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
The policy getting in the way of improving Sydney’s housing supply
Max Maddison The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Last month, Landcom chief executive Alex Wendler revealed the state developer had decided against acquiring three publicly owned sites in western Sydney despite “working with the [Office of Strategic Lands] for a number of years to develop the sites”. The problem? The two agencies could not agree on the land value. Opposition planning spokesman Chris Rath was incredulous in budget estimates: “This is government-owned land that a government agency, Landcom, wants to buy to develop it, and you couldn’t agree on the price. Why aren’t you getting this land for free?” His view is shared across politics. Many cannot understand why the taxpayer-funded state developer was using funds to purchase land already owned by taxpayers.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/the-policy-getting-in-the-wa…
# NSW, .City of Sydney to investigate ban on short-term rentals
Declan Bowring ABC (No paywall)City of Sydney will look at banning short-term rental accommodation such as Airbnb and Stayz from the city area under a proposal passed by councillors last night. Council staff will investigate how a ban could be implemented in specific suburbs where short-term rentals outnumber long-term rentals, or based on the rental vacancy rate. The area currently has a 180-day cap on short-term rentals under New South Wales legislation, but Greens Councillor Sylvie Ellsmore says that is not working to free up rental housing supply. "It's become clear that a cap may not work," Cr Ellsmore told 702 ABC Sydney. "It's quite hard to work out if someone's been in the Airbnb for 31 days or 29 days, and that it may be more appropriate to do a ban altogether for suburbs, or the whole LGA."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-29/city-of-sydney-investigat…
# NSW, .Landlords hit with more than $50k in fines since NSW government's ban on no-grounds evictions
Nick Dole ABC (No paywall)Dozens of NSW landlords have been caught re-letting their homes after evicting tenants for supposedly 'genuine' reasons, which later turned out to be false. One Campsie real estate agent in Sydney's south-west was fined $35,000 for evicting a tenant on the grounds that the landlord's relative wanted to move into the property. No such family member ever turned up and the home was re-advertised the day after the tenant was evicted. Fair Trading Minister Anoulack Chanthivong said the case was one of more than 600 investigated by the NSW Rental Taskforce. "In this case, there seems to be a deliberate, contravention … to game the system," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-14/nsw-landlords-fined-50k-s…
# NSW, Eviction.Campaign calls for a NSW government-run domestic violence body to provide services, peak body reacts
Isabella Ross ABC (No paywall)A new campaign is calling for a NSW government-run domestic violence (DV) body to solely provide services rather than independent organisations, though the idea has raised concerns from the peak body. The Public Service Association of NSW (PSA) said the state needed to build a public sector for DV services delivered as a core government function alongside policing, housing, health and child protection. The union's general secretary, Stewart Little, said support for victim-survivors had been outsourced to non-government organisations (NGOs). He described it as a fragmented model. "We're in the middle of a domestic violence crisis," he said, also pointing to the rise in incarceration rates related to changed bail laws.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-05/calls-for-solely-govermen…
# NSW, Domestic violence.‘Extreme mismatch’: Sydney rents at record highs, pushing tenants further out
Dan F Stapleton The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)House and unit rents in Sydney are at record highs, new data shows, forcing some tenants to downsize or move further afield to secure affordable accommodation. The median asking rent for a house in Sydney was $800 a week in the March quarter, up 2.6 per cent or $20 over the past year, the latest Domain Rental Report, released on Thursday, shows. The asking rent for a typical Sydney unit was $750, up 4.2 per cent or $30 over the year. The record-high medians were first recorded in the December quarter 2025 and held steady over the three months to March, the report shows.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/extreme-mismatch-sydney-ren…
# NSW, .Sydney rents are on the rise – again. This strategy to save money no longer works
Robyn Willis The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Rents in some parts of the Central Coast and western Sydney are on their way to catching up with the rest of the city, as vacancy rates tighten to a record low, new data reveals. Four suburbs in the Gosford region and two more in the Penrith and Wyong areas experienced median rent increases between 10.2 per cent and 18.2 per cent for units over the past 12 months. Gosford rents increased by 62.5 per cent for units and 66.7 per cent for houses over the past five years, according to the latest Domain Rental Report. It now costs $650 a week to rent a unit in Gosford, the same as renting a unit in Enmore or Newtown.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/sydney-rents-are-on-the-ris…
# NSW, Rent.Construction underway on seniors public housing in Sydney's south-west, despite local opposition
Isabella Ross ABC (No paywall)New public housing units built specifically for seniors are under construction in Sydney's south-west despite pushback from residents and a petition passed on by the electorate's MP. Multiple projects have been approved in Riverwood for seniors' public housing, including a 29-unit complex on Hardwicke Street and a 16-unit complex on Munmurra Road. The Munmurra Road project is expected to be ready for residents to move in by August this year. Seniors housing has to be purpose-designed for people aged 55 and over, with considerations of accessibility for those with restricted mobility and proximity to transport and services.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-13/public-housing-for-senior…
# NSW, Public and community housing.The Renters’ Rights Act: one law is about to change how we live
Madeleine Spence The Times (Paywall)When the 38-year-old psychologist Renata Solózarno moved into her flat last September after seven years of hopping between rentals, she was ready for some stability. She bought furniture, got to know her new flatmate and fell in love with the place. Then, after a wet winter, she noticed the mould. “I am incredibly allergic,” Solózarno says. When she investigated the sash windows she found they had rotted through. She got in touch with her landlords, a married couple who live in southwest England, and asked them to resolve the problems at the Victorian attic flat, which she and her flatmate rented for £1,950 a month in Streatham, south London.
https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/property-home/article/renter…
# International, .