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
NZ student accommodation is expensive and under-regulated — here are 10 ways to fix it
Myra Williamson The Conversation (No paywall)For many of the thousands of tertiary students who have just settled into university halls of residence, not to mention their parents, the current parliamentary inquiry into student accommodation will be raising some uncomfortable questions. ... The submissions so far ... suggest there are genuine, systemic problems with student accommodation in New Zealand that need to be addressed. ... Given the apparent lack of legislative oversight, the arguments in favour of greater regulation [including under residential Tenancies Act 1986] should be listened to.
https://theconversation.com/nz-student-accommodation-is-expensiv…
# International, Rent, Housing market, Students.UK housing crisis: how did owning a home become unaffordable?
Lydia McMullan, Hilary Osborne, Garry Blight and Pamela Duncan The Guardian (No paywall)The UK has a housing crisis: in recent decades the cost of buying a home has risen faster than wages, leaving many workers priced out of the market. In some parts of the country, low-deposit mortgages are no help, because would-be homeowners cannot afford the monthly repayments on the mortgages they will need, leaving them in the position of needing to save large sums to put down. High private sector rents make this difficult – and also mean that in some areas 40% of tenants need state help to pay their monthly housing bills. Affordable social housing has become scarcer, leaving many households with no choice but to rent – often paying more than they would for a mortgage. Here is a short history of how we came to this point ...
https://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2021/mar/31/…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent, Home ownership, Homelessness, Housing affordability.Fair Trading to ‘crack down’ on property underquoting
Kate Burke Domain (Paywall)Dodgy real estate agents have been put on notice, with Fair Trading inspectors hitting the ground to crack down on property underquoting. Sydney real estate agents were issued with almost $21,500 in fines for breaches of the property act last week, in the lead-up to last Saturday’s bumper auction day when more than 1200 homes were scheduled to go under the hammer.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/fair-trading-to-crack-down-on-pro…
# NSW, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Rental bidding wars put Perth market out of bounds for most middle-income earners
Marta Pascual Juanola The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)From Western Australia ... There’s no reason emergency services worker Jake Mackay shouldn’t be able to find a rental in Perth – he has a stable, full-time job and a reasonable income. But for 2½ months, the 24-year-old kept getting knocked back by every landlord and outbid by other prospective tenants with deeper pockets. Mr Mackay can recall an instance where he was visiting a three-bedroom home in Victoria Park and another renter offered an additional $80 a week on top of the advertised price off the cuff. ... Affordable housing provider Foundation Housing is now on a mission to house front-line staff like Mr Mackay through a pioneer program inspired by similar initiatives overseas ...
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/rental-bidding…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market.Priced-out city first-home buyers turn to ‘rentvesting’ in regional markets
Tawar Razaghi Domain (Paywall)Desperate first-home hopefuls locked out of expensive capital cities are renting in the city and investing in more affordable regional property markets rather than leaving their cash in the bank, buyer’s agents said.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/priced-out-city-first-home-buyers…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market, Regional NSW.Government urged to withdraw home buyer incentives as prices surge
Matt Johnson The New Daily (No paywall)The federal government should withdraw its incentives for home buyers to prevent an unsustainable rise in house prices, two of the nation’s leading economists have argued. A day after Melbourne property prices reached a fresh record high, lawmakers have been urged to get on the front foot to prevent a speculative housing bubble emerging in Australia.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/03/30/home-gran…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Housing market.Gangnam furore: Moon sacks top economic aide for raising rent
Hyonhee Shin The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)South Korean President Moon Jae-in has fired his top economic policy adviser for raising the rent on an apartment he owns in Seoul’s affluent Gangnam district amid a public furore over skyrocketing home prices. Kim Sang-jo raised the rent by about 14 per cent in July, two days before a 5 per cent cap on rent increases took effect as part of government efforts to protect tenants from unreasonable hikes. ... The uproar over housing affordability intensified earlier this month after employees of a state housing developer were accused of insider trading in land.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/gangnam-furore-moon-sacks-top-…
# International, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market.Greens council could walk away from ambitious housing plan
Rachel Eddie The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)An ambitious plan to turn underutilised land surrounding Collingwood Town Hall into affordable housing could be doomed without support from the Greens, prompting a smackdown from Planning Minister Richard Wynne. Yarra City Council will vote on Tuesday Night on whether it still wants to build 200 units on the town hall precinct, off Hoddle Street, 50 per cent of which would be social and affordable housing.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/greens-council-could-wa…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Local Government, Planning and development.