Housing News Digest
Housing News Digest
The Tenants' Union Housing News Digest compiles our pick of items from all the latest tenancy and housing media, sent once per week, on Thursdays.
Below is the Digest archive from November 2020 onwards. From time to time you will find additional items in the archive that did not make it into the weekly Digest email. Earlier archives are here, where you can also find additional digests by other organisations.
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Archive
Affordable private rental supply and demand: short-term disruption and longer-term structural change
Margaret Reynolds, Sharon Parkinson, Jacqueline De Vries & Kath Hulse AHURI (No paywall)This research analyses the ABS Census to reveal changes in the supply of private rental housing affordable and available to lower-income households (Q1 and Q2 households) over both the short term (2016–21) and the longer term (1996–2021). It also provides analysis of how COVID-19 policy and population responses temporarily altered the long-run structural trajectory of the private rental sector (PRS) in Australia. In 2021, the Australian PRS housed more than 2.363 million households, a 17 per cent increase of nearly 340,000 households since the 2016 Census. This growth has been greater than total household growth in each intercensal period since 1996.
# Research alert Australia, Rent.Australian renters face all-time high rents and record low vacancy rates after prices jump in March quarter
Gareth Hutchens and Nadia Daly ABC (No paywall)Asking rents for houses and units have jumped to new record highs in Australia's major cities, according to Domain's latest rent report. In the March quarter, asking rents for houses saw their steepest quarterly gain in 17 years, and asking rents for units extended their record-breaking streak to 11 successive quarters of growth. Vacancy rates decreased across all capital cities, except Hobart, and hit new lows in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. But Domain's researchers say there's hope on the horizon for renters because conditions are expected to turn more in renters' favour this year. "While Australia's perilous rental market appears entrenched in a never-ending run of rent rises, we remain optimistic that a tipping point will be reached in 2024," said Nicola Powell, Domain's chief of research and economics.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-11/record-high-rents-low-vac…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Why rents continue to skyrocket
ABC (No paywall)VIDEO: Australian renters are facing all-time high asking rents and record low vacancy rates across the country according to property marketplace Domain. In the March quarter, asking rents for houses saw their steepest quarterly gain in 17 years, and asking rents for units extended their record-breaking streak to 11 successive quarters of growth. Vacancy rates fell across all capital cities, except Hobart, and hit new lows in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. But Domain's researchers say there's hope on the horizon for renters because conditions are expected to turn more in their favour later in 2024.
# Video Australia, Rent.Not all Yimbys are your friends
Morgan Jones New Statesmen (No paywall)The Yimby movement has gone from strength to strength. The term – an acronym of “Yes in my backyard” – has climbed to the top of British politics. Even Keir Starmer, very likely the next prime minister, has declared himself to be one, and named planning reform as one of his planned engines for economic growth. Nonetheless, it remains to be seen which part of the British political spectrum ends up politically owning the Yimby identity.
https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024/04/no-not-every-yimby-…
# Hot topic International, .How did Australia's housing market get so bad, and is it all negative gearing's fault?
The Guardian (No paywall)There’s a lot of debate about why and how Australia’s housing market became the garbage fire it is today, with many accusations being hurled at one particular suspect: negative gearing. But while negative gearing is certainly a factor, it doesn't deserve all the blame. The Guardian's Matilda Boseley explains that, when it comes to the country's housing crisis, negative gearing is just the garbage, which needed a lit match to set it alight.
# Hot topic, Video Australia, .The Great Housing Disaster: Who’s to blame?
7am Podcast (No paywall)AUDIO: This is the first episode of 7am’s new five-part special series on the housing crisis. What happened to housing in Australia over the past few decades wasn’t by chance. It’s the result of decades of deliberate decisions that have turned us into a nation of landlords and property speculators. This episode uncovers who broke the housing market, and introduces one of the few people who saw what was coming and tried to warn us.
https://7ampodcast.com.au/episodes/the-great-housing-disaster-wh…
# Hot topic, Audio Australia, .The Great Housing Disaster: The renters resistance
7am Podcast (No paywall)AUDIO: With home ownership out of reach, more and more younger Australians have no choice but to rent for much longer than their parents ever did – maybe for the rest of their lives. That puts younger Australians at the mercy of landlords, making some intensely angry and leading to what might be described as a “renters resistance”. "The house was actually quite lovely when we moved in there... We lived there for seven years. But it was in that time we saw about three owners take over, and one by one they just all treated it like a cash cow, and never put anything back into it, letting it go to rot."
https://7ampodcast.com.au/episodes/the-great-housing-disaster-th…
# Hot topic, Audio Australia, Rent, Repairs.National rents climb 13.6 percent in a year
Alexandra Humphries and Stephanie Smail ABC (No paywall)AUDIO: It's news that won't come as a surprise to Australia's many renters. Prices for rental properties have shot up markedly in the past year, according to new data from Proptrack. Capital cities saw the biggest jumps, but renters in regional areas are still being slugged, too. Australia's median advertised rents have shot up significantly in the past year, by just over nine percent - or 13.6 percent in capital cities. Some places, like Canberra and Hobart, bucked that trend. So, what's different?
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/worldtoday/national-rents…
# Hot topic, Audio Australia, Rent.