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
Unit prices rise in Australia's 'international' cities, despite rental slump
David Chau ABC (No paywall)While property prices are rising almost everywhere you look, apartments in Australia's two largest cities have under-performed on nearly every measure.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-01/apartment-prices-rise-des…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.High house prices ‘a risk for all state governments’: Housing Minister wants premiers’ feet held to the fire
Angus Thompson and Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)The federal government says the states and territories must take responsibility for Australia’s housing affordability crisis, saying it is local levies imposed on new developments that are hurting first homebuyers. In a salvo that caused the NSW government to fire back, federal Housing Minister Michael Sukkar said the states need their “feet held to the fire” to address rising house prices and it was not up to the Commonwealth to fix the problem. ... The rebuke of the states prompted NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes to blame interest rates and federal tax rules for pushing up prices, opening a new front in the debate over how to make housing more affordable for young Australians. ... “Let’s tear down the myth that supply is the determinant of housing affordability. Planning plays an important and significant role in getting new housing to market but let’s not pretend tax rules and interest rates don’t also push up prices,” Mr Stokes said. “The emerging build-to-rent sector is a prime example. While our recently announced policy to introduce build-to-rent development in our market has been welcomed, industry tells us that the Commonwealth tax treatment makes projects unfeasible.”
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/high-house-prices-a-risk…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government, Tax.Home ownership dream out of reach as prices skyrocket
Henrietta Cook The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Jessica Broome has been searching for a home for seven months and during that time open for inspections have evolved into events that resemble music festivals. ... Like many Victorians hoping to get their foot into the property market, Ms Broome is growing increasingly despondent, particularly in light of predictions that Melbourne’s median house price will hit $1 million by June. It’s a figure Ms Broome describes as “intimidating” and the 41-year-old is on the cusp of giving up on her dream of owning a home.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/home-ownership-dream-ou…
# International, Home ownership, Housing market.Three million English households face fuel poverty in 2021, projections show
Emily Beament (No paywall)One in eight households in England will struggle to pay their fuel bills for heating draughty homes in 2021, official projections show. Figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy suggest the proportion of families in fuel poverty will fall from 13.4% or 3.18 million homes in 2019, to 12.5% or 3 million homes in 2021. But nearly half of low-income households are still living in energy-leaking homes, with campaigners warning the rate of improvements is well below what is needed to lift people out of fuel poverty by a target date of 2030. (Standard)
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/campaigners-english-europe-en…
# International, Utilities water energy internet, Minimum habitability standards.ACT Housing to evict single mother and children from home deemed unliveable five years ago
Jake Evans ABC (No paywall)Alex and her four children have been living in a home where lead paint flakes into the babies' cots and broken plumbing floods the carpet of her son's bedroom. Since falling pregnant five years ago, Alex has begged ACT Housing constantly to repair the property, which was assessed at the time as being "not fit for habitation". The 33-year-old said the property's issues had been unaddressed until today, when ACT Housing delivered an eviction notice, saying Alex had a week to leave the condemned home, because it was too unsafe.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/act-housing-eviction-moth…
# Australia, Eviction, Public and community housing, Repairs, Asbestos, lead, hazardous materials.‘People are desperate’: Regional renters forced to apply for homes sight unseen
Caitlin Fitzsimmons The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Real estate agents in regional areas with housing shortages are asking prospective tenants to complete a rental application before letting them attend a property inspection. Leo Patterson Ross, the chief executive of the Tenants Union, said this practice used to be rare but it had taken off in the past six months across regional NSW, including the Central Coast, Illawarra, Hunter Valley, New England and Riverina.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/people-are-desperate-regiona…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.... a rugby lunch to honour Wallaby great David Campese
Peter FitzSimons The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Line of the day however, went to Vince Sorrenti: “And in club rugby,” he said, “we are looking forward to the big local derby, Eastern Suburbs v Randwick or, as we call it, ‘the Landlords v Tenants match’.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/more-australians-are-becoming-le…
# NSW, Sydney.Disabled car parks 'discriminatory to able-bodied people', man in wheelchair told
Sophie Volker, Rebecca Levingston and Edwina Seselja ABC (No paywall)All four disabled car parks in a community housing complex in Brisbane have been water blasted and the wheelchair symbol removed after the housing department acted on a complaint that argued the accessible spots discriminated against able-bodied people.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/disabled-car-parks-discri…
# Australia, Discrimination, Public and community housing, Disability.