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
Crunch meeting: RBA faces test on another large rate rise
Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Reserve Bank board is under pressure to end its super-sized interest rate hikes at its meeting on Tuesday as it faces growing fears its aggressive tightening of monetary policy will crush the property market and destabilise the economy in the face of strengthening global financial headwinds. Amid signs that inflation pressures in the Australian economy are continuing to grow, the bank will debate whether to lift official interest rates to a nine-year high or start to slow down its rapid succession of rate rises. Also, read the article entitled: 'Reserve Bank set for another double-sized interest rate rise as borrowers brace for pain' by Michael Janda and Emilia Terzon on ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-04/rba-set-for-fifth-straight-double-sized-interest-rate-rise/101497328].
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/crunch-meeting-rba-faces…
# Australia, Housing market.Brisbane residents urged to dob in Airbnb short-stay properties as council rolls out rates hike
Lucy Stone ABC (No paywall)Brisbane residents are being asked to dob in properties they suspect are being used for short-term accommodation such as Airbnb. The move comes three months after Brisbane City Council introduced a new rates category for short-term accommodation properties, hiking their rates by 50 per cent. Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner on Tuesday announced residents would be sent a letter with their next rates bill, asking for information on local properties that were being used for short-term rentals via platforms such as Airbnb, Bookings.com, and Stayz. "I'd be happy if this new rating category didn't raise a single dollar," Cr Schrinner said. "Brisbane currently has a severe housing shortage because not enough homes are being built to meet demand. Also read article entitled: 'Rat on the rentals: Dob in your Airbnb neighbours, says lord mayor' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at:[https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/rat-on-the-rentals-dob-in-your-airbnb-neighbours-says-lord-mayor-20221003-p5bmpu.html]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-04/brisbane-residents-urged-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Local Government, Short-term holiday letting.King Charles allowed to vet proposed Scottish rent freeze law
Severin Carrell, Rob Evans and David Pegg The Guardian (No paywall)King Charles has been allowed to vet and potentially lobby for changes to emergency legislation to freeze rents in Scotland because the measures could affect tenants on his private Highland estate at Balmoral. A bill to stop landlords unjustifiably raising rents for the next six months because of the cost of living crisis is being rushed through the Scottish parliament this week.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/04/king-charles-all…
# International, Rent.Improving housing affordability on the cards for Sydney’s new Deputy Lord Mayor
Sharlotte Thou City Hub (No paywall)Sylvie Ellsmore, the City of Sydney’s newly elected Deputy Lord Mayor, says that the City of Sydney “needs to do much more” to improve housing affordability. The City’s affordable and social housing targets state that by 2030, 7.5% of all housing will be affordable rental housing, and 7.5% of all housing will be social housing. Cr Ellsmore believes the City of Sydney is “currently not on track” to meet its housing affordability targets, which she describes as “relatively modest”. “We’re losing the public housing we have; we’re losing the affordable housing we have, and we’re not building enough of it as the city grows”, she told City Hub.
https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2022/10/improving-housing-affordabi…
# NSW, Housing affordability, Local Government.Housing and homelessness agreement savaged in Productivity Commission report
Danielle Kutchel Pro bono Australia (No paywall)A Productivity Commission report into Australia’s housing crisis has denounced the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA), calling it “ineffective”. In a scathing review, the report found that the NHHA is “a funding contract, not a blueprint for reform” and “does not foster collaboration between governments or hold governments to account”. The comments led the 'In need of repair: The National Housing and Homelessness Agreement study report', which reaffirmed that Australia is in the grips of a housing crisis. You may view the report at:[https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/housing-homelessness/report]
https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2022/10/housing-and-homeles…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Home ownership, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Housing market, State Government.Palaszczuk met other state leaders to ‘get to the bottom’ of land tax concerns
Matt Dennien The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she met with interstate counterparts to “get to the bottom” of concerns about her government’s now-mothballed land tax change aimed at cross-border property investors. Palaszczuk also hosed down questions of any dysfunction in her cabinet after Treasurer Cameron Dick said despite his strenuous backing of the legislated change, he only learnt of the premier’s U-turn in support for it when the public did.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/palaszczuk-met-other-…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents, State Government, Tax.Stop development on flood plains before raising dam wall
Editorial The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)As Sydney is again drenched by enough rain to tip the city over into its wettest year in history, the danger posed to low-lying regions by flooding is only too obvious. Yet there remain some serious questions about the state government’s plan to protect 134,000 residents of the Hawkesbury-Nepean flood plain from the risk of inundation. Premier Dominic Perrottet on Wednesday announced he would push ahead with a $1.7 billion project to raise the wall of Warragamba Dam by up to 14 metres. He declared the project to be of “critical state significance”, which means it will be exempt from normal planning controls. This reversed a decision by outgoing planning minister Rob Stokes a year ago who wanted to assess closely the potential damage that a higher water level might cause to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed areas and Indigenous cultural sites of the Blue Mountains. Perrottet has now brushed this caution aside and said he wanted to “put people before plants”. ... Yet the government’s justification for raising the dam wall seems to contradict a key recommendation of the report in June by former police commissioner Mick Fuller and former chief scientist Mary O’Kane on this year’s devastating floods. The report found that “one of most effective long-term flood risk mitigation mechanisms is stronger planning controls on current and future development”. Also, read the article entitled 'Warragamba Dam: what’s driving the NSW government’s bid to raise the wall?' by Lisa Cox and Tamsin Rose in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/06/warragamba-dam-whats-driving-the-nsw-governments-bid-to-raise-the-wall]
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/stop-development-on-flood-pl…
# NSW, Planning and development, State Government.Yes, the heat is coming off the housing market. But it wasn’t just on fire last year - it was burning uncontrolled
Greg Jericho The Guardian (No paywall)Tuesday’s rise this week does appear to be the beginning of the end of rate rises. But while house prices are falling from their peaks, the long-term problem of housing affordability remains as we continue to have an economy where house prices have risen faster than wages for so long that even a slight fall in prices will do little to repair the damage of the past two years.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2022/oct/06/yes…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market.