The Elephant In The Room Property Podcast | Inside Australian Real Estate

Australia’s housing shortage isn’t just about planning approvals or red tape — it’s about money.  In this episode, commercial finance expert Jean-Pierre Gortan, Joint Founder of Simplicity Loans & Advisory, joins Veronica Morgan and Chris Bates to unpack the financial bottlenecks preventing new homes from being built, even in areas crying out for supply. Jean-Pierre draws on more than two...

Property decisions today hinge on interest rates, inflation, and housing demand — but what if the traditional signals we’ve all relied on no longer give the full picture? In this episode, we sit down with Alan Oster, former Chief Economist of NAB and one of Australia’s most respected economic voices, to unpack what really matters in a housing market under stress. Alan explains why GDP, unemploymen...

What’s really driving property investors in 2025? The latest PIPA Investor Sentiment Survey lays it bare — and the results matter for every investor, renter, and policymaker in Australia. In this episode, we’re joined by Lachlan Vidler, Chair of the Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA), to unpack the top findings. The survey shows investors are selling under pressure—with debt red...

Short-term rentals have faced caps, levies, and rising costs. Investors are asking the big question: Does the short-stay model still work? In this episode, Quirin Schwaighofer, co-founder and co-CEO of MadeComfy , joins us to unpack the state of the short-stay market in 2025. We talk about how regulations like NSW’s 180-day cap and Byron Bay’s 60-day limits are reshaping operations, where demand i...

Property management in Australia has been facing challenges for years — tenants feel ignored, landlords are frustrated, and managers are burning out. The question is: is the entire model broken beyond repair? In this episode, we sit down with Scott Bateman, strategist, innovator, and founder of property management platform Kolmeo, to unpack what’s gone wrong and what the future could look like. Sc...

Australia’s housing market has been facing growing pressures in recent years. Homeowners often sit on millions in equity but can’t easily access it, while aspiring buyers without the “Bank of Mum and Dad” struggle to get into the market. At the same time, investors chase capital growth but face the costly, stressful reality of being landlords. In this episode, we sit down with Evan Thornley, CEO o...

Australia’s housing crisis isn’t just a social problem — it’s an economic one. In this episode, Robert Pradolin, founder of Housing All Australians, argues that secure, affordable housing must be treated as essential infrastructure for the nation’s prosperity. With over 40 years in residential development, Robert brings both insider knowledge and bold solutions to a system that has been failing fo...

NIMBY vs YIMBY? Is saying “no” to change protecting community character — or blocking the homes our cities desperately need? In this episode, we sit down with Jonathan O’Brien, lead organizer of YIMBY Melbourne, to unpack what’s at stake when communities resist — or embrace — change. We dig into whether opposing development is simply selfish or a legitimat...

Commercial property isn’t just “resi with higher yields” — it’s a whole different game with its own language, rules, and risks. In this episode, we sit down with Helen Tarrant, founder of Unikorn Commercial Property, to unpack what investors really need to know before making the leap. Helen reveals why mindset is the first hurdle when moving from residential to commer...

Australia’s strata sector is under pressure — and it's no longer a niche issue. Following high-profile investigations by Four Corners and 7.30 Report, strata governance failures, building defects, and financial blowouts are now front and centre. With more Australians living in apartments and townhouses than ever before, what happens next in this space will impact millions. In this epis...

With property data becoming increasingly available, investors face a growing challenge: accurately interpreting the numbers. In this episode, Veronica and Chris speak with Matija Djolic, co-founder of HtAG Analytics, to discuss how investors can effectively use property data and avoid common mistakes. Matija outlines four essential questions investors need to address before making decisions, empha...

Today, we sit down with Scott Aggett, founder of Hello Haus, a negotiation service shaking up Australia’s property buying landscape. Scott pulls back the curtain on the high-stakes game of real estate negotiation and reveals why most buyers are unknowingly walking into traps laid by experienced selling agents. If you’ve ever felt outmatched or overwhelmed in the home-buying process, th...

