That rush was partly driven by the motivation to secure federal government bonus payments under the asset recycling initiative, with the millions of dollars secured to help fund the rail project.

But the program caught the sharp eyes of the ACT Audit Office, which has found the stated potential proceeds of the sell-off fell well short of the mark.

The audit, released last week, further found that the forced relocation of more than 1000 public housing tenants had led to some being shifted into private housing subject to body corporate fees.

While the report noted some were happy with the move, others were not.

Certainly, such a move was presciently identified in 2014 by Housing ACT, which recommended against it, given, the report says, "such arrangements do not provide good outcomes for public housing tenants", potentially leading to higher costs for tenants and stigmatisation by existing private tenants.

The apparent lack of planning for the public housing renewal project seems to be replicated across the ACT's planning system, with what the government has dubbed "nimby" concerns about other proposed public housing projects, which could yet be built in bushfire-prone areas.

The audit also highlighted why the rush to sell the public housing on Northbourne Avenue was so urgent, given advice from Colliers in property valuations that trying to meet the July 2019 deadline could risk flooding the city's apartment market - a market well understood to already be in oversupply.

This probe is just the latest investigation to examine the vagaries of planning and the soon-to-be-split Land Development Agency, and provides little confidence to the public that Canberra's development is in the right hands.

Previous audits led to Chief Minister Andrew Barr splitting the agency into two separate functions - the City Renewal Authority and Suburban Land Agency.

That split has caused some political consternation, with the Opposition and Greens questioning the benefits of a "superficial" change and whether or not the bill to make the changes will actually address the Audit Office's previous recommendations arising from "certain LDA acquisitions".

That audit questioned Colliers' role in property valuations for at least one high profile LDA land acquisition.

Similarly, the latest audit also again highlighted the role of Colliers in planning processes, this time on the public housing renewal project, including the "high risk" of "potential or perceived conflicts of interest" the firm had given its multiple roles.

This publication makes no suggestion of impropriety by those involved, but clearly the Auditor-General has seen fit to mention it publicly because the issue is worthy of deeper scrutiny.

While the LDA split will be subject to further debate, the light rail project will keep chugging along, whether some public housing tenants like it or not.

But those not directly affected by the "renewal" could be well within their rights to question how rigorous the decision-making has been around some of the largest government initiatives related to property in recent years.