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
International students desperate for a bed being pushed into informal housing
Miriah Davis ABC (No paywall)When Adriana moved from Brazil to Australia three years ago she was sold: a world-class education, nice weather, good pay and a prosperous life. Adriana is among the more than 315,000 international students living in NSW to undertake vocational or tertiary study. But since arriving she has been unable to secure purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) due to high costs and overwhelming waiting lists, and has also been rejected for more than 50 private rentals. Her situation pushed her towards ShareSorted, one of four major furnished accommodation providers which operate within a housing "grey area" using a head tenant model where renters sign occupancy agreements.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-01/-international-students-t…
# Must read Australia, Rent.Aussie tenants face $10k rent hike as landlords told to raise the price
Nathan Mawby realestate.com.au (No paywall)
Aussie landlords could be in for a $10,000 a year windfall by 2035 amid projections of a 10-year rental hike cycle that would have huge ramifications for tenants. But a battle is looming as the nation’s pre-eminent property investor lobby group calls for landlords to push rents higher where they can to combat governments taxing them more heavily and a nationwide home building scheme aims to put the brakes on rents. SQM Research founder Louis Christopher is forecasting a 2-4 per cent increase in rents across Australia’s capitals in the next year.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/aussie-tenants-face-10k-rent-…
# Hot topic Australia, .Number of empty homes surging in three key areas of Melbourne
Rachael Dexter The Age (Paywall)The number of homes sitting empty across Melbourne surged by 16 per cent last year, despite a housing crisis and the government increasing taxes on unused properties. The biggest increase in unoccupied homes was in the booming Hume, Merri-bek and Boroondara council areas, according to an annual audit of residential water use in all council areas across the city. Independent economic think tank Prosper Australia’s annual Speculative Vacancy report shows the number of empty dwellings across Melbourne rose from 27,408 to nearly 32,000, increasing the proportion of vacant properties from 1.5 per cent in 2023 to 1.7 per cent in 2024.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/number-of-empty-home…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.The great failure of the property industry
Stewart Sweeney John Menadue (No paywall)In every era, certain industries become so large, so politically embedded, and so culturally unexamined that their performance ceases to matter. They are judged instead on the confidence with which they declare themselves indispensable. In contemporary Australia, that industry is property. It has woven around itself a powerful myth: that towers equal progress, population growth equals prosperity, and the private development model is synonymous with the national interest.
https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/12/six-great-failures-and-one-…
# Australia, .Woolworths accused of exploiting affordable housing schemes to push new developments
Pat McGrath ABC (No paywall)Woolworths has been accused of exploiting affordable housing development schemes to ram through new supermarkets and luxury apartment buildings, some of which have previously been blocked by local councils and a state planning tribunal. The retail giant is planning at least 10 new developments around the country that incorporate new supermarkets and apartment complexes as part of its push into the residential property market. In New South Wales and Victoria, the company has been utilising fast-track schemes that allow developers to sidestep councils and apply directly to the state government for approval.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-02/woolworths-accused-of-gam…
# Australia, .All my friends are buying investment properties. Should I buy one too?
Paul Benson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)I’m single, 44, and finally at a point where I have a bit of extra money to invest. My friends are jumping into investment properties, but I’m hesitant – the costs with my home feel high, and the property is a constant hassle. I have been steadily building an investment portfolio through a couple of ETFs, which has worked well for me over the last 6 years. But that requires me to have extra cash on hand ready to invest. Property lets you leverage, but outside my principal residence, is it really worth it? If I want to build wealth without going down the property path, what realistic alternatives should I consider?
https://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/all-my-friends-are-buying…
# Hot topic Australia, .Opticomm customers across Australia losing free-to-air television and facing internet outages
Grace Atta ABC (No paywall)When Leah Wray and her family moved into a new suburb on the outskirts of Darwin in 2023, she was sold on the promise of it being a "smart community" with top-of-the-line underground technology. But two years later and Ms Wray says "ultimately it was the opposite of that", with reports of regular internet outages and recently, the loss of free-to-air television. And she's not alone, with tens of thousands of residents across Australia — typically living in greenfield suburbs — experiencing similar issues.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-01/opticomm-free-to-air-tele…
# Australia, Land lease communities, Rent, Utilities water energy internet.Landmark High Court judgment undoes steep NT Government rent hikes
GrataFund (No paywall)This morning, four First Nations remote renters won their case unanimously in the High Court, successfully invalidating the Northern Territory Government’s widely-criticised ‘Remote Rent Framework’. The NT Government had hiked rents by up to 200% in 2023 for remote NT communities during a housing and cost-of-living crisis. Asher Badari, Ricane Galaminda and Lofty Nadjamerrek from Gunbalanya, along with Laramba woman Carmelena Tilmouth have made history in the High Court by striking out the unlawful actions of the NT Government. The High Court found unanimously that the NT Government did not afford the tenants impacted by the new model procedural fairness, therefore rendering the ‘Remote Rent Framework’ unlawful.
# Hot topic Australia, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing, Rent.