If you’re navigating retirement planning in Australia, this episode is a must-listen. Financial adviser James Wrigley joins The Elephant in the Room to unpack the strategies that high-income earners, Gen X professionals, and aspiring retirees can use to build a more secure financial future, without falling into the usual traps. From maximising tax returns through superannuation to understand...

When it comes to property ownership in Australia, few topics are as misunderstood—and as crucial—as insurance. In this episode, Veronica sits down with Kimberley Jonsson, CEO of CHU Insurance, to unpack the growing risks in strata and property insurance and why many owners might be underprepared. From the rising cost of premiums to the unseen dangers lurking in older buildings, Kimberl...

What happens when a city goes from being “uninvestable” to a national hotspot almost overnight? In this episode, Perth-based buyer’s agent Matthew Hughes joins Veronica to unpack what’s driving the WA property surge—and what investors are getting wrong. With boots-on-the-ground insight, he shares why affordability alone is a flawed strategy, how investor FOMO is disto...

In this episode, we’re joined by Tim Riley, founder of Property Collectives, to explore a new way of thinking about housing—one rooted in collaboration, not speculation. Tim breaks down how the group build model works, why it’s gaining traction, and how it empowers people to co-create their homes rather than buy off the plan. We cover a wide range of topics, including long-term l...

What’s really behind the shift we’re seeing in regional property market trends, especially along the NSW South Coast? In this episode, we sit down with our good friend and local expert Matthew Knight as someone who’s been living and breathing this stuff for years, to give us the real story. We’ve heard all the noise about COVID booms and tree changers flooding coastal towns...

Is housing really unaffordable because we’re not building enough? Or is that just one part of a much bigger, more complicated story? In this episode, we sit down with Peter Mares, journalist, researcher, and author of No Place Like Home – to break down the real reasons why housing is unaffordable in Australia today. Peter walks us through how decades of policy decisions, from tax incen...

Is all this property wealth we talk about actually real—or is it just theoretical? That’s what we unpack in this episode with our guest Martin North, founder of Digital Finance Analytics and someone who’s been watching the numbers and the story behind them for years. We ask him: is Australia’s $11 trillion property market built on something solid, or are we clinging to an i...

The building industry in Australia 2025 is still feeling the ripple effects of COVID, supply chain chaos, and builder collapses, and we wanted to know what it actually looks like to survive all that. So we brought in Brad Duggan, CEO of Metricon, to pull back the curtain on what went wrong, what they got right, and what others need to understand if they’re going to build homes (and stay aflo...

What do zoning shakeups mean for your suburb, your street, and your property’s value? In this Q&A episode, we answer real questions from listeners and unpack the property market trends that are shaping the way people buy, build, and invest right now. We talk about what makes a home “A-grade” beyond land size and location, how to avoid overcapitalising, and why things like nat...

What if everything we’re told about fixing Australia’s housing crisis is just scratching the surface? That’s the starting point for our conversation with Michele Adair, Managing Director of the Housing Trust and a long-time advocate for meaningful housing reform. Michele brings decades of experience and doesn’t hold back when talking about what’s really broken in the...

What really goes on in an auctioneer’s mind, and what do they see that most buyers and sellers don’t? In this episode, we chat with Emma Brown-Garrett, a seasoned auctioneer who’s been in the property world for over 20 years, to talk about everything most people misunderstand about auctions. Emma’s not just there to call numbers. She’s reading the room, guiding negoti...

How much of what we hear about Australia’s housing crisis is actually true, and how much is just media hype? In this episode, we’re joined by Cameron Kusher, a property economist who’s here to speak without corporate filters, and he doesn’t hold back. We talk about how the media often gets housing stories wrong, oversimplifying complex issues just to chase clicks. The real...

What if the real driver behind Australia’s property obsession isn’t logic, but human behaviour? In this episode, we’re joined by behavioural economist Evan Lucas, and let’s just say… this one’s a thinker. We talk about how our attitudes toward property have shifted since the pandemic; what’s stuck, what’s changed, and why the DIY mindset, generation...