Michael Bleby
Michael Bleby covers the financial and structural forces shaping property markets, with a particular focus on housing, lending and the built environment. He is a senior property journalist at the Australian Financial Review, reporting across commercial and residential real estate, construction, design and architecture. His work is distinguished by detailed reporting on how money, policy and industry strategy interact, rather than treating property as only a lifestyle or price story. He regularly tests government and corporate claims against market data and stakeholder responses, especially where housing finance and regulation intersect.
Housing finance and regulation
Bleby’s housing coverage follows how lending structures, tax settings and regulation shape who can buy, build or invest, and on what terms.
He reports on products such as self-managed super fund home loans, focusing on industry reaction when official estimates fail to match activity on the ground. His story on South Korean pension funds caught in a large-scale National Disability Insurance Scheme housing scam traces how fund managers, developers and regulators allowed complex financing to outpace proper oversight.
Earlier work on housing affordability sets out multiple levers, from tax treatment to supply-side interventions, and weighs which changes experts see as most effective in cooling price pressures. He also tracks shifts in investor behaviour, including analysis of looser borrowing terms and rising prices that encourage investors back into the property market after periods of caution.
Across these pieces he gives close attention to the mechanics of borrowing, the incentives created by policy, and the consequences when those incentives clash with affordability or probity.
Construction, design and the built environment
Bleby treats buildings and infrastructure as financial assets, workplaces and public spaces, not only as architectural objects. His reporting on Australia’s construction titans examines how major builders read the cycle, manage risk and position themselves for future demand, drawing out what their balance sheets and pipelines say about the state of the sector. He writes about emerging residential precincts that challenge established prestige suburbs, explaining how pricing, planning rules and transport links combine to create new alternatives for buyers.
Coverage of train station design and similar projects looks at how architects and planners work within cost and engineering constraints to produce places that people actually like and use, with an eye on long-term value for investors and commuters alike. He also explores unconventional residential formats, such as high-end moveable apartments, as case studies in how design innovation is financed and marketed in niche segments of the housing market.
In this strand of his work, technical detail about construction and design is consistently tied back to economic viability and user experience.
Property market players and industry strategy
Bleby reports on the strategies of major developers, home builders and property-adjacent businesses as they compete for land, capital and customers. His coverage of Asahi Kasei Homes’ expansion through a large New South Wales home builder shows how a foreign group uses cheaper borrowing costs in its home market to fund land development and build scale locally.
Stories on the building industry bring together the views of senior executives to map where they see demand rising or falling and how they plan to respond.
He has examined aggressive moves in the property listings and media space, including plans by rival publishers to attack established portals, treating these as strategic plays in a broader contest over data, advertising and consumer attention. Throughout, he focuses on corporate decision-making, capital structure and market positioning, rather than on personalities, giving communications and finance teams a clear view of how their actions will be interpreted in a commercial context.
Business of sport and major events
Alongside core property coverage, Bleby writes about the commercial and infrastructure dimensions of sport.
His reporting on Brisbane’s path to securing the Olympics frames the bid as a contest over investment, transport projects and long-term urban branding, not just a sporting milestone. These pieces look at stadiums, precincts and funding models in the same analytical way he treats housing and commercial buildings, showing how event decisions ripple through construction pipelines and public finances. This crossover work extends his property lens into arenas where sport, politics and money meet.
4 more finance journalists.
Aaron Bell
Aaron Bell stands out for turning broker research and complex market commentary into clear stories for everyday investors. He writes about the Australian share market as a journalist for The Motley Fool Australia and also works as a freelance journalist and editor focused on financial topics and the Australian economy. His beat covers ASX-listed companies and exchange-traded funds. He writes on broker recommendations, valuation changes, price targets, upside forecasts, earnings results, guidance, and share price reactions. He also covers thematic and emerging markets ETFs, NASDAQ-focused funds, and sectors such as space-related industries. In his reporting, he uses numbers, rating changes, and target prices to explain risk, reward, and what has changed in the business.
Adam McCleery
Adam McCleery tracks the money and deals shaping advertising and media agencies. He is a journalist at AdNews, covering agency pitches, account moves, media buying decisions, budgets, contracts and settlements. His beat sits between finance, media and marketing, with a focus on advertiser confidence, commercial outcomes and the pressures facing agencies, brands and media owners. He reports on television, streaming, subscription models and platform strategies, as well as artificial intelligence, data, privacy and ad technology. His past work spans print, digital and business-to-business titles. He writes in a straightforward, deal-driven style. He follows how brands review, consolidate or shift agency relationships, and how pricing, measurement, fragmentation, policy and economic conditions affect spending, investment, risk and the value of agency services.
Adelaide Miller
Adelaide Miller is an award-winning national business reporter at the ABC who stands out for linking markets coverage with accountability reporting on how finance, regulation and corporate decisions affect workers, consumers and small businesses. She covers superannuation, small business obligations, the ASX, global indices, inflation, government debt, investor sentiment, cryptocurrency, corporate conduct, mortgage stress, and consumer impact. She reports on the gap between legislative intent and on-the-ground practice, and she often uses data, live markets context, and direct reporting from affected people. Her background includes ABC Investigations, Background Briefing, and Four Corners. She also has reported on AI-driven political campaigning, Telstra’s Senate inquiry scrutiny, family law, and a personal essay on her grandmother’s dementia. She works across TV, radio, online, and podcast formats.
Adeshola Ore
Adeshola Ore reports on finance and public policy through their effects on everyday life. They are a reporter at the Guardian, covering tax debates, public spending, institutional policy and the communities shaped by them. Their beat also includes politics, rights, social equity, climate, migration, Indigenous policy, agriculture, food safety and public health. Notable reporting has covered bird flu and egg supplies, catastrophic floods, death cap mushroom poisonings, refugee communities, university misconduct and place-naming rules in Tasmania. Earlier work included global climate conferences, international affairs and social policy. Ore reports through live political coverage, ground-level interviews, documents and hearings. They write news features and explainers that clarify complex rules, risks and rights. They also contribute to the Guardian’s daily news podcast, bringing field reporting and interviews with affected communities into wider discussions of politics and policy.