Latest news with #MatthewBurke
Hospitality Net
10-06-2025
- Business
- Hospitality Net
Australia booking levels elevated for British & Irish Lions Tour
ARLINGTON, Va. – The upcoming British & Irish Lions tour is driving hotel bookings across host markets in Australia, with levels at a high of more than 70% in Adelaide and Brisbane, according to CoStar's latest Forward STAR data. CoStar is a leading provider of online real estate marketplaces, information and analytics in the property markets. The tour will feature nine games across six cities over the course of June, July and August 2025. As of 2 June data, the highest hotel booking level was showing in Adelaide as the 12 July game between the Lions and Invitational AU & NZ XV has pushed occupancy on the books to 78.5%. A week later in Brisbane, the 19 July game between the Lions and Wallabies (1st Test) has occupancy on the books at 71.5%. At the same time last year, Adelaide and Brisbane booking levels for those dates were at 34.7% and 40.6%, respectively. The tour is returning to Australia for the first time in 12 years, and game nights are attracting higher-than-average demand—not only to the three actual test matches that will be played between Australia and British & Irish Lions, but across the board. Matthew Burke, STR's regional director Source: STR In Sydney and Canberra, booking levels have already reached 46.0% (2 August) and 39.4% (9 July), respectively. For comparison in the week before those match days, the markets are showing booking levels at 29.3% and 17.8%, respectively. The data once again demonstrates the impacts of such major events in attracting additional demand to host markets , Burke said. The impact is even more evident considering Australian markets usually seeing lower occupancy during the winter months . For more information about the company and its products and services, please visit Additional Performance Data CoStar's world-leading hotel performance sample comprises more than 88,000 properties and 11.5 million rooms. Members of the media should refer to the contacts listed below for additional data requests. About CoStar Group, Inc. CoStar Group (NASDAQ: CSGP) is a leading provider of online real estate marketplaces, information, and analytics in the property markets. Founded in 1987, CoStar Group conducts expansive, ongoing research to produce and maintain the largest and most comprehensive database of real estate information. CoStar is the global leader in commercial real estate information, analytics, and news, enabling clients to analyze, interpret and gain unmatched insight on property values, market conditions and availabilities. is the leading online marketplace for renters seeking great apartment homes, providing property managers and owners a proven platform for marketing their properties. LoopNet is the most heavily trafficked online commercial real estate marketplace with thirteen million average monthly global unique visitors. STR provides premium data benchmarking, analytics, and marketplace insights for the global hospitality industry. Ten-X offers a leading platform for conducting commercial real estate online auctions and negotiated bids. is the fastest growing online residential marketplace that connects agents, buyers, and sellers. OnTheMarket is a leading residential property portal in the United Kingdom. BureauxLocaux is one of the largest specialized property portals for buying and leasing commercial real estate in France. Business Immo is France's leading commercial real estate news service. Thomas Daily is Germany's largest online data pool in the real estate industry. Belbex is the premier source of commercial space available to let and for sale in Spain. CoStar Group's websites attracted over 163 million average monthly unique visitors in the third quarter of 2024. Headquartered in Washington, DC, CoStar Group maintains offices throughout the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Asia. From time to time, we plan to utilize our corporate website, as a channel of distribution for material company information. For more information, visit This news release includes "forward-looking statements" including, without limitation, statements regarding CoStar's expectations or beliefs regarding the future. These statements are based upon current beliefs and are subject to many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. The following factors, among others, could cause or contribute to such differences: the risk that future media events will not sustain an increase in future occupancy rates. More information about potential factors that could cause results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those stated in CoStar's filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in CoStar's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and Forms 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2024, June 30, 2024, and September 30, 2023, each of which is filed with the SEC, including in the "Risk Factors" section of those filings, as well as CoStar's other filings with the SEC available at the SEC's website ( All forward-looking statements are based on information available to CoStar on the date hereof, and CoStar assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Karolina Capova Media Relations Executive – STR STR View source
Sydney Morning Herald
14-05-2025
- Automotive
- Sydney Morning Herald
The Story Bridge is a Brisbane problem, but not a unique one
