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
As rates rise again, Australia's average property prices are falling. Here's how steeply home prices are dropping across the nation
Angelica Silva and Dinah Lewis Boucher ABC (No paywall)Australia's median property values dropped 1.2 per cent in October, to $721,018, a figure including both houses and apartments. The rate of falls has eased in Sydney and in Melbourne but has "gathered momentum" in Brisbane, where home values are now falling the most rapidly of any capital city or rest-of-state region, according to Tim Lawless, the research director for property data and analytics firm CoreLogic.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-01/australian-property-price…
# Australia, Housing market.Glimmer of good news for homeowners facing a mortgage cliff
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)Homeowners who fixed their mortgage rate at rock-bottom levels will save as much as $20,000 compared to if they had stayed on a variable loan, new modelling shows, a boost to mortgage holders preparing for higher repayments. Much has been made of the looming cliff, as many owners prepare to refinance next year and pay hundreds of dollars more per month. But new analysis shows the benefit to those who chose fixed instead of variable after the pandemic hit.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/glimmer-of-good-news-for-ho…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Queensland heads off crisis talks with doubling of social housing spend
Matt Dennien The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)An extra 5600 social and affordable homes will be built by the Queensland government over the next five years in a previously floated move made to preempt crisis talks. But the number is still short of what the sector says it needs. The state government will pour an additional $1 billion into its housing fund, doubling its size and the number of homes built from its investment returns by 2027.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/queensland-heads-off-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, State Government.The IUT Paris declaration – The situation is unbearable
International Union of Tenants (No paywall)The IUT board met in Paris on 27 October 2022. Discussing the situation for tenants in their respective countries, it became evident that tenants across Europe are facing severe consequences of the cost-of-living crisis. Rent increases following indexation coupled to inflation, and the soaring energy prices are making the situation unbearable for low- and middle-income households. Facing similar challenges in Europe, and elsewhere, the IUT board is making this declaration to call for governments to act. [Read IUT's demands]
https://www.iut.nu/news-events/the-situation-is-unbearable-iut-c…
# Must read International, Eviction, Rent, Utilities water energy internet, Campaigns and law reform, Climate change.Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen review – damning account of deregulation
Rowan Moore The Guardian (No paywall)In writing that is clear and moving, Peter Apps shows how decades of rhetoric against ‘red tape’ set the scene for the fire that killed 72 people – and how some lessons have yet to be learned. ... The 30-year pursuit of deregulation in the building industry demonstrably contributed to the killing of 72 people in their homes. It helped lead to the moment when a two-year-old boy died coughing and crying in his mother’s arms while she was on her phone to a firefighter, shortly before she too died.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/30/show-me-the-bodies…
# History International, Public and community housing, Local Government, Minimum habitability standards.1 million homes target makes headlines, but can’t mask modest ambition of budget’s housing plans
Hal Pawson The Conversation (No paywall)Housing took centre stage in Treasurer Jim Chalmers’s first budget this week. Relatively modest but positive steps were made towards tackling Australia’s worsening shortage of affordable social housing, as well as the broader challenge of housing affordability. But parts of the package cast some doubt on the new government’s analysis of the problem and its ambitions to tackle it. The most substantive aspect of budget housing plans was the confirmation of promised funding for 30,000 new social and affordable rental homes over five years via the new Housing Australia Future Fund. This will involve a A$10 billion, debt-funded, equity investment. Resulting annual returns will be ploughed into building subsidised housing available at below-market rates. ... The real problem here is that the budget and Labor’s election platform focused solely on the supply side of the market. They turned a blind eye to the policy settings that affect housing demand such as migration, tax, social security and financial regulation. It would be hoped the more holistic analysis of Australia’s housing problems and solutions that’s essential to address these issues will underlie the government’s forthcoming National Housing and Homelessness Plan.
https://theconversation.com/1-million-homes-target-makes-headlin…
# Must read Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market, Tax.Ron's Story
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)Ron is an active community member, volunteer, and disability pensioner on the Mid North Coast who was issued with a 90-day no-grounds termination notice in mid-2021. He has since sought advice from his local Tenants’ Advice and Advocacy Service and the Tenants’ Union and has managed to sustain his tenancy. However, his housing circumstances remain rocky and uncertain. Ron has shared his story with the Make Renting Fair campaign in the hopes his story can help show how unfair the system can be for renters, and encourage other renters who are being treated unfairly to reach out for help and campaign for change. (Make Renting Fair)
# NSW, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, No-grounds evictions, Personal stories, Regional NSW, Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services.Northern Rivers flood buyback scheme offered to those with destroyed and damaged homes
Bruce MacKenzie and Lauren Pezet ABC (No paywall)Residents in the Northern Rivers region of NSW whose homes were destroyed or severely damaged during unprecedented floods earlier this year may now be able to move to higher ground. A voluntary buyback scheme for about 2,000 homes is one of three options in a $800 million program announced in a joint statement by the state and federal governments on Thursday. "We know that disasters are expected to become more frequent, and more severe due to climate change, and that's why we're working with the NSW government to develop practical solutions to protect lives and livelihoods," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. Buybacks will be available for residents in "vulnerable areas where major flooding would pose a catastrophic risk to life". The program will also include assistance for up to $100,000 for house raising and $50,000 for retro-fitting to better building standards. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the package provided options, but warned "we cannot continue to build back as we have in the past". Also, read Alexandra Smith's article entitled: '$800m buyback scheme for home owners in flood-hit Northern Rivers' on 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/800m-buyback-scheme-for-home-owners-in-flood-hit-northern-rivers-20221027-p5btm5.html] Read Tamsin Rose's article entitled: 'Flood-prone northern NSW homes to be targeted under $800m buyback scheme' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/27/flood-prone-northern-nsw-homes-to-be-targeted-under-800m-buyback-scheme]. REad Tamsin Rose's article entitled: 'Lismore residents can take their homes with them under $800m buyback program' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/28/lismore-residents-can-take-their-homes-with-them-under-800m-buyback-program]. Read the article by Hannah Ross and Lucy Thackray entitled: 'Home buyback scheme for high-risk flood zones in the NSW Northern Rivers explained' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-29/nsw-northern-rivers-flood-house-buyback-scheme-explainer/101590410].
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-27/northern-rivers-flood-hou…
# NSW, Federal Government, Housing market, Regional NSW, State Government.