u/No_Importance3792

I’m curious about people’s take on where things are heading for mid‑size apartment blocks (roughly 5–8 storeys) built in the last decade across the Northern Beaches and similar coastal suburbs.

Given the lack of available land and the fact that most new supply is either boutique or high‑rise in other parts of Sydney, do you think prices for these mid‑rise, modern blocks will keep climbing? Or will the market eventually flatten out?

I’m especially interested in thoughts around:

• Demand for apartment living in lifestyle suburbs
• Whether limited land = sustained capital growth
• How these mid-size buildings compare to high‑rise towers in long‑term desirability
• Any risks people see for the next decade (oversupply, zoning changes, demographic shifts, etc.)

Keen to hear what locals, renters, owners, and investors think?

I’ve been trying to make sense of my childhood and the impact my mother had on me and my siblings. She always talked about how horrible her own mother was and how she wanted to be a better parent, but looking back, her behaviour was deeply damaging.

She constantly told me she wanted to be my “best friend,” but in reality she treated me like her emotional support person. My parents fought a lot, and she regularly threatened to leave with us. If I cried, she’d yell at me and tell me I had no right to be upset because I wasn’t married to him.

One Sunday she actually left after an argument. I tried to help by making breakfast. She came back an hour later and tore strips off me for “taking over her job.” That moment still sticks with me.

She often compared herself to other parents, saying “terrible parents” were treated better than she was. As the eldest, she confided in me constantly about my father, their marriage, and even told me she suspected he was having homosexual affairs. I carried all of that alone while they’d make up and act like nothing happened.

She did the same with my sisters—complaining about them to me, turning us against each other. Now I don’t speak to one sister at all, and the other struggles with addiction. I’m raising her two youngest children.

Growing up, she disliked every one of my friends’ parents and insisted they thought they were “better than us.” When I met my now‑husband at 16, she hated him and made sure I couldn’t stand his parents either.

She inserted herself into every part of my life. When I played sport, she became president of the club. I was the only kid whose mother stayed for every game. At 15, I asked to attend matches on my own like everyone else. She unleashed torrents of guilt and abuse, accusing me of thinking I was “too good for the family.”

Despite getting all A’s at school and excelling in sport, she never praised me. Even into my 30s she criticised my friends, my husband, and anyone close to me.

I loved my grandmother dearly, but my mother spent my whole life trying to convince me she was better than her—while repeating the same patterns of emotional manipulation and control.

I’m only now starting to understand how much of my life was shaped by her behaviour.

My mum would constantly do the following:

1. remind me of how horrible her mother/my grandmother (who I loved dearly) was a horrible mother and how she wanted to be a better mother than her own.

2. would constantly tell me she wanted to be my best friend

3)She and my father fought a lot and there where constant threats of her leaving with us, when I cried, I was yelled at and told it was ok for me, I wasn't married to him

4)when she did leave one Sunday morning after one of their arguments, she came back an hour later and tore strips off me because I had taken over her job and was getting breakfast

5. we had neighbors who in her words 'where terrible parents' and their kids adored them, and she would constantly remind me that bad parents were treated better than we treated her

6. as the eldest she would treat me as her confidant and complain about my father to me constantly, then they would make up and be all lovey dovey and I would still have anger from what she shared with me. even to the extent of telling me in later years that she suspected my father was having homosexual relations, that really screwed with my head

7. she did similar with my 2 sisters and would always complain about them 2 me needless to say I don't speak with one at all as we hate each other, the other one is a drug addict, and I am her quasi carer and also raising her 2 youngest children

📷 she never liked any of my close friends' parents always said they ignored her and thought they were better than us.

9. she hated my now husband when we met and would constantly put him down, she couldn't stand his parents and made certain that I couldn't stand them either. I was only 16 when we met

10. when we were young and played sport, she became the president of the club and of course had issues which impacted my enjoyment of the game, at 15 I asked her to let me attend my own matches like all of the other teammates, I was the only one whose mother stayed for the games. I can still remember the torrents of abuse and guilt I was put through for this, mainly that I thought I was too good for the family

11. even though I was a high achiever at school all A's and sports I never heard words of praise.

12. into my 30's she would criticise my friends, my husband etc.