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
The pandemic property boom is pricing locals out of the British countryside
Jade Angeles Fitton The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Devon, where I grew up and have lived on and off my whole life, always had a surplus of affordable places to live. Even a couple of years ago many private rentals stood empty for months. This year, when my husband and I needed to move back from Lundy, an island off the north Devon coast, things were very different. There was such a dearth of long-term rentals that I found myself jumping on anything listed. ... Over the past 18 months, the pandemic has triggered a reappraisal of city living. Many of those who began working from home desired more space; those without gardens craved access to the outdoors. This has caused a boom in rental and buying markets in rural areas ...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/01/pandemic-p…
# International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.House prices continue to rise in July but experts flag imminent slowdown
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)House prices across the country continued to boom in July but property analysts are noticing signs of a slowdown triggered by affordability concerns and the Greater Sydney lockdown. ... Homelessness Australia chair Jenny Smith has raised concerns the total spend by the federal government on social housing and homelessness has been cut by almost $1 billion in real terms over the past decade as house prices and rents rise. Check out Tawar Razaghi's article entitled: 'Australian property prices continue to break records despite lockdowns: Core Logic' in Domain at: [https://www.domain.com.au/news/australia-property-prices-continues-to-break-record-growth-value-despite-lockdowns-core-logic-1076910/?utm_campaign=strap-masthead&utm_source=smh&utm_medium=link&utm_content=pos5&ref=pos1] Or, read a further report entitled: 'Australian house prices rose more in July than incomes are rising in a year, data shows' in The Guardian at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/02/australian-house-prices-rose-more-in-july-than-incomes-are-rising-in-a-year-data-shows]
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/house-prices-continue-to…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Housing market.Here comes PlanTech to help transform our cities – but how?
Claire Daniel, Jago Dodson, Chris Pettit and Audrey Marsh The Fifth Estate (No paywall)We have seen the recent emergence of FinTech, LegalTech and PropTech, in the financial, legal and property sectors. Now PlanTech is emerging as a framework and platform for urban planning. But the planning profession, practice, and policy are starting from far behind these earlier adopter sectors.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/urbanism/planning/here-comes-plant…
# Australia, Housing market, Planning and development.Perth house prices continue to rise but experts flag slowdown over affordability concerns
Lauren Pilat The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Perth property prices recorded the lowest increase across the nation last month as analysts flag a slowdown triggered by affordability concerns and first home buyer incentives ending. ... [CoreLogic’s head of research Australia, Eliza Owen] said the biggest challenge for WA remained the supply, demand and affordability of the rental market. “Investors have been withdrawing from the market since the end of the mining boom in 2014 so rental stock has continuously been dwindling across the city ... In the past few months, past year even, there have been more people returning to Perth and that’s really pushed up rents quite substantially.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/perth-house-pr…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market.The new Aussie battlers vying for a spot in the housing market
Nathan Morris ABC (No paywall)Four years ago, as war raged in Khaled Ali's home country of Syria, there was a constant threat of being kidnapped or killed at any time by Islamic State militants. ... He was able to escape to Toowoomba in southern Queensland. ... The most recent cohort of refugees is from Iraq and Syria, including hundreds of Ezidi families. "They have very low knowledge in banking regulations and policies, how mortgages work, how insurance works" ...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-04/new-aussie-battlers-vying…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market, Race and ethnicity.Houses earning more than Australia’s highest paid professionals
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Houses are out-earning some of Australia’s top-paid professionals, with price growth in some cities outstripping the income of surgeons, psychiatrists and chief executive officers. Houses in both Sydney and Canberra earned more money over the past quarter than eight of the top-10 earning occupations in Australia, with median prices jumping by more than $1000 a day in both cities. Meanwhile, the average full-time worker would need to save almost half their earnings to even keep their deposit in line with house price growth. Also, check out the Guardian's article entitled: 'Australian house prices rose more in July than incomes are rising in a year, data shows' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/02/australian-house-prices-rose-more-in-july-than-incomes-are-rising-in-a-year-data-shows?CMP=soc_567]
https://www.domain.com.au/news/houses-earning-more-than-australi…
# Australia, Housing market.Signs Australian housing boom may be cooling as mortgage demand suffers biggest fall in a year
The Guardian (No paywall)There are further signs Australia’s housing boom could be cooling, with demand for home loans and applications to build homes falling.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/03/signs-aus…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.New listings in Sydney drop by 20 per cent, but supply ‘obliterated’ in some pockets
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)The number of homes hitting the property market has plummeted in pockets of Sydney, with the supply of new homes for sale ‘obliterated’ by the city’s ongoing lockdown. ... The drop in homes for sale comes amid ongoing uncertainty as to whether agents can even conduct in-person property appraisals across Sydney under the health orders, or arrange for homes to be photographed and styled to prepare them for sale or lease. The Real Estate Institute of NSW (REINSW) had been advising members not to conduct such activities under previous health orders, but understands appraisals, photography, styling and visits to map floor plans can now go ahead in the Greater Sydney area since new orders were announced on the weekend. It is still seeking clarification on whether such activities can occur in the eight council areas facing tougher restrictions.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/new-listings-in-sydney-drop-by-20…
# NSW, Privacy and access, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Landlords and agents.