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
Private rent in Britain now swallows 44% of the average wage
Rupert Jones The Guardian (No paywall)Average private rents in Great Britain have climbed to record highs, with the amount tenants are being asked to pay in some hotspots rising more than 25% in a year, data shows. The typical advertised private rent outside London for properties coming on to the market rose to a record £1,385 a calendar month in the third quarter of this year, according to the property website Rightmove. The average London rent reached a new high of £2,736.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/oct/27/private-rent-brita…
# International, Rent.Affordable housing plan for vulnerable women
Andrew Spence BBC (No paywall)According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the single-storey former Preston Road family community centre, which is on the site, will be demolished. Background information included in the proposal said in 1999, a group of women came together to put a funding bid forward for the women of Preston Road Estate. This project became known as Winner, which stands for Women Improving Now Not Ever Retreating. It said the bid was successful and delivered evidence-based research to prove the need for a women-only space on Preston Road.
# International, .No 10 refuses to say if ethics adviser saw proof Reeves’s rental breach was ‘inadvertent’
Peter Walker and Frances Mao The Guardian (No paywall)Downing Street has refused to say whether Keir Starmer’s adviser on ministerial conduct has seen any evidence to support Rachel Reeves’s claim she made an “inadvertent” mistake in failing to get a licence to rent out her south London home. As pressure mounted on the chancellor, despite the prime minister saying an apology should end the matter, No 10 also declined to say whether Reeves contravened the ministerial code or had broken the law in breaching Southwark council rules.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/30/reeves-should-b…
# International, .Crisis charity to become a landlord in attempt to rectify ‘catastrophic’ housing in UK
Jessica Murray The Guardian (No paywall)The homelessness charity Crisis is going to become a landlord for the first time in its 60-year history, saying the housing crisis in the UK has reached a “catastrophic scenario”. Matt Downie, the charity’s chief executive, said it was preparing to launch a fundraising appeal to buy its own housing stock as it can longer get access to social housing to help homeless people. “We don’t want to do this, but if nobody else is going to provide housing, we’ll do it ourselves,” he said.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/nov/10/crisis-charity-t…
# International, .I went to a rental inspection. There was a surprise
Ricky Blank The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Several weeks ago, curled up on the couch and recovering from a music festival a day earlier, my landlord (a relative whose house I was renting) informed me that they were selling their home and I needed to find new accommodation. I’m 25 and have had the privilege of living at home my entire life in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. Grappling with the news and a bout of anxiety, I got to work: downloading property apps, creating any number of profiles to obscure services and joining Facebook groups.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/i-went-to-a-rental-inspectio…
# NSW, .Developers being forced to build affordable housing could ease rental market
Sarah Gerathy ABC (No paywall)Carrie-Ann Huddleston cried tears of joy when she showed her family through her new affordable housing unit. "The relief has been amazing," she said. "I do feel like I've won the lotto, that's how I feel." Like plenty of single women in their 50s, life's twists and turns had seen Ms Huddleston priced out of the skyrocketing Sydney rental market. She found herself bouncing between the homes of family and friends. "It has been so hard, and confronting and it's just the reality," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-09/mandatory-housing-contrib…
# NSW, .‘Poor doors’: affordable housing tenants have to use back entrance to access Barangaroo apartments
Anne Davies The Guardian (No paywall)Affordable housing tenants on discounted rent in the Watermans Residences at Barangaroo are not permitted to use the swimming pool or the gym and are required to use a separate entrance from other residents, who pass through a grand glass foyer with a concierge desk. Although they live in an enviable location just steps from the harbour and Crown casino, the restrictions are a daily reminder that the occupants of the 50 apartments designated affordable are not the same as those that occupy the other 162 units in the building known as One Sydney Harbour.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/nov/06/poor-door…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, .‘I am never moving out’: Why Jo’s rental could be the new Australian dream
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Jo Williams always felt like she was on the receiving end of “shit landlords”. Moving into the Sydney CBD’s first build-to-rent apartment block, Indi Sydney, with her two dogs in December changed that: “It is giving you the power back as a renter, and they treat you with respect.” In contrast to short-term leases that come with insecurity of tenure, she could negotiate a lease of up to five years. Williams was among the first to move into one of the 234 apartments in 30 storeys, starting in December with a shorter lease to see if she liked it. And she does.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/i-am-never-moving-out-why-jo…
# NSW, .