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
Stamp duty for land value tax
Cameron K Murray (No paywall)The NSW government is proposing to give homebuyers the option to not pay stamp duty on their housing purchase and instead opt to pay an ongoing land value tax. I have labelled such policies SD4LVT. SD4LVT seems to be motivated by "bad economics". All the efficiency gains that economic analysts claim will occur are merely assumptions and not very realistic ones at that. ... The question of whether SD4LVT is a good policy change depends not on the price effects—it merely redistributes who gets what payment and when—but on efficiency effects from making housing turnover cheaper. ... In general, if you want to reallocate the economic rents that have accumulated to landowners, then a land value tax is a good way to go. But you do not need to remove another tax that achieves the same thing. Both taxes can work well together to divert economic rents from landowner to the public. (Fresh Economic Thinking)
https://www.fresheconomicthinking.com/2021/05/stamp-duty-for-lan…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing market, State Government, Tax.Building safety, planning and renters reform plans confirmed in Queen’s Speech
Dominic Brady Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... A briefing document on the measures included a reference to a Renters Reform Bill. It said the government will publish a consultation response on banning ’no fault’ evictions under this bill later this year. This policy was first announced in April 2019. It also said it will “explore the merits of a landlord register” and publish a white paper in the autumn detailing its reforms with legislation to follow “in due course”.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/building-safety-planni…
# International, Eviction, Public and community housing, Rent, Housing market, No-grounds evictions.Medical professionals fear debilitating mould-related illnesses go undiagnosed, call for further research
Steve Vivian ABC (No paywall)For nearly three years, Sue Phoo didn't know why her health was unravelling. ... But in 2016, Ms Phoo was suffering from extreme fatigue, depression, respiratory issues, a lack of concentration and no one could work out why. ... Ms Phoo's dietician, Richard Sager, told her she might have a biotoxin illness known as chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS). "CIRS, which is often associated with water-damaged buildings where you get this exposure to mould, means your immune system is not genetically able to get rid of the toxins that have accumulated in your body," Mr Sager said. [Read on ...]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-12/severe-mould-illnesses-ci…
# Australia, Health, Mould.Social housing, homeless left out in the cold
Michael Fotheringham The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)As Australia navigates social and economic recoveries from COVID-19, housing markets across the country are showing strain. House prices are surging across the nation, and rental vacancies are at record lows. No single policy intervention will provide a silver bullet to solve Australia’s housing affordability and availability challenges – a concerted and co-ordinated strategy would be required, and housing is not a major focus of this Budget.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/social-housing-homeless-left-out…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Federal Government, Homelessness.How to cool the housing market is a pet subject
Alan Kohler The New Daily (No paywall)The well-meaning efforts of the federal government to help people buy a house will only make matters worse. ... A more lasting solution would be to make long-term tenancy more appealing and leases longer in this country, as they are in Europe, and at the same time encourage developers and their financiers to build apartments to rent, rather than sell to individual landlords. To get a little specific, one of the reasons for the Australian obsession with home ownership is that it’s the only way for many people to own a dog or cat. New Victorian tenancy laws force landlords to allow pets, along with a number of other pro-tenant provisions. But that’s just in Victoria and it has only just been passed, so it will take a while to sink in. Everywhere else in Australia, the landlord still rules the roost. So it’s not so much that Australians have an obsession with home ownership, but the perfectly natural obsession with having a pet. So one way to permanently take the heat out of the property market would be for other states to copy the new Victorian laws, and shift the balance of power in the system away from landlords and towards tenants.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2021/05/10/alan-kohler-housin…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Governor Inslee signs bill requiring 'just cause' eviction
(Paywall)From the United States ... Landlords will be required to provide a valid reason for ending certain leases with tenants, under a measure signed into law Monday by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. Previously, landlords were allowed to end month-to-month leases with 20 days’ notice, without providing a reason. Under the measure that passed the Legislature last month, landlords can now end leases for reasons like failure to pay rent, unlawful activity and nuisance issues, as well as cases in which a landlord intends to sell or move into a rental. Landlords can still end a tenancy at the end of an initial lease without cause if the initial rental term is between six months and one year and the tenant is given 60 days written notice. Under the new law, landlords who remove tenants in violation of the rules may be subject to a penalty of up to three months’ rent plus attorney fees and costs. (The Spokesman-Review)
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/may/10/gov-inslee-signs-b…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Housing market, No-grounds evictions.Federal Budget 2021: Renters lose out in huge government cash splash
Stuart Marsh 9 News (No paywall)Australian tenants struggling to make rent were the hidden losers of last night's Federal Budget, as the Morrison government's cash splash prioritised home ownership over affordable housing. Despite extending three key initiatives to encourage first home buyers to enter the property market, there was little cash spent on easing conditions for renters or providing more affordable housing.
https://amp.9news.com.au/article/bc3b5343-ae3a-466a-8826-1c8f09e…
# Australia, Rent, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market.Treasury says slower population growth to ease prices as homebuilder and first-home buyer aid fires up market
Jessica Sier The Guardian (No paywall)Extensions to the homebuilder program and subsidies for first home buyers announced in Tuesday’s budget will tip more money into Australia’s already red hot property market. But the government says slowing population growth and the wind down of government subsidised construction activity will help cool things down in the longer term.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/12/budget-20…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.