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
Could a simple change to zoning laws solve Canberra's housing affordability crisis?
Markus Mannheim ABC (No paywall)Canberra is not quite a bustling metropolis. Yet its housing prices are what might be expected in far larger, denser cities. The median value of a house in the ACT is now above $1 million — more than in Melbourne. Rents in the bush capital are the highest of any Australian city, for both apartments and houses. The effects of this price boom on housing affordability are well known: many younger people are losing hope of owning property unless they inherit it. However, a potential solution exists — let's call it "the New Zealand fix" — that could leave almost everyone a winner. Yet it may be too radical for most Australian communities, let alone highly planned Canberra.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-08/can-radical-rezoning-solv…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Local Government, Planning and development.Foreign investment in Australian homes falls to 15-year low
Lucy Macken Domain (No paywall)Foreign investment in Australian residential real estate fell to its lowest level in more than 15 years after the pandemic forced the closure of Australia’s borders last financial year. There were a paltry 4384 residential real estate approvals in the 12 months to June last year totalling $10.4 billion, a drop of $6.7 billion worth of investment on the year prior.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/foreign-investment-in-austr…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.House price squeeze: 'I bid dozens of times but lost'
Natalie Sherman BBC (No paywall)As home prices in the US surge at record rates, the American Dream is moving out of reach. Ethan put in more than two dozen offers on homes after starting his house hunt in Phoenix, Arizona in 2020. But as competition heated up, prices in the sprawling desert city jumped 14% in 2020 and then another 32% last year, finally pushing him out of the market. "It was just absolute insanity," says the 29-year-old statistician, who was repeatedly beaten out by buyers offering cash. "At this point, there's no plan to get back into the market unless something drastic happens," he adds. "If you're not in it right now, it's tough to get in."
# International, Rent.Unemployment is falling quickly, so why are so many people still struggling?
Gareth Hutchens ABC (No paywall)Australia's labour market is tightening. The unemployment rate is declining, and it's headed down to 1970s levels. Job vacancies are at record highs and the number of officially "unemployed" people per vacancy has fallen to 1.6, the lowest on record. So why are so many people still struggling to find work? It has to do with the labour market itself. ... Since becoming unemployed, [Ashlie Stevenson's] applied for hundreds of roles but has rarely heard back from employers. You have to make choices between medicine and food, rent and food," she told the ABC this week. "Choices that, in Australia, you shouldn't have to make." Ms Stevenson has been on the waiting list for public housing for the last seven years and she has spent the last two without a permanent place to sleep.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-10/unemployment-is-falling-q…
# Australia, Rent, Work, employment.The Housing Podcast: what is behind the rising number of disrepair claims being brought against social landlords?
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Over the past year, the issue of disrepair in social housing properties has risen in prominence to become one of the country’s key social issues. This has been brought to light by a long-term ITV News investigation which has featured cases where residents have been living in appalling conditions. These case studies have painted a picture where tenants have been ignored by their landlords for months, or sometimes years.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/the-housing-podcast-what-is…
# Audio International, Public and community housing, Repairs.Mountain View landlords aren't registering units with the city, prompting calls for more enforcement
Kevin Forestieri (No paywall)From the United States ... Mountain View's Rental Housing Committee agreed last week to consider new ways to get property owners to register rental units with the city, a requirement that has gone ignored by many landlords. Under the city's rent control program, property owners are required to be transparent about their rental units and provide information including current rents, latest rent increases and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms in each home. But compliance with the mandate has been low, with only about 30% to 35% of landlords reporting this information to the city. (Mountain View Voice)
https://www.mv-voice.com/news/2022/04/07/mountain-view-landlords…
# International, Rent, Landlords and agents.Renters to hold protests across England this weekend over ‘broken system’
Liam Geraghty (No paywall)Rent union ACORN and campaign group Social Housing Action Campaign are both holding rallies on Saturday to protest against rising rents, housing conditions and evictions. Hundreds of people will hit the streets across England on Saturday in a rent protest over the country’s “broken” rental system.
https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/renters-to-hold-protests-a…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Landlords and agents, No-grounds evictions.Landlord’s insane texts to Sydney couple after simple request
news.com.au (No paywall)A young couple have been left shocked by the text messages they received from their landlord after making an extremely common request. Trying to find a rental property in one of the most expensive cities in the world is stressful on the best of days, but add an uncooperative ex-landlord into the mix and things get even more difficult.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/landlords-in…
# NSW, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.