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
Government accused of caving in to building lobby amid plans to shake up housing sector in England
Fiona Harvey The Guardian (No paywall)The government has been accused of bowing to lobbying by housebuilders, in proposals that would prevent English local authorities from pursuing improvements to low-carbon homes standards. Under a consultation on planning rules, councils would be issued with guidance that would effectively limit their scope to demand builders construct new homes within their areas to the highest possible standards.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/feb/24/uk-government-ho…
# International, .Govt defends rent reforms as major landlord predicts 25% rise in income
RTE (Ireland) (No paywall)Taoiseach Micheál Martin has defended the Government's rent reforms after a major landlord predicted they would lead to increases of over 25% in its rental income. Ires Reit, Ireland's largest residential landlord, owns 3,627 properties with an average rent of €1,852. In its preliminary results for 2025, it has said that the "positive" changes announced by the Government could see a "+25% potential rental income uplift with minimal added costs".
https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2026/0225/1560370-dail-housing/
# International, Rent.How the Frozen Housing Market Is Battering U.S. Manufacturers
John Keilman The Wall Street Journal (Paywall)The good news for appliance manufacturer Whirlpool WHR -1.27%decrease; red down pointing triangle is that when a refrigerator or washing machine breaks, homeowners generally purchase a new one. The bad news: The replacement usually isn’t very fancy.
https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/how-the-frozen-housing-marke…
# International, .How Melbourne beats Sydney on housing crisis solutions
Matt Wade The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The NSW government has not prioritised the best type of residential development to deal with Sydney’s housing shortage and should follow Victoria’s blueprint to fix the crisis, a leading think tank says. Analysis by the Grattan Institute shows the most feasible housing option across Sydney’s established suburbs is three-storey townhouses and other forms of “gentle” density. But that is “precisely the housing typology that NSW has not allowed enough of” under recent planning reforms, said Brendan Coates, a Grattan Institute economist and co-author of the research.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/how-melbourne-beats-sydney-o…
# Hot topic NSW, .The 1950 housing headline that is still relevant in NSW 76 years later
Alexandra Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)NSW Liberal Leader Kellie Sloane has signalled she intends to make next year’s state election a referendum on the housing crisis, warning history is repeating itself, with NSW Labor falling short on building targets as it did almost 80 years ago. In her first major speech on housing since taking the leadership late last year, Sloane told the Robert Menzies Institute on Monday that while it was easy to look back on the “Menzian era as the golden age of home ownership”, the founding father of the Liberal Party inherited a housing crisis.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/the-1950-housing-headline-th…
# History NSW, .Legal Matters with Oliver Slewa: Rental Bond
Ninos Emmauel SBS (No paywall)Oliver Slewa explains the rules governing rental bonds in New South Wales (NSW). What are the rights and obligations of both tenants and landlords? Where is the bond money held? And under what circumstances can an agent or landlord refuse to refund the tenant’s bond?
https://www.sbs.com.au/language/assyrian/en/podcast-episode/lega…
# Hot topic, Audio NSW, Bond.Rising land prices the main factor blocking new housing, report finds
Ahmed Yussuf ABC (No paywall)Australians might need to shift their thinking on how they live in order to address the housing crisis, experts say. The comments follow the release of a Housing Industry Association-Cotality report that found land prices have risen by about three times more than construction and labour costs since 2000. The report said land was the largest contributor to increased housing costs and found that government policies were impacting prices. "Land prices do not reflect the cost of dirt. They reflect the cost of making land ready for housing," the report reads.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-18/land-prices-blocking-new-…
# NSW, .$1 Auctions Return To Northern Rivers
Mirage News (No paywall)The NSW Government is bringing back one of Australia's most unique house sale programs with the return of the flood buyback auctions for 2026. To date, 130 flood-affected properties, bought by the NSW Government through the Resilient Homes Program, have been offered for sale to be relocated to flood-free land by the new owner.
https://www.miragenews.com/1-auctions-return-to-northern-rivers-…
# NSW, Disasters.