Did you know that getting on for 4.5 million Australians live in strata? And who do you think comprises the single largest demographic group, from singles and couples through to one-parent families?

Can you even take a wild guess at the total value of strata properties in Oz, or what percentage of strata schemes don’t have strata managers?

This week we take a deep dive into the latest Australasian (it includes NZ) Strata Insights report from UNSW and SCA.

By the way, we got ourselves into a bit of a fankle over the Nepali language, which we mispronounced “nepawlee” rathere than “nepa-ly”, and which we partially correctly said was Nepalese – as in, the official language of Nepal.

In fact, Nepali is spoken by more than up to 20 million people, mostly in Nepal and neighbouring parts of India. Smaller speech communities exist in Bhutan, Brunei, and Myanmar. And in Melbourne too, it seems.

We also take a quick check on what the various political parties are offering by way of tackling the housing crisis and we talk briefly about why it’s such a surprise to see one of our apartment developer giants exposed in the news.

That’s all in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.

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Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia.
Find us on Facebook and Twitter and the Flat Chat website.
Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au.
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

There's a lot going on in the strata sphere this week, starting with the Sydney Morning Herald's big expose on building defects.

It's well worth reading but it's funny how every time a new reporter writes about this stuff, it's treated as if it's just been discovered.

Speaking as people who have been on this beat for two decades, we are just glad that the issues are being aired again.

Meanwhile strata managers nationally want to know why apartment buildings have been excluded from the multi-billion-dollar boost for solar panel battery storage. By the way, in the podcast we erroneously referred to solar panels, not batteries, as a sharp-eared listener has pointed out.

And we dig into the three-way fight over commission payments between owners (in the shape of the Owners Corporation Network) plus the Australian Consumers Insurance Lobby (ACIL), strata managers, and strata insurers.

That's all in this week's Flat Chat Wrap.

____________________________________________________


Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia.
Find us on Facebook and Twitter and the Flat Chat website.
Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au.
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

We’d love to ignore the election but we can’t, so this week we look at what our nation’s political parties are offering apartment buyers and renters as we hurtle towards polling day.

Everybody agrees we need more housing – and that means more apartments – but the policies differ, including one that an economist has dubbed “the worst economic policy of the 21st century.”

And we look at Victoria where the state government is pushing through a no-nimby policy to force councils to accept low-rise apartment blocks.

We have a chat about Strata Community Association, the strata managers' peak body's call for national protection for apartment owners from defective buildings.

And we look why rents of apartments are rising faster than rents of houses, and where this is happening, including one holiday letting hotspot that’s been hit by a 60-night a year limit. That’s all in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.

____________________________________________________


Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia.
Find us on Facebook and Twitter and the Flat Chat website.
Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au.
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.