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
The truth about Sydney’s NIMBYs
Alex McKinnon Crikey (No paywall)There are so many Sydney NIMBY stories that eventually they all start blurring together. (NIMBY, of course, stands for Not In My Back Yard.) The snippy neighbours who move in near a historic pub and start complaining about the noise; the insta-“community” groups that pop up to oppose a skate park or a bus route or a playground.
The most recent one (which isn’t that recent — it comes up every six months or so) is the case of the harbourside residents trying to outlaw Sydney’s party boats.
But my favourite is the story that employees of inner Sydney’s local councils tell new hires. It’s a vital part of the induction process for the workers who sit through community meetings and take hour-long phone calls from people with the time, money and entitlement to indulge their worst impulses.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/12/12/sydney-nimby-property-devel…
# NSW, Housing affordability, Housing market, Planning and development, Strong communities.Welfare groups call for rent capping in SA
Tim Dornin AAP Perth Now (No paywall)Welfare groups are calling for rent capping in South Australia amid growing concerns over the affordability of available housing.
The South Australian Council of Social Service, Better Renting, the Anti-Poverty Network and Uniting Communities all made submissions to a recent state government review of the Residential Tenancies Act.
But they said they remained concerned any changes would fail to address rental affordability.
https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/urban-planning/welfare-groups-c…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability.What if land markets are monopolies?
Emily Sims Prosper (No paywall)Planning deregulation, especially rezoning, has been repeatedly touted as a key policy solution to Australia’s eye watering house prices. The story goes that prices remain high because the supply of new dwellings in accessible, desirable locations has not kept pace with demand. Prosper Australia has critiqued this reasoning, leading to some bewilderment among fellow economists.
Prosper supports the intensification of land-uses in our cities, but too often “planning constraint” is cited uncritically by housing economists and “rezoning” championed as the solution.
https://www.prosper.org.au/2022/12/what-if-land-markets-are-mono…
# Must read, Research alert Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Planning and development, Tax.‘It’s hard coming home to a tent’: the rise of Australia’s working homeless
Jordyn Beazley The Guardian (No paywall)At 5am most mornings, Cheryl Rowe’s alarm wakes her up in the camping trailer where she has been living for three months. It signals time for the 63-year-old to start her work day as a cleaner.
Torch in hand, she gets ready and packs the car at the caravan park in Western Australia’s Margaret River region. She has been asked to be quiet so as not to wake the tourists. Then she spends the rest of her day cleaning, part of it scrubbing holiday homes that sometimes sit empty.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/17/its-hard-…
# Hot topic Australia, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Personal stories, Work, employment.Mirvac boss to lead housing affordability council
Tom McIlroy Australian Financial Review (Paywall)Outgoing Mirvac boss Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz will lead the Albanese government’s new council on housing supply and affordability.
Housing Minister Julie Collins named the property sector leader to the role on Tuesday, part of the government’s plans for its investment agenda to be guided by the best expert advice.
Read the original media release here: https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/julie-collins-2022/media-releases/interim-national-housing-supply-and-affordability
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/mirvac-boss-to-lead-housing…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Planning and development.Forced home sales set to rise as borrowers struggle with surging interest rates and mortgage repayments
Rhiana Witson ABC (No paywall)As COVID hit and the Reserve Bank cut interest rates to record lows to stimulate the economy, Aaron Doull and his wife Saori took out an $850,000 loan to buy their first home.
Most of their mortgage was fixed at a 2.2 per cent interest rate.
But next year, when the couple come off that fixed loan, they'll face variable interest rates of around 6 per cent. That's well above the 2.5 per cent serviceability buffer that their loan was based on.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-17/housing-apra-rba-forced-s…
# Australia, Housing market.‘Veteran tenants’: Sad Aussie rental truth as renters trapped
Jack Evans news.com.au (No paywall)An extensive study of Australian renters has revealed some alarming figures which suggest tenants are reaching financial breaking point.
The survey of 9000 renters found almost half had their rents increased in the last six months.
Thirty per cent said they had been pushed into shared living arrangements by rent prices and cost of living pressures in that time, while another 21 per cent said they were priced out of their own homes entirely by the added costs.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/veteran-tena…
# Australia, Rent.Rising rent prices: Extreme measures and where to get support
Luana Matrone and Amy Bradney-George Finder (No paywall)Interest rate rises, a lack of housing and growing demand have seen rent costs rise across Australia. Here's how it's affecting people.
In 2022, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) increased the cash rate over 8 consecutive months, bringing it to 3.10%.