REIV CEO Enzo Raimondo said today that the rental vacancy rate in Melbourne had dropped below 1 per cent for the first time on record in February.

Lend Lease and the Lend Lease managed Australian Prime Property Fund Retail (“APPF Retail”) today announced they have purchased a major development site designated as a regional town centre with residential opportunity. The end value of the mixed use town centre is estimated at approximately A$400 million.

The site was acquired 100% from Valad Property Group for A$73.5 million.

If rising interest rates and share market volatility is supposed to have sapped the heat out of the real estate market – nobody has told investors in South Yarra.

Melbourne-based property investment company Drapac has reaped $13.5 million from the sale of the former Collins Mitsubishi and Mercedes Benz dealership in Sturt Street, Southbank to property developer Les Smith.

The record price paid for a home in Australia has been smashed, after an undisclosed Asian family is believed to have splashed out $32.4 million to buy a Sydney home once owned by disgraced stockbroker Rene Rivkin.