August is the time when publicly listed companies lodge and boast about their wins over the previous financial year. In 2026, the major property groups painted an interesting picture for commercial property.

Here’s an overview of the themes from the major players.

The curious case of Bathla Group, private credit and commercial contagion

Beleaguered residential property developer Bathla Group fell into administration on Tuesday, its main corporate entity Universal Property Group holding around $3.2 billion in liabilities, which didn’t include the deposits home buyers had paid.

It reportedly has more than 2,000 homes currently under construction with 13,000 in the pipeline.

Administrators will decide on the carve-up over the coming weeks, though they have reportedly sought a further $20 million to keep projects going and deliver homes to buyers.

The developer primarily focused on lower-cost homes in Sydney’s west, with its managing director Bhart Bhushan blaming the collapse on rising interest rates, a softening market, changing tax conditions, and rising construction costs.

However, it’s looking more like a simple case of over-leverage, according to John-Pierre Gortan, managing director of Simplicity Loans and Advisory, who has familiarity with the Bathla business.

“He’s (Bhushan) always kind of scrambled and made his way through it – a lot of these properties are actually quite good… but there’s only so much quality you can deliver for 600 grand,” the commercial finance broker said.

“Bathla have pretty much always run their stuff on private credit – very high interest rates and lots of different kinds of non-banks.

“He’s created such a large machine and you need to keep feeding it – he just didn’t have the sales anymore.”

Simplicity’s Jean-Pierre Gortan. Picture: Supplied

Many of those billions were owed to private credit funds, with monthly interest payments soaring into the tens of millions. Private credit has been the talk of the town among regulators over the past 12 months.

Both ASIC and the RBA have flagged private credit as a ballooning sector with more significant risks and lack of transparency compared to mainstream lenders.

On Thursday, Centuria Capital Group’s results showed its fund, Centuria Bass Credit, had $278 million tied up – or 24% exposure – with Bathla across six assets.

Earlier in the month, Centuria Bass froze redemptions for investors over concerns related to Bathla Group.

CVS Lane, another private credit provider with exposure to Bathla, also reportedly froze redemptions late this week.

Major private credit provider MA Financial did similar earlier in the year, though it isn’t exposed to Bathla.

Similar withdrawal-limiting behaviour was seen in the United States across funds such as Blackstone, Blue Owl Capital and Apollo, with JP Morgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon likening it to stamping out cockroaches.

Mr Gortan said investors, jumping ship from stocks and bank accounts, may not be used to these types of products that largely fall in a grey area outside the remit of regulators.

“It’s put a question mark on these types of investments and lending,” he said. “People are clearly just panicking.”

Back home on the commercial patch, publican Jon Adgemis was also embroiled in a private credit fiasco before declaring bankruptcy, borrowing much of his $1.8 billion from private lenders.

He reportedly offered creditors 0.15c (a tenth-and-a-half of one cent) in the dollar to settle the matter, amid a $500 million sell-off of his pubs under the Public Hospitality Group umbrella.

However, Mr Gortan said the Adgemis case was almost a directly opposite issue to Bathla’s – frothy valuations, not over-leverage.

“This (Adgemis) was a function of dumb capital flooding the market looking for deals – robust lenders with strong prudent credit policies wouldn’t have done this,” he said.

“(Bathla) isn’t Adgemis; these are cheaply built and cheaply priced products made for a mass entry level market, which appealed to investors and first-home buyers – unfortunately for Bathla, no one is buying at all.”

Jon Adgemis at Oxford House in Paddington. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

In terms of contagion risks, Mr Gortan says it’s unlikely.

“At the end of the day, everyone will make their way out. I think it’s a bit of a scare… people are spooked,” he said.

“These (loans) have hard assets behind them, so at the end of the day, most of it, if not all of it, interest and everything will all get recouped.

“I think the only risk is a run on investments – for the assets there’s no wholesale devaluation… it’s not that the projects aren’t feasible.”

Office’s marked recovery, though selective tenancy prevails

Many major property groups agree in their reports that the office market is stabilising after a tumultuous post-Covid period, though the recovery looks K-shaped.

Dexus’ construction of the controversial Atlassian office tower in Sydney is on-track for completion in late 2026 with 100% of space pre-leased on a 15-year lease with fixed rent increases of 4% p.a.

An artist’s impressions of artwork on Atlassian Central, yet to be installed. Picture: Supplied

Things are looking a little less rosy up north, however, with its Waterfront Brisbane project delayed another year to late 2029, having to shoulder higher costs as a result. That said, pre-leases rose to 71%.

Dexus is also hedging its bets having sold off its 50% stake in the premium-grade 480 Queen Street office tower for $700 million, the river city’s largest office transaction for the year.

The flight to quality phenomenon in the office space is a well-documented theme so far in 2026, and data from Mirvac’s results illustrates it further.

Vacancy rates on Sydney CBD offices, provided by JLL, are more than double in buildings older than 15 years. Mirvac’s office portfolio age sits at 8.5 years with an average vacancy rate of about 4%.

Absorption is driven primarily by premium-grade developments.

Mirvac’s results show businesses increasingly prefer new and premium office buildings.

Selective leasing has also been seen in the bifurcated Melbourne, with lower demand in the St Kilda Road precinct offset by a concentration of demand in high-quality pockets of the CBD core.

Dexus results also show Sydney and Melbourne office supply will dry up over the next few years.

Dexus’ results show its supply pipeline is drying up over the next few years.

