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
Potty prices: Sydney studio apartment with toilet in kitchen on market for $520 a week
Mostafa Rachwani The Guardian (No paywall)If you ever needed proof Sydney’s rental market is completely insane, here it is. This tiny apartment – previously dubbed a “room with a poo” – is currently listed for $520 a week. The studio, in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, redefines open plan living with its bright red tiling in the kitchen, a polkadot couch, and a toilet – all in the same space.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/15/potty-pri…
# NSW, Rent, Housing market, Sydney.Margaret River Rotary Club frustrated by 'red tape' in tiny houses plan for the homeless
Georgia Loney ABC (No paywall)Red tape is hindering plans by Margaret River locals to build tiny houses for the homeless, the local rotary club says. It comes as housing shortages in the region leaves local workers competing with tourists for tent sites at caravan parks. The Margaret River Rotary Club (MRRC) is leading a proposal for the construction of 10 small houses, each with about 45 square metres of living space, at the historical Railway Barracks site. The club, with the backing of housing advocacy groups, wants to secure the lease of the land from the state government.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-15/margaret-river-rotary-clu…
# Australia, Homelessness, Planning and development.Yorkshire Housing secures £77m deal with NatWest to help fund 8,000 affordable homes
Justine Bourne (No paywall)Yorkshire Housing own and manage 20,000 affordable and social rent homes across 20 local authorities with plans to increase their portfolio by around 20% over the next eight years through providing more energy efficient homes. The new £77million funding package from NatWest will enable Yorkshire Housing to ramp up their efforts to decarbonise existing homes ahead of government targets through their retrofit scheme, which sees existing homes fitted out with sustainable technologies such as heat pumps and solar panels. (unlocknetzero)
https://www.unlocknetzero.co.uk/news/yorkshire-housing-secures-7…
# International, Public and community housing, Utilities water energy internet, Affordable housing, Climate change.Not getting your bond back can be hugely stressful when moving house. So what can tenants do about it?
Jasmine Hines ABC (No paywall)Tenants Queensland said across the country, steep rent rises and cost of living pressures are leaving many renters struggling when moving to a new home, meaning they can't afford to fight lengthy bond dispute claims. CEO Penny Carr wants the Queensland government to introduce a provisional bond transfer system to ease financial stress so bonds could be moved from property to property.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-17/bond-returns-queensland-r…
# Australia, Bond, Rent, State Government.With flood and rain in Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales, there's a tricky conversation we have to have
Virginia Trioli ABC (No paywall)[The federal emergency management minister, Murray Watt] said the country needed to have a conversation about property buybacks: voluntary ones, preferably, but possibly even compulsory ones where they are needed. "We're not talking about relocating every home, you know … but the areas where it's happening time and time again,'' he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-15/tricky-talk-we-have-to-ha…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market.Clarence Plains shaking off stigma as home buyers snap up affordable housing
Selina Ross ABC (No paywall)Linda Nicholson has called Clarendon Vale home for more than two decades. The suburb — and its neighbour, Rokeby — in outer-east Hobart were developed in the 1970s for public housing. ... Clarendon Vale was surrounded on three sides by bush and farmland until around 20 years ago, when the suburb of Oakdowns was developed on its south-east boundary. Now, new suburbs are also being developed on its west, north and north-east boundaries. Collectively, the area has been named Clarence Plains and it is rapidly becoming a popular option for home-buyers because house prices have increased across greater Hobart.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-17/clarence-plains-housing-c…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Housing market.Stamp duty cut to go ahead despite Hunt ditching other tax measures
Stephen Delahunty Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Today the new chancellor has announced that the “permanent” cut to stamp duty tax will go ahead despite ditching nearly all of the other tax measures announced in the Mini Budget last month. Jeremy Hunt confirmed in a short statement this morning that the plan to double the stamp duty threshold will still go ahead despite scrapping almost all of the other tax measures that he said have not been legislated for in parliament. ... For first-time buyers, who pay no stamp duty on the first £300,000, that threshold will rise to £425,000. It was one of few measures kept by Mr Hunt, whose speech today was aimed at providing stability and confidence in the government’s commitment to fiscal discipline after the measures announced in the Mini Budget spooked gilt markets.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/stamp-duty-cut-to-go-a…
# International, Home ownership, Tax.How does the RBA set interest rates each month? Why was this month's decision a close call?
Michael Janda ABC (No paywall)The Reserve Bank's deputy governor has offered a detailed insight into the process that goes into the RBA's interest rate decision every month, while the latest board minutes revealed this month's rate decision was "finely balanced".
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-18/how-does-the-reserve-bank…
# Australia, Housing market.