🔵 The great Planning Panel in the sky

HEARD THIS WEEK👂

🐠 Fishing ban from Balmoral to Chinamans Beach could deliver “living museum” for snorkellers

Recreational fishing would be banned on a stretch of coastline near Balmoral under a proposal from a local community group.

Looking out for the reef: Duncan Adams, founder of Wyargine Aquatic Friends, said if we want a vibrant marine ecosystem on the North Shore, kelp forests and seagrass meadows need to be protected.

Each summer, thousands upon thousands of locals and visitors flock to Balmoral — the closest thing the North Shore has to a real ocean beach — but beneath the surface, marine life in the area has thinned out.

As with much of Sydney Harbour, a significant decline has been observed over the last 50 years due to habitat loss, pollution and overfishing.

Wyargine Aquatic Friends is calling on the NSW government to establish an aquatic reserve running from Chinamans Beach to Balmoral.

Read the full story below.

☀️ Kids are baking in classrooms. These North Shore parents say they have a solution

North Shore classrooms can be stuffy and hot in the summer, a problem likely to intensify, and some parents reckon they know what needs to be done.

Hot classrooms: We know our cities are getting hotter and our summers longer. Research released last week from the University of British Columbia found that Sydney’s summers have increased in length by nearly 50 days since the 1990s.

Summer days for Sydney in the study are defined as hotter than 21.4C. This is based on average summer temperatures from 1961–1990.

Particularly impacted by heat are our schools. Studies show hot classrooms can be directly related to poor educational outcomes when children can’t concentrate in stifling conditions. 

North Shore parents argue that if the sun's rays are heating up our schools, they could also help cool them down.

Read the full story below.

🎹 Inside Artarmon’s hidden record store

Mel headed out to Artarmon this week to profile Rocky Road Records, and had a chat with owner Piers about how the shop came to be.

Watch the full video below.

✝️ Design for modernist Waitara Cathedral revealed

A new Catholic precinct in Waitara would require the demolition of the existing Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Cathedral, the primary school that shares the same name and the CatholicCare building.

Each would be reconstructed as part of a “cathedral precinct” designed by London-based firm Níall McLaughlin Architects and local designers Hayball.

New details in the Hornsby Cathedral Precinct Masterplan, in the works since 2022, show the cathedral would eschew the typical Neogothic design and instead be a modernist structure.

Read the full story below.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

🏘️ Why is housing in Melbourne cheaper than Sydney?

What happened: In 2024, Victoria began taxing property investors more, and increased the minimum standards required of investment properties looking to be leased.

Not long after these changes, thousands of investors decided to sell up.

In 2026, Melbourne's house prices and rents are now lower than Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. Experts say the changes meant Victoria had disincentivised housing as a method of making money, helping first home buyers and renters.

Could we do this across the country?

How we got here: In 2021, the Victorian Government decided that landlords had to make homes liveable and introduced standards that implored landlords to:

• Install a fixed heater in the main living area

• Have gas and electrical safety checks once every two years

• Make sure properties don’t have any mould or damp

  The standards also mean properties would have until 2027 to:

• Install ceiling insulation where none is present

• Replace end of life heating and hot water systems with efficient electric alternatives

• Install draught proofing on external doors, windows and wall vents

Then what happened?

In January 2024, Victorian property investors were then hit with a new annual land tax, with bills starting at $500 to potentially thousands.

While this might be a drop in the bucket for property investors with multiple homes, it was a bigger hit for mum-and-dad investors.

Over 70 percent of the 2.3 million property investors in Australia own just one property in addition to their home.

It’s a service: Professor Alan Morris, from the University of Technology Sydney, told the National Account the taxation from the Victorian Government drove down the number of home loans for investors in the state.

Morris said Melbourne’s population decline after the pandemic also played a role in increasing the vacancy rate of the city.

How much?

Cotality data shows Melbourne, despite being larger in population, has had its median home value surpassed by multiple capital cities across the country.

• Sydney: $1,601,782

• Melbourne: $982,876

• Brisbane: $1,207,718

• Adelaide: $998,933

• Perth: $1,062,538

• Hobart: $790,566

• Canberra: $1,048,285

• Darwin: $732,035

Rents: Professor Morris said investors are now able to charge less for rent as house prices drop or stabilise and mortgage repayments become lower.

In New South Wales, there are more property investors – and the market is still geared towards them. “Investors push up prices,” said Morris.

Money money money: Professor Morris also noted Sydney is a more affluent city than Melbourne.

“There's more disposable income. There are a lot of high income renters in Sydney. That also impacts the market. It's like it permeates downwards,” he said.