Australia added 85,130 businesses last year. Of those, 83,105 were non-employing, many of them sole traders who will never need a commercial lease. The remaining 2,025 are where the demand signal actually sits.

Australia has 896 cranes on its skylines, a record. Sydney's count has fallen, while growth arrives in Melbourne, South East Queensland and the smaller capitals. The mix of what's being built in these areas has shifted.

Domestic buyers are now driving Australia's cold storage market, as activity shifts from Melbourne to Sydney. Here's what's behind the change and where new development is heading.

Brisbane and Perth are winning the office leasing premiership. While Brisbane leads on premium space and returns, Perth is the most improved side with the most upside for investors.

Australia's regional universities have quietly improved their global rankings for a decade, driving a major surge in student demand. Yet institutional supply remains heavily trapped in city cores, exposing a highly lucrative gap for yield-driven investors.

Australia's student housing sector is shifting as capital moves beyond Sydney and Melbourne amidst a severe 185,000-bed supply shortfall, rising university rankings, and evolving visa policies.

Luxury brands are opening more stores in Sydney and Perth while quietly closing them in Brisbane. The category is not growing across Australian CBDs. It is concentrating into fewer cities, and the reasons are specific.

The Gold Coast now has the lowest office vacancy of any market in the country at 7.3 per cent, in a city that added almost 12,000 residents and 873 net new businesses in the most recent quarter alone.

Commercial property spent two years with income doing all the work and capital values standing still. The latest returns data shows genuine appreciation returning to retail and industrial ahead of office.

Market Street and Martin Place have zero vacancy. George Street and Castlereagh Street are effectively full. Sydney's CBD retail core is now the tightest in the country, and luxury accounts for a third of it.

Most CBD retail markets depend on who works in the city during the week. Hobart's depends on who visits it, and why. The vacancy rate, tenant mix and trading rhythm all reflect a city centre built differently.

Nearly one in five Melbourne CBD offices is empty. Parking is cheaper than it was in 2013. Retail vacancy has dropped from 10 per cent to 7.6 per cent in two years. The numbers contradict until you look at who is actually showing up.