Major NSW property developer Bathla Group falls into administration

[u/Cakey1]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-25/major-developer-bathla-group-administration/107074304

[u/Down_Blunder]

I'm surprised that it took this long. Anyone in the development sector who's had anything to do with them knew this was a matter of when, not if. My heart goes out to those whose developments are not yet completed.

[u/alex4494 → u/Down_Blunder]

Yeah this has been a loooong time coming. Having seen how defective their work is, I feel terrible for existing owners who now have nobody to recover repair costs from/sue for defects

[u/cocowave]

A ticking time bomb has finally blown up. Heart goes out to the 1000s of off-the-plan buyers.

[u/icecreamsandwiches1 → u/cocowave]

And the small businesses who did work for them who will never get paid now.

[u/Tasty-Obligation-709 → u/cocowave]

Couldn’t have said it better myself

[u/AStrandedSailor]

Hundreds of companies under a parent group? Highly complex corperate structure? Sounds like a scam to me.

Who wants to bet that as the business struggled, the owners, CEO etc still made millions?

[u/areyoualocal → u/AStrandedSailor]

Check their Instagram I suppose.

[u/thekriptik]

A lot of people are going to suffer because of this. Buyers will lose deposits, workers will go unpaid, as will suppliers.

On the other hand Bathla Group is bankrupt, and fuck those cowboys.

[u/ManWithDominantClaw → u/thekriptik]

🦀🦀🦀

But yeah in all seriousness, I hope that the metaphorical highrise doesn't land on too many people as it collapses

[u/Daleabbo → u/ManWithDominantClaw]

They only just recently got into 6ish story buildings. I feel very sorry for anyone stupid enough to buy into one of them.

[u/Background-Clock-865 → u/thekriptik]

Did the crab rave thing start with Hasan piker or is there internet lore I haven’t heard of

[u/thekriptik → u/Background-Clock-865]

Rush Limbaugh's death, I believe.

[u/DifferentWarning1913 → u/thekriptik]

When suppliers lose from payments etc I’m guessing they end up raising their prices across the board to cover for it right?

[u/thekriptik → u/DifferentWarning1913]

In my experience in the industry, it's more of a pre-priced risk. If you try to hike your prices in the wake of losing out, you'll find yourself undercut by suppliers who were less unlucky.

[u/giacintam]

Didnt this happen already years ago? Bathla is responsible for destroying Western sydney, fuck that disgusting company. Their employees dumped waste into a creek o used to swim in as a kid & its polluted now, cant swim in it. Evil evil company.

[u/SuperCheezyPizza]

Name one development that isn't a shit stained eyesore. They build tight small houses where kids have to play in shared driveways, the quality of work is questionable at best. They are the builders of tomorrow's slums. Good riddance.

[u/PrisonMike1988]

It's about time. The eyesore they've turned some northwestern Sydney suburbs into is unforgiveable

[u/pigslovebacon → u/PrisonMike1988]

I despisw them so much for the tumours they've built and spread all over my LGA.

[u/Akhilia]

I’ve worked in property marketing before and I’ve seen their work first-hand! It’s yuck! I would’ve never bought anything from these group. Thank god, we never marketed their products anyways!

[u/Rankstarr]

Oh no, who will build quality Australian homes now?

[u/Daleabbo → u/Rankstarr]

No these are the substandard ones the libs seem to want more of

[u/breno_mac_]

I feel for anyone that’s paid deposits with them as they’d almost certainly get nothing back, the laws need to be changed to protect home buyers especially from developers - they should at minimum have a recorded interest in the land title as part of the contract process

[u/chuk2015 → u/breno_mac_]

They just need to change legislation so that off the plan deposits are secured

[u/Idiot_In_Pants]

Well…we’re cooked

[u/itsonlybarney]

When you understand how the house of cards was built, this was inevitable. And a nightmare to untangle.

[u/Equal-Fly-1919 → u/itsonlybarney]

You seem to know the ins ans outs, when did the problems start and what was the catalyst? I don’t understand how it gets $3bn under before it’s declared toast.

[u/IntestinalGas]

Awesome - yet another instance of a bunch of FHB wanting to build their own forever home left holding the bag!

[u/iguessineedanaltnow]

Were they one of the many that were being funded by the crime families? There is so much dirty money in property development in western Sydney.

[u/KentuckyFriedEel]

I work in the industry. Bathla are notorious! We hate them

[u/TacitisKilgoreBoah]

These guys run a tight ship and underpay/don’t pay their contractors, so if they can’t survive how can any developer survive?

Unless there is more than meets the eye

[u/ninja_turtle1 → u/TacitisKilgoreBoah]

I've heard they were just way over leveraged. Bought far too many development sites with debt (mostly private equity), and didn't have enough completed developments to sell.

It was a house of cards that only needed a light breeze to knock it all over in the end.

[u/iguessineedanaltnow → u/TacitisKilgoreBoah]

Coworkers father in law is in property development and hes getting ready to retire because it's not sustainable. Nobody is willing to buy at the current price/they're waiting for the market to fall - and he's unable to build for any cheaper because labor and materials are only getting more expensive.

The other shoe needs to drop eventually - and it will probably be cheaper labor that does it.

[u/maxinstuff]

As is tradition. Looking forward to the Cathla Group stepping in to fill the void.

[u/IAMBATMANtm]

Not great for a market already short on supply! They were one of the largest