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
NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler, two years in, on the bouquets and brickbats
Wendy Frew The Fifth Estate (No paywall)NSW doesn’t need a separate Building Commission, says the man appointed as the state’s Building Commissioner. But it does need a “reformed and modernised” regulator with sufficient powers and technology to implement the government’s reform agenda, David Chandler tells The Fifth Estate.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/nsw-build…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.‘Pancaked’: Florida’s condo collapse
Mark Doman, Stephen Hutcheon and Alex Palmer ABC (No paywall)Authorities are at a loss to explain how one wing of a 40-year-old apartment block on the Florida coast suddenly collapsed in the early hours of Thursday morning, resulting in deaths, injuries and leaving scores of residents still missing. But theories are emerging.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-26/miami-building-collapse-s…
# International, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Could 3D-printed homes solve the housing affordability issue?
Jane Hone Domain (No paywall)For many of us, the concept that a printer is capable of producing three-dimensional objects – let alone entire buildings – is still fairly remote and difficult to grasp. Yet it would appear that we’re drawing ever closer to a world in which 3D printers build our homes, in as little as three days. There have already been 3D-printed houses constructed in places such as Italy, the Netherlands and the United States, and industry experts say it’s only a matter of time before they become more mainstream.
https://www.domain.com.au/living/could-3d-printed-homes-solve-th…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market.US buyers lead a 15.5 per cent surge in foreign investment in Aussie houses
Lucy Macken Domain (No paywall)It seems not even a global pandemic will dampen foreign buyer interest in Australian real estate. The latest Foreign Investment Review Board annual report shows a surge in foreign buyer investment of 15.5 per cent, taking it to the highest level in three years. The United States leads international buyer demand for property with $13 billion worth of investment, trailed by Singapore with $9.5 billion and mainland China in third place with $7.1 billion. However, China’s overall value rose to just shy of Singapore’s when combined with that of Hong Kong.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/foreign-investment-in-australian-…
# Australia, Housing market, International, Landlords and agents.‘Bit of a culture shock’: COVID-19 made a tree change alluring – but that trend may not last
Emilia Terzon The New Daily (No paywall)A tree change has never been more alluring but population experts believe some city dwellers going regional during the pandemic will find “it’s not all it’s cracked up to be” and the migration trend won’t last long term.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/06/25/tree-chan…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Regional NSW.Could tiny homes idea solve Australia's housing crisis at same time as its building skills shortage?
David Chen ABC (No paywall)[Toowomba-based not-for-profit, DGT Training and Employment] CEO Kris McCue said he believed tiny homes could not only train the next generation of tradies but could also provide a short-term solution to regional Australia's housing and skills shortages. "Rental vacancies are below 1 per cent in many, many areas — things like a tiny home can be a good, you know, shorter-term solution for that," he said. ... Ms Parker said the greatest challenge facing the tiny home movement was council planning regulations. "Our local laws don't adequately cover tiny homes as a housing option. They are classified as caravans," she said. "If you want to live in a caravan on a block of land, you need to get a temporary housing permit and you can only get that if you have a development application for a bricks and mortar style house, so that's the challenge at the moment."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-26/tiny-homes-may-train-futu…
# Australia, Land lease communities, Affordable housing, Housing market, Planning and development.Single parents are getting a housing lifeline, but will it simply widen the gender divide?
Rhiana Whitson ABC (No paywall)Single mother Verity Ikin has just made a successful offer on a house in the Huon Valley, outside of Hobart. It was a bit of a gamble because she only has a small deposit saved and is relying on being a successful applicant to the federal government's Family Home Guarantee scheme to avoid paying costly lender's mortgage insurance (LMI). ... The Family Home Guarantee scheme is scheduled to open on July 1 and is budgeted to help 10,000 single parents over four years buy a house.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-26/single-parents-housing-sc…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Women.What it's like to live on the road in a van or bus
Patrick Wright ABC (No paywall)For the last four years, Kevin Craft and his family have been living in an eight-metre-long bus. ... Kevin and his wife Cristina were living in Sydney until 2017, when they swapped their rental house for a bus. Since then, they've spent months travelling through South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. With the arrival of their son Marco 18 months ago, the family have slowed down — they're now based in Byron Bay. They're still living in the bus but aren't travelling as much.
https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/what-its-like-to-live-on-the-roa…
# Australia, Land lease communities.