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 exposed horror reality for tenants in NSW
Kaylee Cranley realestate.com.au (No paywall)A video tour of a Sydney home recently listed for rent has exposed the living conditions some tenants have been expected to endure, with the home alleged to have a trashed kitchen and leaking ceiling. Posted to Instagram by online content creator Jordan van den Lamb, who has garnered a large following from exposing less-than-desirable listings, the video casts the spotlight on a $550 a week listing in the inner west suburb of Burwood. Images reveal a deteriorating kitchen missing cupboards and drawers below the sink. Some of the last remaining doors appear to be hanging barely from hinges.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/the-exposed-horror-reality-fo…
# Hot topic NSW, .‘Get angry about it’: Mark Humphries’ doco Sold! unpacks Australia’s housing crisis
Walter Marsh The Guardian (No paywall)Sometimes, it feels as if you can’t turn on a TV without seeing news bulletins devoted to interest rate updates, fake-tanned celebrity realtors hawking white McMansions, or middle-aged men in chore jackets stroking their chins at a tasteful mid-century reno. Our free-to-air and streaming services are full of content to fuel our national obsession with home ownership. But when it comes to the real-life housing market, you might be left thinking there’s a bigger picture just out of shot from those million-dollar views.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jul/21/get-angry-a…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Developer blocked from converting Sydney boarding house into luxury apartments
Ethan Rix and Holly Treganza ABC (No paywall)A property developer has been blocked from converting a Sydney boarding house into luxury apartments in what some say could be a precedent-setting legal ruling. LFD Developments took the City of Sydney to court after the council rejected its proposal to convert the 32-room boarding house in Paddington, which once provided sanctuary to vulnerable residents, into four luxury homes. The developer lost its appeal on the rejected application in the NSW Land and Environment Court on Thursday on the grounds of social impact and the loss of affordable housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-10/nsw-sydney-paddington-boa…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Boarders and lodgers, Eviction.Mum and daughter evicted from Bondi apartment after 40 years
Emily McPherson 9 News (No paywall)When Deidre Hill and her mother Valerie Smith first moved into their Bondi unit in Sydney's east 40 years ago, they were paying just $80 a week in rent. Since then, the pair has seen the iconic Aussie suburb transform, with all of the older housing options on their street slowly disappearing to make way for new townhouses and luxury penthouses. By the time Deidre and Valerie were hit with an eviction notice in November last year, the pair was paying $900 a week for that same modest apartment.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/mum-and-daughter-evicted-from-…
# Must read NSW, Eviction.The fight over your backyard: Why NIMBY has become a ‘dirty word’
Gina Rushton ABC (No paywall)On a cold June night in Sydney’s eastern suburbs dozens of residents, most insulated by navy puffer coats and vests, have piled into the Double Bay Bowling Club to air their concerns at a housing forum. They’re not happy that apartments are going up in their suburbs — some of Sydney’s most affluent. They’re concerned more people will clog the roads and strain infrastructure, especially in an area without a “decent supermarket”. They’re nervous a six-storey “monstrosity” will block their sunlight. They’re anxious the “runoff from construction” into the harbour will impact their children who “enjoy sailing”. They want legal recourse.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-13/yimby-nimby-housing-crisi…
# Hot topic NSW, .Get rid of greedy housing investors
K. Bowman Coast Community News (No paywall)In the 1960s the Housing Commission built tens of thousands of homes. Who can forget Green Valley, Dundas Valley and Ermington, in Sydney alone? Housing was not considered an investment; it was for families to live in. Sure, the values rose but as a consequence of living in the house for decades. We now have short-term rentals at exorbitant rents pricing the needy out of the market. We have a greedy State Government with a vested interest in high-value property sales because they reap the stamp duty on each sale. We have a Federal Government not willing to remove the negative gearing and tax benefits afforded to property investors.
https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2025/07/get…
# Hot topic NSW, .The sought-after NSW coastal town on par with parts of Sydney
Emily Power The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Byron’s unstoppable housing market has hit a fresh record, leaping to a typical rental price on par with some elite Sydney spots. The median weekly asking rent for a house in the Byron local government area jumped 15 per cent over the 12 months to June to hit its highest ever median of $1150 a week, the latest Domain Rent Report, released on Thursday, showed. The exclusive, in-demand coastal enclave is the only NSW regional LGA to command four figures for the median weekly house lease. The median weekly rent there was $1000 in the same period last year.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-sought-after-nsw-coasta…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.Hayley quit her secure job as an accountant and ditched her rental for a life of music
Joel Ehsman Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)Lucy Mills and Hayley Neal have embraced the house sitting lifestyle which includes looking after pets like Rupert. Pictures supplied Would you be able to live without a permanent roof to call home? Two musicians decided to try it out, selling and donating their furniture, crockery and cutlery, arming themselves with a van and began a mission to house sit full time. Hayley Neal and Lucy Mills earn their income solely from their work as musicians and spend their weekends performing at pubs and clubs, then spend the week looking after the homes they are house sitting.
# Hot topic NSW, .