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
First-timers pile in as house prices start to rise
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)ANZ economists are forecasting property price hikes of about 9 per cent across major capital cities next year.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/first-timers…
# Australia, Housing market.Retirees ignoring potential of dipping into home equity: income review
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Retirement Income Review ... Cash-poor retirees living in expensive properties are not tapping into their housing equity to fund their older years, despite the family home representing the biggest share of net wealth for those aged over 65.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/retirees-ignoring-potent…
# Australia, Rent, Older people.Asset testing expensive homes for pension could reduce overspending: Income review
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Retirement Income Review ... Penalising pensioners with expensive homes could stop overspending on housing, says a wide-ranging review into the retirement system that also casts doubt on already-legislated increases to the superannuation guarantee.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/asset-testing-expensive-…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Older people.Federal Government to assess superannuation, housing policy after Retirement Income Review
Melissa Clark (No paywall)Retirement Income Review ... Australians could be encouraged by the Federal Government to draw down on their superannuation balances and use equity in the family home to fund their retirement, rather than rely on increases in compulsory super contributions.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-19/federal-government-to-ass…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Older people.Super tax breaks not needed for wealthy, they should tap into their home equity, retirement income review
Nassim Khadem ABC (No paywall)Retirement Income Review ... The almost $42 billion annual cost of superannuation tax concessions is largely benefiting wealthy savers, according to the Federal Government's retirement income review, which suggests they should instead tap into the equity of their homes to help fund their retirement.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-20/super-tax-breaks-not-need…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Older people.Bet your house on it: three things to know from Australia's retirement income review
Amy Remeikis The Guardian (No paywall)Retirement Income Review ... The Coalition is likely to scrap any further increases to the compulsory superannuation contribution’. Read her article entitled: ‘Bet your house on it: three things to know from Australia's retirement income review.'
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/nov/21/bet-your-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Older people.Retirement incomes review finds problems more super won’t solve
Peter Martin The Conversation (No paywall)Retirement Income Review ... There’s a real retirement income problem ... A substantial proportion of Australians, about 30%, are financially worse off in retirement than while working, and they are people neither super nor the pension can help. Mostly they are older Australians who have lost their jobs and cannot get new ones before they become eligible for the age pension or become old enough to get access to their super. Often they’ve left the workforce due to ill health or to care for others and are forced to rely on JobSeeker, which is well below the poverty line. It’s much worse if they rent privately. About one quarter of retirees who rent privately are in financial stress, so much so that the review finds even a 40% increase in the maximum Commonwealth Rent Assistance payment wouldn’t be enough to get them a decent standard of living in retirement.
https://theconversation.com/retirement-incomes-review-finds-prob…
# Must read Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Older people.COVID-19 to reshape Sydney in “biggest way” since Spanish flu as population stalls
Matt O’Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes says the COVID-19 pandemic will have the greatest influence on reshaping Sydney since the Spanish flu and the mass adoption of motor vehicles last century. His comments come as the population of greater Sydney is forecast to rise by just 500 people in the year to next June
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/covid-19-to-reshape-sydney-i…
# Hot topic NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Sydney.