we are serving customers well whether that’s digitally, by phone, video conference or in-person. We’re adding more than 280 remote working roles around the country and these are providing more opportunities for people in regional areas such as Victor Harbor, Goolwa and Wee Waa,” he says.

The bank’s new office buildings in Sydney and Melbourne will feature modern facilities for future collaborative working. “These new buildings have been carefully considered to help foster increased collaboration and bring out the best in people when they’re in the office,” he says.

The office of the future is already changing, says office landlord Investa’s group executive Michael Cook.

“Already we are seeing designers responding to a new world tenant requirements and expectations have changed, and this latest interruption will magnify these changes. There is no turning back.”

Meeting spaces are the now the focus, either as one person Zoom-rooms or flexible multi-purpose spaces, he maintains. “If the principal purpose of the office is collaboration then the space allocated for collaboration spaces must increase in size and prominence.”

Telstra’s Alex Badenoch group executive of transformation, communications and people describes the changes as a “philosophical shift”.

“When the world gets disrupted you have a choice to make: do you look at how you can ‘go back’ or do you actually start to imagine a new way forward? There’s an opportunity for employers to look forward and create a completely different vision of the workplace rather than try to hold on to the past.”

With Carolyn Cummins, Zoe Samios and Clancy Yeates.

Banks soften their building payments rules

The country’s largest banks have softened their rules to make it easier to keep payments flowing to Sydney builders, as construction sites – and the businesses dependent on them – close up for at least two weeks.

The easing of payments around so-called progress claims – money paid out to builders in the course of a project provided they meet agreed milestones – comes on top of measures already announced such as loan repayment holidays and aims to avert a severe cash crunch in the industry.

“Progress payments are absolutely critical in keeping cashflows moving through the value chain,” a Westpac spokesman said.

“Westpac is working with our customers on a range of options to accelerate the timing of payments and to ensure progress claims remain available throughout the shutdown period. This will also assist subcontractors in receiving their payments.”

The snap lockdown imposed on Saturday brought to a halt the 250-plus cranes across the skyline of greater Sydney, said Stephen Mee, the managing director of consultancy RLB, which publishes the six-monthly crane index tracking construction work across Australia’s cities and regions.

The COVID-19 shutdown would hit the industry – and its many cascading levels of subcontractors and suppliers – hard, as it came after a slowdown in the apartment construction sector that had already prompted businesses to “buy” work (bid for it close to cost) to keep staff busy, Mr Mee said.

“Over the past 18 months the approach of contractors is more about securing work as opposed to chasing healthy margins,” he said. “As a result, they’ve got less funds in their coffers to combat difficult financial scenarios.”

Banks, which recognised the danger of the situation, were now instructing quantity surveyors on their assessment panels to change the way they made site assessments for progress claim payments this month, Mr Mee said.

“They’re taking a more relaxed approach to ensure progress claims are based on a pragmatic and commonsense approach,” he said.

While these assessments are usually done in person, RLB told builders, project managers and other contractors to on the 50 projects it assesses over greater Sydney to take photo and video records on Monday to allow evaluation of the work completed before the shutdown.

“Please consider prior performance, prior cashflow and works programmed for July,” Mr Mee said the unidentified bank told him.

The willingness to keep cash flowing was a welcome change for builders and their subcontractors, but opened the door for further changes to claims assessments, some people warned.

“That’s a big call,” said one building industry figure. “It sets the scene for every other time there’s problems.”

In addition, if the shutdown lasts longer than the predicted fortnight, steps taken now to ease payments for work already done will do little to help the industry that has to keep paying bills.

The Property Council of Australia on Monday warned that the industry would need advance notice to be able to open up on July 31 as planned, otherwise the actual closure could last longer.

“It takes a long time to make a site safe and secure for closure and to wind down supply chains and site teams,” said Ken Morrison, the council’s chief executive.

“Sites also can’t open overnight – it takes some time to get all those workforces, contractors and raw materials moving at full pace again.”

Mr Mee said if sites experienced by bad weather during the shutdown that caused unsafe situations to arise on sites, that could also delay the resumption of work.

“Restarting could take a lot longer,” he said.

In Saturday’s emergency meeting of business leaders hosted by the Business Council of Australia, Australian Banking Association chief executive Anna Bligh said the banks were ready and willing to assist individuals and small businesses, but also construction businesses with their project deadlines.

