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
Housing affordability already declining across the nation, on the cusp of being ‘obliterated’
Kate Burke Domain (Paywall)Housing affordability is back on the decline across Australia and could be “obliterated” by surging property prices, a new report shows. Rapidly rising house prices and larger homes loans saw a deterioration in housing affordability last quarter, according to the Real Estate Institute of Australia’s (REIA) latest Housing Affordability Report, released Wednesday.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/housing-affordability-already-dec…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market.Record low interest rates until 2024 could deepen divisions between Australia's haves and have-nots
Martin Farrer The Guardian (No paywall)Super-low interest rates will remain for at least another three years, the Reserve Bank has said, increasing the likelihood of a continued surge in house prices exacerbating what one leading thinktank called the division of Australia into a nation of haves and have-nots.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/02/record-lo…
# Australia, Housing market.Australian house prices record largest monthly rise in almost two decades
The Guardian (No paywall)House prices jumped 2.1% in February, the largest national monthly rise since August 2003, spurred on by record low mortgage rates, improving economic conditions and government incentives.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/01/australia…
# Australia, Housing market.House prices rise at fastest pace since 2003
Euan Black The New Daily (No paywall)Property values rose at the fastest pace in 17 years in February. Data released by CoreLogic on Monday shows home values soared 2.1 per cent over the month as buyers rushed to take advantage of government incentives and record low mortgage rates.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/03/01/house-pri…
# Australia, Housing market.No end in sight for Australia’s ‘broad-based’ housing boom
Euan Black The New Daily (No paywall)Australia’s housing boom has no end in sight as record-low rates and improved economic conditions entice buyers back into the market.
Less than 12 months after the federal government put the national economy into temporary lockdown, property prices across the country are soaring as supply fails to meet demand.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/03/01/housing-b…
# Australia, Housing market.Australia's aged care system needs massive investment, damning royal commission report finds
Elias Visontay and Paul Karp The Guardian (No paywall)Elderly Australians have suffered declining quality of aged care due to decreasing funding levels as successive governments provided the struggling sector the “bare minimum”, the aged care royal commission has found. On Monday the final report of the royal commission was released, signalling that a massive investment will be required to improve care after two decades of efficiency dividends cut more than $9.8bn from the annual aged care budget.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/01/australia…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Older people.Perth hoteliers at centre of homeless housing scandal arrested, one charged
Mia Egerton-Warburton The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Police have launched raids on two convicted fraudsters at the centre of a homeless housing bill dispute.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/perth-hotelier…
# Australia, Homelessness.Women turn to this Sydney home when they're at rock bottom — but there's no space left
Paige Cockburn ABC (No paywall)There's a terrace house nestled on a leafy Sydney street where the doorbell constantly rings. Its appearance is unremarkable, and people walking by it in Kings Cross wouldn't know a sanctuary lies behind the front door. Welcome to Lou's Place — the only daytime refuge for women in Sydney. Those who drop by aren't exaggerating when they say this place has kept them alive. Women who are homeless, escaping violence or dealing with serious trauma come from all parts of Sydney tap into what Lou's is providing — dignity and a way forward. But the cramped house is bursting at the seams and women have to be turned away every day.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-26/sydneys-lous-place-turnin…
# NSW, Homelessness, Personal stories, Women.