$1.4M for a 3 bedroom house but they say the market is cooling down?

First-time investor here! I've just signed a contract on a $280k Melbourne CBD apartment, expecting $580-
$600/week rent.
My strategy was to buy something affordable that largely pays for itself, then purchase a capital-growth-focused property in 3-5 years.
However, after speaking with Graeme Holm, I'm second-guessing myself. His argument is that buying for yield over growth could limit my ability to build a portfolio. And tells me I'm making the biggest mistake as wealth is where Capital Gains is with being able to utilise the CGT by purchasing new builds for investments.
I'm also wondering whether rising construction costs and potentially restricted new apartment supply could eventually benefit existing Melbourne CBD apartments.
Has anyone successfully gone yield-first, growth-second? Did your first property help or hinder your next purchase?
Would especially love to hear from Melbourne CBD investors about their experiences with capital growth and rental demand.

First home buyer here. Anyone know a good suburb to keep an eye out for properties less than 1m

Currently live in Hawthorne (yep bougie) and if I want to buy in my suburb, a townhouse is like min 1.2m (get fktt)

Happy to move but also be realistic about travel, I’m a nurse and do night shifts a lot so I don’t want to drive home too far

PS I am not from Brisbane (originally from nz)

Has anybody bought crown land and how was the purchase price calculate

Hi everyone, I moved to Sydney earlier this month for what I thought would be a long term job and signed a 12-month lease near Milsons Point. Unfortunately, I was let go shortly after starting, through circumstances outside my control, and am now without income.

I contacted the real estate agent to ask about negotiating an early exit or finding a replacement tenant, but they said I’d have to pay the four-week break fee under NSW law.

Is this my only option? Can the landlord agree to waive/reduce the fee or allow a replacement tenant? Would applying to NCAT for hardship termination be worthwhile, or could it cost me more in rent while waiting?

I’m not trying to avoid my responsibilities, I’m just trying to minimise my losses in an unexpected situation. I’m early in my career and don’t have much savings ://, so I may have to return to my home country because of this.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I guess no one would say yes to a stranger on the Internet but I’ve lost my RP data with my last company.

I was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to spare it to me tonight even just to look up a couple of things and then change the password,

why would you do that? I could pay for it. I don’t know what.

Please

Thanks so much

Hi, I am looking for some suggestions on improving the house layout. I am thinking about knocking the kitchen and living room wall down to open the space up. Not a big fan of the lounge/sunroom. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Hey all

Planning on buying a unit and i am curious as to how bad noise travels in fairly newish built apartments within the last 10 years?

Ive heard some horror stories online but it seems like people from the states complaining more.

I know you could have a bell end of a neighbour but generally speaking do the new ish builds have better sound controlling measures?

Hi everyone,

We’re building a new home with a volume builder in Melbourne and have been quoted $36K for the staircase and glass balustrade for the design shown in the attached image.

We’re honestly scratching our heads trying to understand how it gets to $36K, as we were giving a verbal estimate at the time of initial quoting of about 12 to 15k. We are not after something super fancy. minimal 10mm glass, standard stairs (not floating etc..) so keen to hear from anyone who has recently built or upgraded their staircase.

The specs are:

• 10mm clear rebated glass
• Plaster Wall Balust on first floor is 5 meters.
• Glass fixed into a closed outer stringer
• Staircase and glass balustrade as per the attached design

I understand that such staircases and glass balustrades aren’t cheap, but $36K seems like a significant amount.

1. Is $36K a reasonable price for this type of staircase and glass balustrade through a volume builder, or does it sound excessive?
2. Has anyone priced a similar staircase directly through an independent staircase manufacturer or glazier? If so, what sort of pricing did you receive?
3. If we went with standard MDF stair treads with carpet, but kept the glass balustrade and handrail on the staircase and the glass balustrade around the first-floor landing, what sort of price range might we be looking at?
4. Has anyone successfully negotiated a staircase upgrade with their volume builder or had the work done separately? Are there any practical issues with doing this outside the builder's contract?

We’re not necessarily chasing the cheapest option, but we’d like to understand whether this is a fair price and where we could potentially save without compromising on the overall look.

Would really appreciate any recent quotes, experiences or advice, particularly from people who have built in Victoria.

Thanks in advance!