Altis checks out of Lake Haven mall in $46m deal

Altis Property Partners has sold Lake Haven Homemaker Centre, the last in a group of four large format retail (LFR) assets, through a $46.25 million deal, taking advantage of a resurgence of investment in the sector.

Located on the NSW Central Coast, the Lake Haven mall was sold on a yield of around 6.5 per cent to Metro Diversified, which snapped up the Homebase Wagga retail centre in January for $46 million.

On the corner of Pacific Highway and Lake Haven Drive, some 100 kilometres north of Sydney, the Lake Haven mall opened in 2007. It is home to Harvey Norman and Boating Camping Fishing stores, along with Pets Domain, Beds R Us, Barbeques Galore, Autobarn and Beacon Lighting.

The deal, brokered by JLL’s Nick Willis and Sam Hatcher, comes amid a broader rush of capital into retail real estate after the disruption of last year. Homemaker centres have proven particularly resilient, benefiting from both the resurgent housing market and the increased popularity of working from home.

“The LFR sector has evolved over the past 10 years and investors have woken to the risk-adjusted returns it offers in comparison to the other retail sub-sectors,” Mr Willis said.

“The investor demand in recent years has been further enhanced by the sectors retailer performance, rent collection reported throughout COVID-19, and value-add potential through the land rich nature of these assets.”

Mr Hatcher noted that increasing numbers of new investors were showing interest in the sector.

Lake Haven is the final asset in a group of four malls that Altis first looked to divest three years ago.

In 2018, Arkadia Capital Group’s Greg Karedis, son of property baron Theo Karedis, snapped up Altis’s Homemaker centre in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, for $170 million, reflecting a fully leased yield of 7.31 per cent.

Around the same time, the Homemaker Greenway and Greenway Plaza in NSW was acquired by a private mandate managed by billionaire Brett Blundy’s Aventus Property Group for $112.4 million, reflecting a fully leased yield of 7.64 per cent.

A year later ASX-listed Dexus bought Homemaker Prospect, a 25,770sq m large-format retail centre near Blacktown, for about $65 million on a 7 per cent yield from Altis.

Values for major shopping malls have taken a hit over the past year or more. At the same time, large format retail hubs have firmed further as institutional grade assets, with yields tightening from nearly 12 per cent in 2012-13 to around 5.5 per cent on average.

Australia auctions: Sprawling Brisbane home smashes reserve by $750,000

A sprawling hilltop Queenslander in Brisbane and a luxury waterfront estate in Sydney’s exclusive Kangaroo Point collected the top national sales at auction over the weekend as buyers across the country proved pandemic restrictions aren’t curbing the insatiable appetite for luxury homes.

In the Sunshine State capital’s leafy pocket of Indooroopilly, it was an ageing four-bedroom cottage on a 2107-square metre slice of prime real estate at that fetched the top sale of $4.5 million – almost $2 million more than the second-highest auction reported in the city on Saturday.

It’s the first time the prized property has changed hands in almost 50 years, a fact that selling agent Alex Jordan of McGrath Paddington said resulted in the reserve of $3.75 million being blasted.

“It was a good result, and it’s a beautiful and special property … and it’s a huge parcel of land that was on the market for the first time since 1968,” Mr Jordan said.

“But it was very emotional for the family … it was a tough decision to sell, and it’s an extremely rare land size that only comes up (in this part of Brisbane) once in a generation.”

While a local buyer claimed the coveted property prize after beating 15 other registered bidders, Mr Jordan said the appetite of interstate and, particularly, expat buyers had recently soared to new heights.

61 Dennis Street, Indooroopilly QLD 4068

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“We sold 10 Lance Street in Sherwood three days ago, and that’s a house that had a price guide of $1.8 million to $1.9 million, but it sold to an expat buyer in Ankara, Turkey, sight unseen for $1.94 million cash unconditional,” Mr Jordan said.

Nearby in the prized suburb of Corinda, Ray White Sherwood agent Douglas May claimed the city’s second-highest auction sale of the day with a rare acreage home at 140 Cliveden Avenue.

The four-bedroom abode, which occupies an incredible 24,000-square-metre block, a stone’s throw from the river and just over nine kilometres from the city centre, sold under the hammer for $2,850,500 to a neighbour.

He said the auction attracted nine registered bidders, who were a mix of developers and owner-occupiers.

“It was an exceptionally rare piece of real estate being acreage that was so close to the city,” Mr May said.

