Residents of the Bourke Street block are expected to be out of their homes for at least a month, as engineers scramble to determine the cause of cracks to the decade-old building. The damage to the building - which continued to show signs of "increased cracking" on Friday - has prompted potential buyers to make offers as low as $1000 on units, according to real estate agents. Water continues to seep into the building's car park. One apartment listing in Mascot Towers was withdrawn when buyers started to make low-ball offers on the unit, which had a price guide of $750,000 to $770,000. “We had a lot of ridiculous offers but we take those with a grain of salt,” MGM Properties’ Michael Xylas said. “We’ve had offers as little as $1000, $10,000, $100,000.”

Another one-bedroom apartment in the tower was still listed with hopes of $750,000 and its selling agent Robert Leslie, of Pure Property Agents Sydney, said inquiries had "gone through the roof". “I haven’t received any firm offers but people are asking what sort of discount they can expect." The residents had to arrange temporary accommodation after they were told to leave their homes on Friday night. Credit:Louise Kennerley Mascot Towers apartment owner Brian Tucker said as he left Thursday night's meeting that the owners had “no choice, really” but to vote in favour of the special levy. He said it would cost him between $13,000 and $14,000. Other owners have said they face a contribution of about $8000. But residents fear repair costs could climb above $5 million.

Loading “We have to do something, otherwise nothing gets done," Mr Tucker said. "There are immediate building works that need to get done to make it happen." Another owner, who did not want to be named, said there were "multiple people on the verge of bankruptcy, there are multiple people on the verge of a nervous breakdown, because it's ridiculous". The big four banks have also offered mortgage payment relief and financial assistance to residents. ANZ will offer breaks on interest repayments and NAB will offer home loan payment relief for up to six months.

A Commonwealth Bank of Australia spokesman said the bank would offer "appropriate financial assistance solutions based on [residents'] unique circumstances." Westpac customers might be able to apply for deferred repayments to home loans and credit cards, and customers with home and contents insurance could be eligible for emergency accommodation assistance. Ms Berejiklian on Friday said: “The government will hold everybody to account including those who should have done their jobs better. Clearly there’s been a failure here, and those who need to be held to account, will be held to account.” Labor's Better Regulation spokeswoman Yasmin Catley said the government's proposed building industry reforms were a start, but she said there needed to be an audit of apartment developments. "This is happening way too often. Everyone's just keeping their fingers crossed there's not going to be another one, and that's not a good approach."

On Friday afternoon, a spokesman for the Mascot Towers owners corporation said the beams in the southern part of the basement "continue to show signs of increased cracking" and groundwater was "still seeping within the basement". Loading But the spokesman said the safety risk had been downgraded in the worst-affected parts of the building, which meant residents who had been unable to briefly return home to collect their belongings would be granted temporary access from this weekend. "The owners corporation’s engineer attended site today and inspected the installed monitoring equipment and visual cracking in the basement," the spokesman said. "He has advised that the area where the props had been installed is to change status from red (unacceptable risk) to orange (managed risk)," the update said.