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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Rents and migration - what does the data tell us?
Leo Patterson Ross Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)In recent times, amplified by the Federal government, there has been a resurgence of the idea that pulling back migration numbers will ease pressure on our renting system. Progressive and conservative voices critique this notion.
https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/rents-and-migration-what-does-da…
# Must read, Hot topic, Research alert NSW, Discrimination, Public and community housing, Rent.Thousands of public, social homes eligible for subsidised property upgrades in renewable energy scheme
Mikala Theocharous 9 News (No paywall)Thousands of low-income households across New South Wales will have access to cheaper clean energy as part of a savings scheme spearheaded by the federal government. The initiative will provide upgrades to 24,000 public and social housing properties to help residents save money on electricity. The upgrades include heat pump hot water system installations, ceiling fans, reverse-cycle air conditioners, solar systems, insulation and draught proofing.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/nsw-clean-energy-cost-of-livin…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Public and community housing, Rent, Repairs.How to get your bond back for a rental property
Jim Malo and Tawar Razaghi The Sydney Morning Herald (Soft Paywall)A bond can be one of the biggest costs when moving into a new rental. It’s usually a month’s or four weeks’ rent paid by the tenant and held as security in case a tenant breaks the rental agreement. Returning the bond at the end of the tenancy isn’t always a smooth process – but there are steps renters can take to help make it so.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/how-to-get-your-bond-back-f…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, Bond.Population change and rents
Tenants' Union of NSW Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)This new dashboard examines the connections between population change, vacancy rates and real rent change. There are three sheets on the dashboard - Rent Vacancy and Migration, Linear Regression, and Greater Sydney and Regional NSW.
https://www.tenants.org.au/reports/population-change-and-rents
# Hot topic, Research alert NSW, Discrimination, Rent.Rent regulations are no silver bullet, but they would help make renting fairer
Dr Alistair Sisson The Conversation (No paywall)Virtually every week brings news of rising rents or a story of still more renters forced out of their homes by unmanageable rent increases. The Australian Bureau of Statistics says rents climbed 6.6% in the year to October. If you’re signing a new rent agreement the situation is worse, with landlords charging on average 8.6% more than they did a year ago, and far more – about 15% more than a year ago – in the hotpots of Sydney and Melbourne.
https://theconversation.com/rent-regulations-are-no-silver-bulle…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.As rents reach record highs, here's a capital city breakdown of the most affordable suburbs
Hanan Dervisevic ABC (No paywall)Australia's rental prices have reached a new record high, breaking through the median $600 a week barrier for the first time. The average household now needs to spend 31 per cent of its income to pay the median rent, up from 26.7 per cent in March 2020. With many households struggling to pay the rent, here's the latest data from CoreLogic that looks into the cheapest rental suburbs in each capital city.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-24/cheapest-rental-suburbs-e…
# Must read, Research alert Australia, Rent.Renters know they are the losers in Australia’s housing system, and as their anger rises, so will their protest vote
Emma Dawson The Guardian (No paywall)If you thought the fight over housing policy got ugly in 2023, hold on to your hats. Parliament isn’t back until next month but the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has already declared “until Labor backs the Greens’ push to freeze and cap rent rises and stop giving billions of dollars to wealthy property moguls, the housing crisis will just get worse”. Make no mistake, them’s fightin’ words.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/16/the-greens…
# Must read, Legal significance Australia, Public and community housing, Rent.‘A pretty grim picture’: Biggest expense for many households blows out
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Asking rents have risen at least twice as fast as wages in most capital cities since the pandemic hit, putting pressure on tenants facing a cost of living crisis. Wages have grown 10.6 per cent from the December quarter of 2019 to the September quarter of 2023, the most recent figures available from the ABS show.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/a-pretty-grim-picture-bigge…
# Hot topic Australia, Bond, Public and community housing, Rent.