140 Cliveden Avenue, Corinda QLD 4075

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“And Corinda was rated as one of the top liveable suburbs in 2020, so to have acreage there and along the train line [is just so rare]. There are only one or two pieces left.

“In the end, it went to one of the neighbours, and they are going to retain it as acreage. They are equestrian lovers, and they’ve actually already got their horses there.

It was a fairy tale ending for the owners and the local community, whom Mr May said did not want the esteemed estate to fall into the hands of a developer.

“It’s great news for the family as they have owned it for 50 years.”

In Sydney, the immaculate four-bedroom, six-bathroom mini-mansion at 7 St Lukes Way, Kangaroo Point, collected the nation’s highest sale price at auction after it sold for $6.151 million under the hammer.

The waterfront abode, which is loaded with prestige features, including a heated pool and a gargantuan media room, occupies a 1013-square-metre block and was sold through McGrath St George for almost double what it last sold for in 2015.

7 St Lukes Way, Kangaroo Point NSW 2224

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While it scored the top price for the weekend, an ugly duckling three-bedroom brick home at 14 Irene Street, Abbotsford stole the auction show after 17 online registered bidders led to a local developer forking out $4.4 million – a whopping $1.5 million more than it collected three years ago.

The cottage, which boasts a 697-square-metre parcel of land, fetched $650,000 above the reserve in an event that selling agent Antonio Ariola of Belle Property Drummoyne said was fierce.

“I sold this property for $3 million three years, so it’s jumped [a lot] in that time frame … and we sold it for well over the reserve, which is not what we were expecting,” Mr Ariola said.

14 Irene Street, Abbotsford NSW 2046

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“The seller; he was over the moon … and the buyer, they are a developer, and they are going to build a duplex there and hold onto it and live in it.”

As to what lead to the cracking sale, Mr Ariola said it was the size of the block and the north-facing position, with a lack of stock in the tightly-held pocket further fuelling the bidding war.

Over in Balmain, a classy one-bedroom apartment at Loft 1/6 Thames Street sold under the hammer for $1.19 million after a local owner-occupier outbid 13 other buyers at the online auction.

Selling agent Benjamin Martin of Ray White Balmain said the chic unit was once part of the old Christian Brothers at Balmain school block – with the original facade still intact.

Loft 1/6 Thames Street, Balmain NSW 2041

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“There hasn’t been any decrease in the level of buyer demand on this property because of the rarity of the block,” Mr Martin said.

Across Sydney, the auction clearance rate for the weekend was 75 per cent after 433 properties sold from a reported 476. In total, $439 million in property was transacted, with the median price a strong $1.41 million.

In Melbourne, a slightly softer auction clearance rate of 67 per cent was racked up on Saturday after 457 homes were sold from a reported 680 – resulting in a median sale price of $905,000.

While the city was still dealing with its fifth lockdown, agents reported strong online bidding with buyers willing to put their virtual paddles up from the comfort of their homes.

Despite that, the city’s top auction, at 34B Bourneville Avenue, Brighton East, was snapped up a day prior after selling agent Richard Slade of Buxton Real Estate Sandringham was forced to make a quick judgement call.

“Because of the lockdown and the level of buyer interest, it was better for the owner [to accept the deal just prior],” Mr Slade said.

34b Bourneville Avenue, Brighton East VIC 3187

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“In the end, we had three groups making offers and negotiating … and it was all local interest.”

The stylish four-bedroom, three-bathroom townhouse fetched $2.6 million – a cracking result that Mr Slade said was possible thanks to its unique design and interior space sprawled over three levels.

“It had a living zone downstairs, and you could see through to the pool, which was a bit of an X-factor for buyers,” Mr Slade said.

“There was a lot of buyer interest, and that’s also because there’s a shortage of good homes on the market.”

That buyer appetite was evident for a four-bedroom brick home at 34 Arum Walk in Mernda, which attracted 25 registered online bidders on Saturday, which resulted in a reserve-busting $755,000.

34 Arum Walk, Mernda VIC 3754

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Selling agent Ben Pellicori of Ray White Epping said it was the highest number of bidders of any auction sale in the country that day thanks to its stellar location and the fact that the spacious home was built just five years ago.

“I think the owners presented it really, really well. The home itself was just beautiful … and this level of buyer interest, it’s definitely not something we see a lot,” Mr Pellicori said.

“And we would have loved to have had the auction at the property, but we had to have it online and, in the end, it worked out for everyone.”

