It’s natural for property prices to take a breather as they move through the property cycle, but that doesn’t mean investors can’t brainstorm ways to create their own growth in the meantime.

Investment properties in Mackay have just been given another boost, with BHP Billiton giving the Queensland Government notice of a proposed rail corridor alignment from the Bowen Basin to Mackay

Homebuyers and sellers in Queensland will soon be using just one contract, under a plan to slash red tape in the housing market.

After two years of abstinence, home-buyers have been seen taking a sip from the debt bottle. Just a little one. First home buyers accounted for 20 per cent of total housing finance commitments taken out in November last year, data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed.

AUSTRALIA’S banks could be facing a massive new class action over allegations that their mortgage lending practices have put thousands of families in severe financial stress or at risk of losing their homes.

Organisers estimate that up to 300,000 mortgage holders would be eligible to participate in the action, which is expected to focus on first home buyers and lower-income households who received loans since the onset of the global financial crisis.

Premier Ted Baillieu must explain his role in the dispute at Phillip Island involving his planning minister Matthew Guy, the opposition says.

Mr Guy is being sued over claims he failed to follow proper planning processes and succumbed to backroom pressure from Liberal heavyweights when he backflipped over a contentious rezoning of Phillip Island farmland last year.

The soft homebuyer market has put increased pressure on the rental market, resulting in higher rents across the entire country, according to Australian Property Monitors’ Rental Price Series quarterly report.

Land sales have increased by 1.3 per cent in the September quarter, according to the Housing Industry Association (HIA)-RP Data Residential Land Report. It’s the third quarter where the volume of land sales has increased.

Affordability is the key this year as Sydney buyers shift attention to older, more affordable units in prime lifestyle locations along Sydney’s inner coastal areas and also to cheap housing on the metro city fringe, according to WBP Property Group New South Wales manager Chris Lackey.

The Inpex project means “very exciting times are ahead” for Darwin, according to the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory (REINT).