If you buy apartments off-the-plan, you are off-the-planet

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In the video above, Martin North and property insider Edwin Almeida delve deeper into the high-rise apartment crisis, which they have previously claimed is a $1 trillion problem for Australia.

In particular, North and Almeida discuss the collapse of developer Ralan and what the implications are for home buyers of off-the-plan buyers.

Two months ago, Edwin Almeida described Australia’s high-rise as “death traps” and claimed the problems discovered so far are “just the tip of the iceberg”:

“It’s a mess, a lot of these buildings will need to get pulled down… They’re death traps”…

While Sydney built more apartments than anywhere else during the recent real estate boom, Mr Almeida says serious problems exist in other cities and it’s simply a matter of time until more problem buildings become public.

“It’s a big problem in all states… It’s not different in Melbourne, it’s not different in Brisbane”.

“What you, I and the general public see, is just the tip of the iceberg.”

He believes there are plenty of body corporates battling with developers over major building defects but don’t want them to become public out of fear it will cause the value of their apartments to drop.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.