Mr Pellicori said bidding opened at $600,000, with a local buyer snapping up the home after 36 bids.

How to transform your bedroom into a sleep sanctuary

The verdict has long been in – a sound night’s sleep is essential to both our physical and emotional well-being.

“We see sleep as being one of the three pillars of good health, the other two being nutrition and exercise,” says renowned sleep psychologist Dorothy Bruck of the Sleep Health Foundation.

So why is it that achieving a restoratively sound sleep on a nightly basis evades many of us? And is there more that can be done to transform our bedroom into a true sleep sanctuary? There certainly is, according to the experts.

Take a look at these five ways to give your bedroom the most important kind of makeover – a “sleep facelift”.

Start with the basics

You spend practically half your life on your mattress - so it might be worth spending the money on a good one. — You spend practically half your life on your mattress, so it might be worth spending the money on a good one that suits your sleep style. Photo: iStock

When it comes to the quality of sleep, the right “sleep equipment” – the most appropriate mattress and pillow to suit your sleep style – can play a crucial role. “These are very important,” says Professor Bruck, “and people should take care in finding out what works best for them. Do your research, read the reviews and find out what sort of sleeper you are.”

Create calm

A bedroom that imparts a mood-shifting sense of comfort and tranquillity can be instantly relaxing. And furnishings such as bedheads play an important role.

Armelle_Bedhead_in_Willow_Mustard_buzak1 — Furnishings play an important role when it comes to creating a calm sleep space. Armelle bedhead from Heatherly Design. Photo: Supplied

“From plush velvets to mood-boosting bouclé, natural linens to quilted designs and deep-buttoned detailing, a padded bedhead instantly provides the room with a layer of comfort and texture, not to mention the perfect support to rest against,” says Heatherly Design founder Georgie Leckey.

The transformative power of serene colour is also undisputed in a bedroom.

“Soft, neutral shades, warm, earthy hues and rich jewel tones all create a comforting and relaxing aesthetic that invites an effortless and refreshing rest,” Leckey says. “This season, we’re loving moody maroons, dark greys and charcoals, rusts and nutty browns, spicy yellows and reassuring shades of green – all of which are not too stimulating to distract you from sleep, while creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere.”

Eliminate clutter

iStock-1299576266_alqjoi — Take steps to keep clutter at bay in your designated rest zone. Photo: iStock

Studies have shown that a messy bedroom can have an adverse effect on sleep patterns. Take steps to keep clutter at bay in your designated rest zone.

“Upholstered footstools and ottomans, which double as storage, can add an extra dimension of plush comfort to your bedroom, as well as reduce clutter and reinforce calm,” Leckey says. “Nightstands and bedside tables should also be used functionally for storage. They can encourage some night-time rituals and cosy self-care to help you wind down after a long day, whether it’s as a place to pop down your cup of calming herbal tea, keep a journal or favourite book, or an indulgent night or hand cream.”

Regulate the temperature

iStock-1256510790_nhns1m — You'll have a tough time getting to sleep if your feet are too hot or too cold. Photo: Kateryna Kukota (iStock)

“When you’re asleep, your body goes into a different thermo-regulatory process and you can often get quite chilled if you don’t have something to keep you warm,” Professor Bruck says, adding, “But on the other hand, it’s very easy to overheat, too. Between 17 and 19 degrees Celsius is considered the ideal temperature for most people for sleeping.”

And do be particularly mindful of cold – or hot – feet.

“If your feet are too cold, it’s hard to go to sleep,” Professor Bruck says. “Conversely, if you’re overheating in the night, with a hot flush or because the ambient temperature is too high, it’s good to be able to stick out your feet from under the doona.”

Let there be (some) light

Fenwick_Bedhead_in_Luxembourg_Pebble_uhoppl — Low-level and source lighting are best for bedrooms. Fenwick bedhead from Heatherly Designs. Photo: Picasa

“Many of us like to have a little bit of light somewhere, so if we have to get up during the night, we can orientate ourselves,” Professor Bruck says. “But the lowest possible light level is the best for the bedroom.”

In certain instances, white noise may also be beneficial. However, be wary of becoming overly reliant on it when trying to drift off to sleep.

“Some people who are very sensitive to noise can find that white noise or, for example, the playing of rain on an app, can cancel out the other noises that might be occurring in the background,” she says. “But really what you want is to get to the stage where you can self-soothe yourself back to sleep, without having to have the crux of, say, a relaxation app or talkback radio.”