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
Sydney news: Saudi sisters' Canterbury apartment for rent, with prospective tenants told of deaths
ABC (No paywall)The Sydney apartment where two Saudi sisters were mysteriously found dead has gone back on the rental market, with a disclaimer from the real estate agent.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-03/saudi-sisters-apartment-f…
# NSW, Rent, Landlords and agents.Shades of grey: a Danish restoration brings a dull home to life
Nell Card The Guardian (No paywall)Two families joined forces to open up a large apartment near Copenhagen
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jul/31/shades-of-g…
# International, Share houses.Opposition and Government at loggerheads over public housing spend; Berry says 'do your homework'
Lottie Twyford (No paywall)Minister for Housing and Suburban Development Yvette Berry has lashed out at the Opposition who claimed earlier this week the ACT Government had underspent on public housing by more than $600 million over five years, telling them to do their homework on the subject. According to Canberra Liberals Leader Elizabeth Lee and the party’s spokesperson for housing Mark Parton, the bulk of the public housing funding promised in successive Territory Budgets between 2015 to 2018 was not delivered in the promised timeframe. Their figures say the government spent only $81 million when its three successive budgets promised almost $700 million. But the government has hit back hard at that assertion. (Riotact)
https://the-riotact.com/opposition-and-government-at-loggerheads…
# Australia, Public and community housing, State Government.More building companies to 'topple over', as display home giant Metricon sheds staff to survive
Emilia Terzon ABC (No paywall)One of the nation's most prominent builders is set to shed almost a tenth of its workforce, as concerns mount about Australia's construction industry. Metricon was forced to defend itself against insolvency rumours just a few months ago. The company has now told its roughly 2,500-person workforce that it is restructuring. The move will impact 9 per cent of its workforce. That works out to more than 200 jobs. Most of the roles that will go are not in building or construction itself, but in front-of-house jobs like sales and marketing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-02/metricon-job-losses-const…
# Australia, Housing market.Neighbourhoods where house prices have fallen by six figures as interest rates rise
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)House prices have fallen by more than $100,000 in three months in parts of the country as rising interest rates reduce borrowing power and accelerate price declines. Six-figure sums were wiped from median house prices in Sydney’s north shore, northern beaches and inner west, as well as Melbourne’s inner east, in the June quarter, Domain data shows.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/neighbourhoods-where-house-…
# Australia, Housing market.Tick tock: Property clocks show where the housing market downturn is deepest
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Rising interest rates are set to push property prices lower even in areas that have so far been immune from the downturn, according to a new report. Inner suburbs in the nation’s largest cities are in the grips of a property market downturn, but prices in some markets are just hitting their peak while others still look poised for more growth.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/tick-tock-property-clocks-s…
# Australia, Housing market.‘Totally out of scale’: Towers set to rise above 100 metres in Pyrmont
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The state government has cleared the path for gambling giant The Star to lodge a proposal to build a 105-metre tall luxury hotel tower at Pyrmont, under plans to encourage more intensive development west of Sydney’s CBD. Planning Minister Anthony Roberts said changes to planning rules for several sites on the Pyrmont peninsula would allow for the six-star hotel, theatre and dining complex to be built at the northern end of the casino’s site.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/totally-out-of-scale-towers-…
# NSW, Planning and development, State Government, Sydney.Welcome to the hottest holiday home market in Australia
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)House prices have more than doubled in five years. Rental stress has quadrupled. And more than half of homes can be left sitting empty on a winter’s night. Welcome to Tasmania’s east coast, where popular holiday towns have recorded price growth that outstrips the likes of Byron and Noosa.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/welcome-to-the-hottest-holi…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Short-term holiday letting.