The Housing Bubble mural on Enmore Rd is the work of Fintan Magee, a 32-year-old street artist from Brisbane who now lives in Newtown. Dubbed the “Australian Bansky”, Fintan dominates the local street art scene. He has painted many large-scale photorealistic murals not just in Sydney but also around the globe, from Helsinki to Buenos Aires and everywhere in between.

This is one of his most recognisable masterpieces. Its symbolism is fairly straightforward: a pointed critique of Sydney’s property affordability crisis and the rapid gentrification of the once-working class inner west which sees the locals pushed out of their neighbourhood by property developers and high rental costs.

The huge mural depicts a man on all fours struggling under the weight of a woman sitting on his back. She is trying to catch a little terrace house, floating away on a set of balloons. Its placement is particularly ironic: splayed across the frontage of the modern Urban Hotel. The piece was part of a 2015 program by Marrickville Council called ‘Perfect Match’, which linked street artists with local businesses who could provide spaces for their murals.