Bookshelf

Eating out Live in your living room

Australia Ballet’s acclaimed production of Anna Karenina will be streamed live to living rooms across the world. An absolute must for any ballet fan, this modern classic streams live from Arts Centre Melbourne at 7:15pm (AEDT) Tuesday 8 March, and will be available to stream for 48 hours until 7:15pm (AEDT) Thursday 10 March 2022. You can secure your virtual seat for just $25. Other upcoming live streams include Harlequinade on 24 June and Romeo and Juliet on 18 October 2022. australianballet.com.au

APP HAPPY

Whether you have special dietary requirements or strict food preferences, the eatwell app allows you to easily find restaurants that fit your needs. Diners can make reservations, filter menu items of thousands of recommended venues and rate venues according to their suitability and quality. Users can also access these reviews when planning to dine out to know if a venue is suitable for them. eatwellapp.com.au

Internet of Things Murder in the Alps

Released by game development company Nordcurrent, Murder in the Alps is a fully interactive crime novel with amazing gameplay features. Traveling back to the 1930s, the story is set in a hotel tucked away in one of the most beautiful locations in the Alps but things quickly take a turn for the worst when one of the guests goes missing. Will you solve the case before the killer gets you and everybody else? Are you quick-witted enough to figure out all the clues? Can you find the answer to the Murder in the Alps? There’s only one way to find out, so get your magnifying glass and your detective hat because this amazing movie-like experience awaits. nordcurrent.com

Tourism hub

A new tourism app with artificial intelligence technology encourages visitors to explore Queensland’s Southern Downs & Granite Belt backyard. Unveiled by Southern Downs Regional Council, the app will share the good country life and welcome food and wine lovers to visit the region’s dramatic landscapes, stunning waterfalls and massive precariously balanced granite boulders. The app can be used 100 per cent offline and features up-to-date information on attractions, accommodation, events, restaurants, wineries, travel tips and more. southerndownsandgranitebelt.com.au

A survey on 2022 Smart Home Technology reveals older Australians aged 55 to 65+ have embraced smart home devices and become more tech-savvy. But they’re not the only generation taking advantage, with kids as young as 5 also accessing smart devices. Savvy surveyed 1,000 Australians to see how they feel about using the Internet of Things (IoT) in the home. Some of the highlights include: • 48% of boomers and seniors already own one or more smart home devices. • Increased safety and security is a key motivator for adopting domestic smart home technology. • Only 14% of seniors 65+ feel they do not need or want to invest in the IoT. • Almost half of Australians are willing to spend over $1,500 on smart home devices. savvy.com.au

THE MILLION-DOLLAR MARK

The rise of millionaire rows in south-east Queensland.

THE AUSTRALIAN PROPERTY market reached a notable milestone in 2021 with the average median house price for capital cities surging past the $1 million mark.

It’s a figure that brings into focus the pace of growth in property prices over the past two years.

The impressive statistic, revealed in the Domain Quarterly House Price Report, shouldn’t shock close observers of the market as booming house prices in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, in that order, led the charge.

These markets are now the country’s most expensive, and they are skewing the national average with median prices well above the magic million.

They are followed, in descending order, by Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide, Darwin and Perth, all of which are yet to breach the $1 million median. WORDS NICK NICHOLS

Brisbane is the closest with a Decemberquarter median of $792,065, up 25.7 per cent for the year.

Perhaps a more pointed perspective on the pace of price growth can be found in CoreLogic’s growing list of Australian suburbs that have a median price of more than $1 million.

In the seven months from May to December last year, 311 suburbs across the country joined the millionaires’ club.

A quarter of them, or 77, were in the greater Sydney area, followed by Brisbane with 40 suburbs added to the list.

The spike in Brisbane was supported by another 36 in regional areas such as Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.

According to recent data, there are now 82 suburbs outside of Brisbane with a house median price above $1 million, almost equaling the 91 currently in Brisbane.

If anything, these figures reveal the extent of property wealth that is shifting to south-east Queensland.

Forecasts for the year ahead are varied, with the consensus that price growth will continue in 2022, but at a more modest pace.

Many analysts are now placing a caveat on their forecasts with expectations that the Reserve Bank of Australia is likely to move earlier than expected in lifting the official cash rate.

Some analysts have forecast the RBA will increase the cash rate later this year, while others are confident the status quo will remain until 2023.

Major banks have already started increasing fixed-rate loans, a trend many in the industry see continuing throughout the year.

CoreLogic’s research director Tim Lawless says a slowdown in property price growth is already occurring in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, but he sees the persistent strength in other areas leading to a two-speed housing market in Australia.

“We could see our two biggest capital city markets Sydney and Melbourne hit their peak later this year, although the timing is highly uncertain and depends on a broad range of influences,” says Lawless.

“The only broad regions avoiding a slowdown in the pace of growth in housing values are Brisbane, Adelaide and regional Queensland.

“These regions show less of an affordability challenge relative to the larger capitals, as well as better support for housing demand with Queensland in particular showing strong interstate migration.”

Lending weight to buyer appetite for Queensland properties is the latest PropTrack Overseas Search Report produced by REA Group.

The report, which tracks searches on realestate.com.au, found that the Gold Coast was the most sought-after location for buyers for a second year running.

Brisbane came a close second, ahead of Sydney and Melbourne.

More than half of the searches for Gold Coast properties were from New Zealanders.

In fact, searches from Kiwis were up 37 per cent across the board in 2021 compared to the previous year, while property searches from Chinese nationals also saw a notable rebound – up 13 per cent.

Despite the ongoing strength of demand, the dynamics of the property market have changed.

CoreLogic notes that the shortage of listings that previously created a sense of urgency among buyers is diminishing, with normalised stock levels in Sydney and Melbourne largely driving the slowdown in price growth.

However, this turnaround is not reflected in all markets.

It’s one of the reasons CoreLogic sees continued growth in markets such as Brisbane and Adelaide, where the advertised supply of properties remains about 35 per cent below the five-year average.

Until that changes, these markets could remain in the millionaire hot seat for a little while longer.