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
London renters launch campaign to tackle dangerous housing
Berny Torre Morning Star (No paywall)The London Renters Union (LRU) has launched a campaign calling on Brent council to tackle dangerous housing in the city’s second poorest borough.
The union says an estimated 10,000 privately rented homes in Brent present a serious health hazard to residents.
It is calling on the local authority to ensure no-one faces another winter of damp and mould.
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://morningstaronline.co.uk/art…
# Hot topic International, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability, International.UK construction growth edges up, despite housing slump
Reuters Reuters (No paywall)Weak growth across Britain's construction sector picked up modestly in May, despite an increasingly severe downturn in house-building activity prompted by rising interest rates, a survey showed on Tuesday.
The S&P Global/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 51.6 from 51.1 in April. A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to no change in May.
The civil engineering and commercial sectors drove the increase, with the survey's gauge of new orders reaching its highest level since April 2022.
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-construction-growth-edges-up…
# Hot topic, Research alert International, Housing affordability, Housing market, International.London father remains in hospital as family struggles to find accessible housing
Michelle Both CBC (No paywall)A London family is on a quest to find accessible housing so they can live together again — but the months-long search has come up dry, while a father of two is living in hospital.
"It's been a struggle," said Jody Davis, who has teenagers ages 13 and 15. "The sooner I have the place, the better it would be."
After a sudden brain aneurysm left him fighting for his life about 10 months ago, her husband, Eddie Lopez, 38, has been recovering in hospitals and is now at the Parkwood Institute.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-father-remains-in-h…
# Hot topic International, Disability, Families, International.The Bank of Canada just 'stomped' on the housing market rebound
Denise Paglinawan Financial Post (No paywall)Just as Canada’s housing market was starting to rebound, the Bank of Canada has dealt it another blow.
The bank’s decision to raise its key interest rate 25 basis points to 4.75 per cent on June 7 will put downward pressure on home prices, which have rebounded faster than the bank had expected, according to James Laird, co-chief executive of Ratehub.ca and president of CanWise mortgage lender.
The rise brings the policy rate to the highest it’s been since April 2001.
“The Bank of Canada just stomped on housing sentiment in a way that only it can,” mortgage analyst and strategist Rob McLister said on Twitter, adding that the stress test will get “meaningfully more stressful” for borrowers at the margin.
https://financialpost.com/real-estate/mortgages/bank-of-canada-r…
# Hot topic International, Home ownership, Housing affordability, International.The Auckland myth: There is no evidence that upzoning increased housing construction
Cameron Murray and Tim Helm Fresh Economic Thinking (No paywall)Many housing analysts argue that large-scale upzoning policies create affordable housing. This was a justification for the major upzoning in the 2016 Auckland Unitary Plan (AUP). The Auckland experience is now of intense interest in housing debates.
Widely cited in media reporting is a paper by Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy and Peter Phillips (GMP) entitled The Impact of Upzoning on Housing Construction in Auckland.
Here’s the Vancouver Sun covering it. The study even made it to the New York Times.
https://www.fresheconomicthinking.com/p/the-auckland-myth-there-…
# Research alert International, Housing market, International, Planning and development.Sydney’s richest suburbs need to be higher, denser to solve housing crisis: productivity commissioner
Michael McGowan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney’s housing affordability crunch is the result of a decades-long failure to keep pace with new developments in Brisbane and Melbourne, the NSW productivity commissioner has found, while also warning the city’s most affluent suburbs must become higher and denser to ease home prices.
On the eve of the release of a major new report on the state of housing in Sydney, the man charged with boosting productivity in NSW, Peter Achterstraat, has urged the new state government to shift focus from new developments in western Sydney to increased density in the CBD and inner suburbs.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/sydney-s-richest-suburbs-nee…
# Must read, Hot topic, Research alert NSW, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.Family living in one room as new report shows 'extreme' rental stress gripping New South Wales
Penny Burfitt ABC (No paywall)Family living in one room as new report shows 'extreme' rental stress gripping New South Wales
She and her partner work casually and earn a lower income than the average Australian, but they have always been able to make rent in Wagga Wagga.
But when their lease of three years expired earlier this year, they emerged into an "unrecognisable" rental market.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-29/housing-crisis-corelogic-…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Families, Housing market, Personal stories.The Sydney suburbs flush with holiday rentals, but where homes are hard to find
Kate Burke and Melissa Heagney-Bayliss Domain (No paywall)The number of short-stay holiday rentals in Sydney is rising, even as the city faces a housing crisis.
Short-term rental accommodation listed on Airbnb and Stayz increased by more than a fifth over the past year, figures show, rebounding at the same time as the number of vacant rental properties plummeted – pushing up competition for homes and sending rents to record highs.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-sydney-suburbs-flush-wi…
# Hot topic NSW, Housing affordability, Housing market, Short-term holiday letting.