Sarah Petty
Sarah Petty is a property reporter at the Australian Financial Review who covers how Australia’s residential and commercial real estate markets intersect with money, policy and everyday housing outcomes. Her work tracks market shifts such as auction clearance rates, supply bottlenecks and interest rate moves, then shows how they change the behaviour of sellers, buyers, tenants and investors. She stands out for using concrete case studies, exclusive deals and expert voices to explain broader structural trends, from build-to-rent and housing investment strategies to the real estate portfolios of major organisations.
Housing market cycles and seller tactics
Petty covers the ups and downs of housing market cycles through stories that start with live indicators such as auction clearance rates and then follow how sellers adjust their strategies when conventional campaigns falter.[anchor] She links these stories to the cost of money by reporting on interest rate changes by major banks in the lead-up to central bank decisions, connecting movements in borrowing costs to shifts in sentiment among home buyers and investors. In budget-focused coverage, she brings economists and property experts into the narrative to assess how tax and policy decisions reshape the viability of property investing, including whether federal budgets disrupt established investment strategies.
Across this strand of work, she keeps the focus on practical responses: what sellers try, how lenders act, and how investors recalibrate when the cycle turns.
Supply constraints and unbuilt homes
A recurring theme in Petty’s reporting is the gap between approvals on paper and homes on the ground. She has written about tens of thousands of approved apartments and townhouses that remain unbuilt in fast-growing corridors, quantifying the backlog and contrasting it with the number of new dwellings needed each year to meet forecast demand. These stories stress the mismatch between planning outcomes and delivery, highlighting how limited construction activity in high-growth areas pushes more pressure onto renters, buyers and local infrastructure. By framing supply as a pipeline problem rather than a single policy failure, her coverage gives detail that is useful to developers, policymakers and financiers trying to understand where the bottlenecks really sit.
Property portfolios and investment strategy
Petty reports closely on how different organisations build and reshape property portfolios, using individual deals to illustrate wider investment trends.
Her work has included an exclusive on a major sports club acquiring an apartment block near its home ground as part of a real estate portfolio worth more than $100 million, with the stated aim of reducing reliance on gambling revenue. She also reports on developers upsizing large apartment projects, such as a $1.3 billion plan on Sydney’s lower north shore, focusing on changes to scale, the mix of dwellings and the timing of delivery.
Beyond newsroom coverage, she regularly appears at the Australian Financial Review’s Property Summit as a moderator and interlocutor on panels about build-to-rent and housing investment, placing her at the intersection of capital allocation decisions, emerging asset classes and public debate about where housing investment is going. This strand of her work emphasises strategy and structure: who is buying, what they are building, how portfolios are funded and why they are being repositioned.
Consumer experience and housing risk
Alongside market and investment angles, Petty pays sustained attention to the lived experience of residents and tenants.
She has reported on communities evacuated after events such as landslides, tracking the absence or delay of financial assistance and the uncertainty facing residents who remain locked out of their homes weeks after emergencies. In the rental market, she has covered practices such as agencies asking applicants to provide “virtual tours” of their current homes when applying for new properties, raising concerns that such demands could amount to invasive scrutiny of private spaces. Her interest-rate coverage also carries a consumer thread, linking decisions by major banks to cut loan rates ahead of central bank meetings to the mortgage costs faced by households.
Across these stories she treats property as both an asset class and a basic need, showing how financial decisions, market innovations and regulatory gaps translate into risk or relief for people living in the system.
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.