Despite spending the first seven years of its life as a toll bridge, the suggestion to charge drivers for use of the Story Bridge has been met with resistance, particularly given the costly toll roads already operating around Brisbane. Loading The Go Between Bridge connecting West End with the inner-city costs $3.95 for a normal car. The Clem7, which runs under the Story Bridge and will absorb traffic when it shuts for repairs, costs $6.33. These tolls add up for regular users, and they rise with CPI each year. They also deter drivers and seem to push congestion elsewhere, the opposite of their intended effect. According to average daily traffic figures, about 94,535 cars used the Story Bridge each day in 2024. It's around 46,633 for the William Jolly Bridge. Compare that to the tolled Go Between Bridge which averaged only 10,000 vehicles each day, half of what it was projected when it initially opened. Asked in March if it would consider lifting the toll on the Go Between during restoration works on the Story Bridge, council said there were no plans to remove it. There's also the challenge of unwinding tolls. In the case of the Gateway Bridge, tolls were supposed to be lifted in 2018 when it was paid off, but were instead extended to 2051. We've seen similar scenarios when private companies front up money to build or repair, under the expectation of returning revenue. The Story Bridge has to close at some point in the next decade for restoration works, but we're not sure who will pay for it, and there's not a particularly attractive alternative for road users. Griffith University's Professor Matthew Burke is sympathetic of council's predicament, and says the current Story Bridge debacle exposes broader flaws in our infrastructure system. 'The Australian Federation has built into the system a problem where the federal government has all the money, the state government has most of the powers ... and the city councils who own most of the streets and most of the roadways have all the problems and none of the power and none of the money,' he says. Loading Burke says it's not unusual that an asset like the Story Bridge was left with council to maintain, but it's unreasonable to expect their budget to cover end of life costs, particularly as these have risen. 'The cost of maintaining the assets we have is becoming problematic … it's costing us a lot more to deliver infrastructure than we expected five years ago, and it's costing us a lot more to maintain.' Council already charges a transport levy, so it seems unrealistic they would introduce another. And rather than re-tolling the Story Bridge, Burke says governments need to think bigger about charges that could feed into all road infrastructure. 'We haven't yet brought in a replacement for fuel tax for electric vehicles … so we have a large class of road users who are not paying fuel taxes that pay for the national road network,' Burke says. 'But what I do see coming in the not to distant future is a shift from fuel taxes [and] the way we pay for our transport to what's called 'electronic road pricing'. 'So we'll be moving to a version of tolling based on how far we go on our road networks.' I doubt council were thinking about end-of-life options for the Story Bridge 20 years ago, when I was chucking coins at the Gateway Bridge. They probably wish they weren't having to think about it right now. And whatever the outcome for the bridge's future is, it certainly needs to include a sharper future view.
The Age
14-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Age
The Story Bridge is a Brisbane problem, but not a unique one
Despite spending the first seven years of its life as a toll bridge, the suggestion to charge drivers for use of the Story Bridge has been met with resistance, particularly given the costly toll roads already operating around Brisbane. Loading The Go Between Bridge connecting West End with the inner-city costs $3.95 for a normal car. The Clem7, which runs under the Story Bridge and will absorb traffic when it shuts for repairs, costs $6.33. These tolls add up for regular users, and they rise with CPI each year. They also deter drivers and seem to push congestion elsewhere, the opposite of their intended effect. According to average daily traffic figures, about 94,535 cars used the Story Bridge each day in 2024. It's around 46,633 for the William Jolly Bridge. Compare that to the tolled Go Between Bridge which averaged only 10,000 vehicles each day, half of what it was projected when it initially opened. Asked in March if it would consider lifting the toll on the Go Between during restoration works on the Story Bridge, council said there were no plans to remove it. There's also the challenge of unwinding tolls. In the case of the Gateway Bridge, tolls were supposed to be lifted in 2018 when it was paid off, but were instead extended to 2051. We've seen similar scenarios when private companies front up money to build or repair, under the expectation of returning revenue. The Story Bridge has to close at some point in the next decade for restoration works, but we're not sure who will pay for it, and there's not a particularly attractive alternative for road users. Griffith University's Professor Matthew Burke is sympathetic of council's predicament, and says the current Story Bridge debacle exposes broader flaws in our infrastructure system. 'The Australian Federation has built into the system a problem where the federal government has all the money, the state government has most of the powers ... and the city councils who own most of the streets and most of the roadways have all the problems and none of the power and none of the money,' he says. Loading Burke says it's not unusual that an asset like the Story Bridge was left with council to maintain, but it's unreasonable to expect their budget to cover end of life costs, particularly as these have risen. 'The cost of maintaining the assets we have is becoming problematic … it's costing us a lot more to deliver infrastructure than we expected five years ago, and it's costing us a lot more to maintain.' Council already charges a transport levy, so it seems unrealistic they would introduce another. And rather than re-tolling the Story Bridge, Burke says governments need to think bigger about charges that could feed into all road infrastructure. 'We haven't yet brought in a replacement for fuel tax for electric vehicles … so we have a large class of road users who are not paying fuel taxes that pay for the national road network,' Burke says. 'But what I do see coming in the not to distant future is a shift from fuel taxes [and] the way we pay for our transport to what's called 'electronic road pricing'. 'So we'll be moving to a version of tolling based on how far we go on our road networks.' I doubt council were thinking about end-of-life options for the Story Bridge 20 years ago, when I was chucking coins at the Gateway Bridge. They probably wish they weren't having to think about it right now. And whatever the outcome for the bridge's future is, it certainly needs to include a sharper future view.
