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
Housing crisis? We could fix it easily we just don’t want to! It would make us very unpopular with people like us
First Dog on the Moon The Guardian (No paywall)Housing crisis? We could fix it easily we just don’t want to! It would make us very unpopular with people like us - First Dog on the Moon Comic Panel
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2025/sep/03/ho…
# Must read Australia, .Landlord List: See how many properties your local MP owns
Sean Johnson Crikey (Paywall)New analysis of the 48th Parliament’s interests register by Crikey and Open Politics reveals MPs and their families have declared 451 properties, from primary residences and second homes in Canberra through to rental investment properties, holiday homes and beach houses. Of the 226 members, 135 declared that they or their families own two or more properties, 69 own three or more properties, and 29 own four of more. Only 16 MPs, 7% have declared owning no property at all.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/08/29/which-australian-politician…
# Hot topic Australia, .The plan for Sydney's forgotten train station at Woollahra in the eastern suburbs
7 News (No paywall)What do you think about the plan for Woollahra station? The suburb is set to become a new stop on Sydney's T4 Eastern Suburbs Line in 2029. Backlash from residents thwarted its construction in the 1970s but 50 years on, NSW Premier Chris Minns is adamant it will finally be completed. The plan forms part of a scheme to construct 10,000 new homes in Woollahra and Edgecliff to alleviate Sydney's housing crisis.
# Video NSW, .More than two-thirds of NSW public land suitable for housing sold to private developers
Anne Davies The Guardian (No paywall)The New South Wales government has sold more than two-thirds of publicly owned sites identified as surplus and suitable for housing to private developers as a result of its much-vaunted statewide property audit. Many sites are being sold without requirements for social or affordable housing. Despite a Labor policy directing that government land suitable for housing should be prioritised for public housing, Homes NSW has bought just three of the 55 sites that have been identified for sale.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/aug/20/more-than…
# NSW, Public and community housing.‘We got scammed’: British traveller’s shock introduction to Sydney’s rental market
Kate Kachor Domain (No paywall)A British tourist has had a shock introduction to Sydney’s rental market after claiming she was scammed into living in a shipping container in the backyard of a terrace home. The young traveller, who we’ll call Ava, arrived in Sydney with a friend in January this year. The friends had hoped to rent two separate rooms in a sharehouse or an apartment in the harbour city. But, given their search was at the peak of summer, it proved difficult. Sydney’s rental vacancy rate in January is often at or near its lowest point for the year. In January 2024, it reached a record low of 0.9 per cent, according to Domain data.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/we-got-scammed-british-travellers…
# NSW, .The inner west apartment block where the chooks have the best view
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Keith is on the chook roster, collecting eggs for his neighbours. That’s not unusual. What is different is the hens’ uninterrupted views to the south and north of Sydney from the 1200-square-metre rooftop gardens spreading across the Arkadia apartments in Alexandria. They are worth clucking about. “Rare to see chickens having the best view in the building,” said former resident Yvonne Cai, who had loved cleaning the coop and collecting the eggs with other residents. When it was completed in 2019, Arkadia was also the first residential development in Australia to be completed without any gas connection.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-inner-west-apartment-blo…
# NSW, ."Medium density alone isn’t a silver bullet": How Australia’s housing debate found itself in Castlecrag Shopping Village
Huw Bradshaw North Shore Lorikeet (No paywall)The fight over an eleven-story apartment proposal in Castlecrag has come to reflect the state's larger housing affordability crisis, pitting calls for more density against concerns of rushed overdevelopment. At the centre is independent Bradfield MP Nicolette Boele, who has been branded a "NIMBY" by critics, a label she rejects as both unfair and unhelpful. “I strongly support affordable housing”, Boele told the Lorikeet. “The single biggest lever to making homes more affordable is to increase supply.” Supporting medium density housing — such as that proposed in Castlecrag — was a key point of Boele’s affordable housing policy platform in the 2025 election. Boele said that while the Castlecrag proposal included medium-density elements, that alone “isn’t a silver bullet.”
https://www.northshorelorikeet.com.au/p/medium-density-alone-isn…
# NSW, Rent.NSW real estate agents threaten renters with fees if they are not home for tradespeople – but legally they don’t have to be
Catie McLeod The Guardian (No paywall)New South Wales real estate agents are threatening renters with fees as high as $330 if they are not at home to let maintenance workers in, despite there being no legal requirement for renters to personally allow entry. On 8 July, Lauren Gillin’s agency told her she needed to be home during a two-and-a-half-hour window seven days from that date to allow access for a smoke alarm inspector or pay a $90 fee.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/26/nsw-rente…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent, Repairs.