“Performance remains hyper local, with the gap particularly evident between premium core CBD assets and the rest of the market,” its office outlook read.

While businesses like shiny buildings, the perks within them may not be enough to get people to return to the office.

Recent research from comparison site Finder shows just 33% of people believe trendy features such as basketball courts, bars or pet days would be enough to bring them back in the office.

Data centres a phrase-of-the-year contender

Data centres were the hot-button issue among many companies’ results.

Construction company FDC, in its first results as a public company, showed data centres grew from 6% to 13% of its works over the 2026 financial year.

One of Goodman’s data centre developments in Sydney as of July 2026. Picture: Goodman

Goodman’s results, too, were bullish on data centres. It presides over total capacity of 6.4 gigawatts of data power.

Its work-in-progress development pipeline jumped to $19.7 billion, up 53%; data centres accounted for 78% of that.

It recently signed a long-term lease to an unnamed Tokyo-based hyperscale company.

Thirty per cent of its data centres portfolio is situated in Japan, providing 1.3 gigawatts, though only 10% of its work-in-progress is situated there.

Dexus has completed nearly 154,000sqm of data centres with a further 54,300sqm in the pipeline.

More than two thirds (68%) of the pipeline is has pre-leases in place, with fixed annual increases of 3 to 3.5%.

Dexus results show we reached ‘peak data centre’ in 2026.

That said, like for offices, supply is expected to dry up over the next few years.

While the business case for data centre construction is strong, economists say the long-term challenges will be whether Australia can capture compute output and have it meaningfully contribute to the economy.

Source link

Renting with friends is an exciting stage in life, but it can be a challenge if you are a first-time tenant or have bad credit.

Landlords are looking for the best candidate possible for their property, and most will carry out a credit check on potential tenants. 

Unfortunately for first timers, having no credit history is often viewed on par with a bad credit history.

This is because it is difficult for landlords to assess whether you pose a financial risk.

Renting for the first time is a challenge, especially when you have bad credit.

---

Having no credit history or a black mark against your name could lead to you being overlooked by owners, meaning you may struggle to find a rental.

But don’t worry, there are a few things you can do to improve your appeal.

Know more: Make a winning rental application

Move into a share house 

Landlords are not the type to take a chance on a student fresh out of school or university.

One of the best ways to combat this is to move into a share house. 

Even if it’s only for a short period, this will help you prove that you are a good tenant and can be relied upon to pay rent on time consistently. To benefit from this arrangement, though, you’ll need to make sure that you officially sign onto the lease as a co-tenant. 

Get a roommate

If possible, try and get a property with a roommate who has a solid rental record.

If one of you has a strong rental background, it will help convince a landlord that you are less of a liability.

It is even better if your roommate is willing to sign the contract for a property solo and put you on the lease as a co-tenant at a later date.

Getting a roommate with good credit will help. Picture: Getty

---

Create a financial buffer

If you have the funds, offering to pay extra rent up front will help alleviate a landlord’s concerns you will miss rent.

Tenants are commonly asked to pay one month rent in advance.

Try offering six to eight weeks to create a bigger safety net.

This will be beneficial for prospective tenants with a bad credit history.

Read more: Our complete guide for first-time renters

Character references 

A glowing reference can go a long way.

It is best to submit at least two strong letters of recommendation with your rental application, attesting to your trustworthiness.

Make sure the references are from a valid source, such as an employer or community leader, as a nice letter from mum and dad is unlikely to make an impact.

Get a guarantor 

Talking of parents and relatives, check if they are willing to co-sign your lease or guarantee all your rental payments.

This is common if you are moving out of home. It allows your parents to offer a helping hand, without infringing on your independence.

This will also reassure the landlord that the rent will be paid, regardless of what happens.

Your guarantor will need to sign a contract.

This guarantee often also includes a promise to cover any outstanding cleaning costs or damage at the end of the lease.

Raise the stakes

If you are struggling to get a rental, as a last resort, offer to pay a slightly higher amount of rent.

As long as it is within your budget, you can add an extra $10 to $20 per week to the rental fee.

On a weekly basis, it is a fairly minimal change, but over a year it will add between $520 to $1040 in rent revenue.

This added bonus will be a very attractive offer to a landlord and difficult to pass up.

Location

If you are renting for the first time with no credit or bad credit, where you want to live will play a major role in determining the success of your search. 

In competitive rental markets you will face more difficulty getting a house.

So, perhaps look further afield to improve your chances.

Once you get a good rental history, it will be easier to move back into the suburbs you initially had set your heart on.

Look outside out competitive rental areas if it’s your first time.

---

Clear your debts

Whether you like it or not, your landlord is likely to investigate your credit history to make sure that you are going to be a reliable tenant.

It is best to pay any outstanding debts before making a rental application.

If you cannot square everything you owe, try getting a personal loan and consolidating debts, which looks less alarming on paper.

Phone bills and credit cards should be among the first to be paid off. But be wary of predatory lenders that offer low level loans to get you back in the black, as these often charge very high interest payments, and, if you fail to pay, you will have another black mark against your name.

Move on from your past

Sometimes a bad credit history is the result of issues out of your control, such as losing your job.

Handing over proof of income, along with a letter of recommendation from your employer, will go a long way towards proving your reliability if your circumstances have changed. 

If you have turned your credit situation around, it also pays to submit bank statements showing personal savings.

This article was originally published on
31 Oct 2019 at 4:25pm
but has been regularly updated to keep the information current.