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
Tesla chair Robyn Denholm buys $27.5m pad in Cremorne Point
Lucy Macken Domain (No paywall)Newly minted billionaire and chair of Tesla Robyn Denholm has smashed Sydney’s north shore apartment record books, buying a $27.5 million penthouse in Cremorne Point. ... Denholm’s new digs is one of eight in the landmark block that was built in 1913 as a luxury hotel but was rundown and used as a boarding house in the 1980s ...
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/tesla-chair-robyn-denholm-b…
# NSW, Boarders and lodgers, Housing market.Mysteries of inflation measurement
Cameron Murray (No paywall)One thing that has puzzled me during this global inflation wave is the lack of attention to how consumer price indexes (CPIs) differ between countries. This really matters if you want to make sense of what is happening. ... there is a massive category called 'Owners equivalent rent' that gets a 24% weight in the United States CPI for urban consumers but zero in Australia's CPI. In Australia, we only include the cost of new housing construction to represent the price of housing for owner occupiers ... And, a bonus, listen to the podcast entitled: 'Do expensive houses make us all rich'.
https://fresheconomicthinking.substack.com/p/mysteries-of-inflat…
# Audio Australia, Families, Home ownership.Passion project: the passive house that raised the roof on sustainable living
Ali Heath The Guardian (No paywall)... what started life as a wedge-shaped piece of derelict wasteland – situated next to a 10-storey apartment block, double-storey housing site and a busy train line in Coburg, Melbourne – has been transformed by the couple into a modern passive house.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/oct/08/passion-pro…
# Australia, Climate change, Families, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Number of families homeless or at risk of homelessness up 23% in past year
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Number of families homeless or at risk of homelessness up 23% in past year. Research by the current affairs programme also found that in the first three months of this year, around 26,000 households were put in accommodation outside of their borough after being made homeless – three times the number in the same period 10 years ago. It found that the number of homeless households living in temporary accommodation is rising: up by 23% in the past five years.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/number-of-families-homeless…
# International, Rent, Homelessness.‘Not Chump Change:’ Home Prices in Canada Strain Affluent Budgets
VJoso Isai The New York Times (Paywall)Even in cities that were once considered a good bet for house hunters seeking affordability, affluent households find that prices are high. Also try link at: [https://globle.io/not-chump-change-home-prices-in-canada-strain-affluent-budgets/]
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/world/canada/canada-real-esta…
# International, Housing affordability, Housing market.The Sydney regions where the number of home sellers has plummeted
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Sydney home buyers have fewer properties to choose from this spring as the number of new homes for sale plummets. New seller activity in some of the city’s most sought-after regions is down more than 30 per cent year-on-year, new figures show, and the number of sellers willing to hit a market where prices are falling has dropped below levels seen during the quieter winter months and the last downturn.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-sydney-regions-where-th…
# NSW, Housing market, Sydney.Sunshine and Gold Coast properties have boomed since 2020, now they're leading the real estate downturn
Owen Jacques and Olivia Mason ABC (No paywall)It's a long way from a bust, but the booming property prices in Queensland’s two biggest regional centres are clearly cooling, with values now falling faster than almost anywhere else in the state. The Sunshine and Gold Coasts in the state's south-east became a safe harbour for interstate migrants looking to flee the heavy COVID restrictions in New South Wales and Victoria throughout the pandemic. The rush of new arrivals and subsequent demand for homes meant property prices surged consistently until earlier this year. In the two regions – which sit north and south of Brisbane – property prices are still more than 40 per cent above what they were before the pandemic.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-06/gold-sunshine-coast-prope…
# Australia, Housing market.A real estate agent data breach would be devastating for renters. They collect too much personal information
Samantha Floreani The Guardian (No paywall)Thanks to Optus, millions of people are now acutely aware of what can happen when companies don’t take privacy and security seriously. But telcos aren’t alone in collecting and storing too much of our personal information. The real estate industry is often overlooked in conversations about data security, but it is one of the most invasive, with potentially devastating consequences for renters across the country. Also, check out 'Real estate agents keep as much privacy data as Optus - Should you be concerned?' on ABC Breakfast at: [https://www.abc.net.au/sydney/programs/mornings/floreani/101499272]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/04/telcos-are…
# Audio Australia, Privacy and access, Rent, Landlords and agents.