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
Renting in Australia as house prices go through the roof is to keep one eye on the door
Celina Ribeiro The Guardian (No paywall)We had a leak a little while ago. Above our kitchen after heavy rains a ceiling stain turned into a drip and we called the landlord. He was good about it. He started sending over tradespeople, and came to inspect the damage. And then he started measuring our backyard. A granny flat or subdivision might boost his investment. That’s when we started saving cardboard boxes. We are not getting evicted. But we know we could.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/21/renting-in…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.Taxes waived on some city apartments to get buyers back to CBD
Clay Lucas The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)In a bid to keep apartment sales and construction going in central Melbourne, the Andrews government will waive stamp duty on new apartments that have languished on the market for more than a year.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/taxes-waived-on-some-ci…
# Australia, Strata, Housing market, Tax.Perth homelessness up almost 60 per cent in six months
Peter de Kruijff The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The number of people experiencing homelessness in Perth has increased by 58 per cent over the past six months as vulnerable West Australians struggle to find accommodation in the tightest rental market in 40 years.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/perth-homeless…
# Australia, Rent, Homelessness.Sydney office worker Professor Peter Phibbs commutes from Hobart – and says it’s quicker
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)The pandemic has pushed many people into working from home, but urban planner Professor Peter Phibbs has gone one step further – he now commutes to his Sydney office from his new home in … Hobart.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/sydney-office-worker-professor-pe…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Personal stories.Landlord who crammed 8 tenants into a 6-bed home fined £18,500
Rafi Mauro-Benady (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... A rogue landlord has been fined almost £20,000 after a tribunal found he had been renting out an unsafe home with 6 bedrooms to 8 tenants,running an unlicensed House in Multiple Occupancy (HMO), following a Lambeth Council investigation. (MyLondon)
https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/landlord-who-cr…
# International, Rent, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards.Turning shut-down shops into homes? It’ll be the developers who enjoy the bargains
Rowan Moore The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... By relaxing rules on planning permission, the Tories are doing nothing for tenants or our high streets.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/23/turning-sh…
# International, Housing market, Planning and development.‘Expect to see mortgage rates moving up’: Bank funding costs to rise as $200b scheme ends
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The end of a $200 billion emergency Reserve Bank funding scheme put in place to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus crisis is expected to lift fixed mortgage rates from ultra low levels and dampen soaring demand for housing.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/expect-to-se…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Super scheme little value if you want to buy property now
Noel Whittaker The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Last week’s federal budget revealed an increase to the maximum contributions to the First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS) from $30,000 to $50,000. It was widely reported that the government has changed the amount a first-home buyer could withdraw from their superannuation for a home deposit to $50,000. That is incorrect. {Read on]
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/super-scheme-little-value…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market.