Good morning. Amid the gloom over the property market downturn across Australia, new figures reveal that it is the more high-end houses being hit worst – down more than 10% from their peaks in some cities.A new report has projected staggering economic losses to be felt across Australia by the end of the century due to coastal flooding as rising sea levels cause “safe land” to vanish amid a worsening climate crisis.Alarming warnings from tech industry insiders in recent days have left some global leaders scrambling to quantify the threat to humans posed by AI. And we look back at the life of author Blanche d’Alpuget.AustraliaPeter Lake’s NSW northern rivers property after a flood in 2022. The cattle farm has flooded five times since 2009. Photograph: Peter Lake
‘Less and less viable’ | The Climate Council forecasts that more than 267,000 coastal properties will be damaged by flooding by 2100 as Australia’s sea levels rise, costing hundreds of billions of dollars.
A mixed bag | High-end homes are recording steep price falls, while more affordable properties are proving resilient, leaving Australians to experience the real estate downturn in very different ways.
Renters warned | So-called “RentTech” companies may be circumventing Victorian laws designed to protect tenants’ personal data by asking for “excessive” information, a review has found.
