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
Council takes on residents over plea to block development of 45-storey towers
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Parramatta City Council has rejected the advice of its staff and pleas from residents to block two large residential towers at Wentworth Point, instead inviting the developer to provide further information before a final decision. Wentworth Point developer Billbergia proposed an amendment to local development controls that would allow it to build two new waterfront towers in the “final stage” of the high-density precinct.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/council-takes-on-residents-o…
# NSW, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Local Government, Planning and development.Recent borrowers at risk of becoming ‘mortgage prisoners’
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Recent homebuyers who bought at the peak of the housing market with low deposits could find it harder to switch banks in their hunt for cheaper rates, despite the mortgage refinancing boom under way in the market. With interest rates tipped to climb higher, experts have warned a sizeable group of borrowers will struggle to meet the criteria needed to switch lenders. The main pain point for some mortgage holders, according to brokers and analysts at investment firm Jarden, will be that they will no longer pass lenders’ stress tests for new borrowers. Falling house prices are also expected to push loan-to-valuation ratios (LVR) above the 80 per cent threshold at which new borrowers must often pay for mortgage insurance.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/recent-borro…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.No matter how many times you move, you can’t avoid these seven stages
Deirdre Fidge The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)They say moving house is one of life’s most stressful experiences, on par with divorce. I’ve essentially gotten divorced every year for the past decade – without a single wedding. And here I am, again, living among boxes after relocating to Sydney. As I scuttle from room to room like a disoriented crab, cloaked metaphorically in a deja vu of my last move while cloaked literally in an old blanket because I can’t find my dressing gown, I’m reminded that certain aspects of moving are inevitable.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/no-matte…
# Australia, Home.Couple who found old gold coins under their kitchen floor are $1.3 million richer
Emily Power Domain (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... A couple who found a jar of old gold coins under their kitchen floor are £754,000 ($1.3 million) richer after selling the surprise treasure trove at auction. The home owners in England were laying new flooring, ripping up the existing floorboards and jackhammering through the concrete beneath, when they struck a bounty: 260 ancient coins in a small urn.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/living/couple-who-found-old-gold…
# International, Home.Real estate scam prompts Sunshine Coast single mum's warning
Olivia Mason ABC (No paywall)Nikki Hart had been working towards home ownership for years. After being knocked back from property after property, the single mother-of-one thought she had finally managed to secure her own place. But it was an elaborate scam. Ms Hart said she received an email requesting a 1 per cent deposit to secure a Sunshine Coast property after she had put an offer on it through a real estate website. "It was a $4,000 deposit … if I didn't like the property once I signed the contract or something had fallen through, I would get that refund back," she said. Ms Hart arranged a time to inspect the property with her parents and daughter Poppy and sent the $4,000.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-12/real-estate-scam-leaves-s…
# Australia, Home ownership, Welfare.The suburbs where the most people moved from, according to the census
Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Australians fled Sydney and Melbourne to escape the harsh reality of COVID lockdowns but most drew the line at departing their home state as they sought out a safe place to ride out the pandemic. Data from the 2021 census, released on Wednesday, showed substantial levels of intra and interstate movement out of the nation’s two largest cities as people headed for the regions. ... Over five years, almost 41 per cent of people changed their address. Of that 9.8 million people in total, almost 7.4 million moved within their state, another 921,000 moved interstate and 1.3 million left the country. ... The biggest hit was to Sydney’s inner south-west, covering the area from Botany Bay to Bankstown, where a net 13,249 people moved out during the preceding 12 months.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-suburbs-where-the-mo…
# Research alert Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Productivity Commission releases extensive review of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA)
Productivity Commission AHURI (No paywall)AHURI News: The Productivity Commission’s newly released review on the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA) has found the Agreement to be ‘ineffective’ and that there should be focus on ‘improving the affordability of the private rental market and the targeting of housing assistance’. As such, the Commission considers that the NHHA ‘should be expanded to include all government-provided housing assistance including Commonwealth Rent Assistance and first home buyer assistance.’ This finding, together with many of the recommendations in the report, is consistent with AHURI’s submission and advice to the review.
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/news/productivity-commission-r…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.New Waterloo estate consultations
Geoff Turnbull (No paywall)Following a long absence, the Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) is back with its consultants in Waterloo. LAHC wants to talk with the community and stakeholders about a “People and Place guiding framework” it is developing for the next stage of the redevelopment. (South Sydney Herald)
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/new-waterloo-estate-consultatio…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, State Government.