Young, female and living in the city: the face of Australia in 2024
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Young, female and living in the city: the face of Australia in 2024

As planners consider the future of our cities and regional centres, clear patterns are emerging of where people of all ages and sexes choose to live

By KANEBRIDGE NEWS
Thu, Aug 29, 2024 3:45pmGrey Clock 2 min

Our cities are home to more women than men and there are more younger people choosing the capitals over regional areas, new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has shown.

The Regional Population by Age and Sex Report revealed Darwin was the capital with the lowest median age at 34.6 years, as well as being the only capital with a higher proportion of males to females.

Once known as the city of churches, Adelaide had the oldest population by median age at 39.2 years. The breakdown by town or suburb is even more revealing, with Acton and Duntroon in the ACT recording the lowest median age at 20.8 years and 21.8 years respectively. One area is popular with university students while the other is home to a high number of military personnel.

At the other end of the scale, the retirement hotspots of Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest in NSW (66.2 years), Bribie Island (63.6 years) and Cooloola (62.4 years) in Queensland and Point Lonsdale-Queenscliff (62.2 years) in Victoria had the highest median ages in the country. 

Higher median ages were also reflected in the male to female ratios, with women’s higher life expectancy resulting in more women relative to men in some areas. In the Sydney suburb of Woollahra, there were 80.9 males to every 100 females and in Mornington West in Melbourne, there were 82.4 males to every 100 females.

Areas with extremely high proportions of males to females were either mining communities (274.2 males per 100 females in East Pilbara), male correctional facilities (278.1 males per 100 females in Wacol near Brisbane) or military training centres (227.0 males per 100 females at Duntroon in the ACT).  



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Australian shares fell on Thursday as Wall Street weakness, rising oil and persistent rate concerns weighed on most of the market. The S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.72 per cent to 8,702. The All Ordinaries lost 0.66 per cent to finish at 8,897. Mining stocks were hit particularly hard, while real estate also dragged on the index. …

Borrowers cannot control the Reserve Bank, but they can control how exposed their household budget is to its next decision. The RBA meets on 29 September with inflation concerns still elevated and major-bank economists increasingly bringing forward their rate-rise calls. Fixed mortgage rates have also been moving, reducing the value of waiting for perfect certainty. …

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A Modern Home in Silicon Valley Lists for $44 Million

A five-bedroom Palo Alto home designed by Steven Ehrlich is listed for $44 million, making it the city’s most expensive listing. Built around a dramatic concrete spine, the home features four courtyards and a pool.

By E.B. Solomont
Thu, Sep 24, 2026 3 min

For years, tech entrepreneur Asher Waldfogel and his wife, Helyn MacLean, dreamed of building a modern house in Palo Alto, Calif.

The couple, however, worried about clashing with the Mediterranean-style architecture typically associated with their neighborhood of Old Palo Alto.

So they tapped architect Steven Ehrlich to create a design that paid homage to its surroundings with stucco, mahogany and titanium zinc cladding. They spent $20 million over several years building the house, completed in 2005.

Designed for indoor-outdoor living, the house has matching mahogany paneling and limestone both inside and out.
Designed for indoor-outdoor living, the house has matching mahogany paneling and limestone both inside and out. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

The dining room is between an outdoor garden and the staircase.
The dining room is between an outdoor garden and the staircase. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Now looking to be closer to their adult daughter on the East Coast, they are putting the five-bedroom home on the market for $44 million—the most expensive listing in Palo Alto.

Waldfogel is an angel investor who co-founded Redback Networks, a telecommunications-equipment company. MacLean previously had a career in fundraising.

The kitchen and family room open to the garden and pool.
The kitchen and family room open to the garden and pool. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Cast alcoves and mahogany shelves house the couple’s books and ceramics.
Cast alcoves and mahogany shelves house the couple’s books and ceramics. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

The couple purchased the roughly 0.4-acre site for $7.1 million in 2000 and demolished a circa-1930s Spanish Colonial home. The house they built pinwheels around a central staircase. It has 7,900 square feet of livable space, with four distinct courtyards and a pool.

A key feature of the home is a cast-in-place concrete wall, or spine, that is two stories high and about 80 feet long. “There’s a little bit of controlled chaos in what comes out of the form,” unlike a perfectly uniform surface, Waldfogel said. “If you want that, you do it in plastic.”

Ehrlich said it took a few tries to get the concrete wall right.
Ehrlich said it took a few tries to get the concrete wall right. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

‘It’s a really hard material to tame,’ Ehrlich said of concrete. Workers learned as they went, and Waldfogel and Helyn grew to appreciate the imperfect material.
‘It’s a really hard material to tame,’ Ehrlich said of concrete. Workers learned as they went, and Waldfogel and Helyn grew to appreciate the imperfect material. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

A central staircase is housed in a glass tower.
A central staircase is housed in a glass tower. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Waldfogel said he and his wife are thinking about the next phase of life now that their daughter is grown, although they have not decided where they will move. They also have a home in Sun Valley, Idaho.

“Right now we’re just trying to emotionally let go and decide what to do next,” he said.

Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Two wings of the house are connected by horizontal planes.
Two wings of the house are connected by horizontal planes. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Palo Alto, an epicenter of venture capital and tech startups in Silicon Valley, is home to some of the country’s biggest tech titans. Sales volume and prices are rising, with a median sale price of $3.5 million for the three months ending in August, up 5.8% year-over-year, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin.

Arthur Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty—San Francisco Brokerage has the listing.

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