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
Concern proposed planning law change to increase number of trees in Canberra could drive up house prices
Antoinette Radford and Elizabeth Byrne ABC (No paywall)Canberra could soon double down on its reputation as the bush capital under proposed changes to planning laws, which would result in more trees being planted in newer suburbs. The potential changes to the planning laws would compel new residential developments to have at least 20 per cent tree canopy coverage. The ACT government hopes that additional tree coverage will cool the city, and set the territory firmly on track to reaching its goal of 30 per cent tree canopy coverage. ACT Environment Minister and Greens MLA Rebecca Vassarotti said the proposed changes would ensure green space and cooler temperatures for some of Canberra's newer suburbs.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-30/proposed-tree-canopy-law-…
# Australia, Climate change, Housing market, Planning and development.Billionaire wants to build windowless college dorm that is basically a ‘prison’
Gino Spocchia (No paywall)An architect has reportedly resigned from a billionaire-backed student halls project because its rooms are windowless, and are “unsupportable from my perspective as an architect, a parent, and a human being”. Charles Munger, the wealthy donor-turned “amateur architect”, is reportedly behind the proposed development of Munger Hall, which will house students from The University of California in Santa Barbara. (Independent)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/warren-buffet-…
# International, Rent, Sub-letting.From a 'class divide' to 'intergenerational theft', Australia's real estate frenzy leaves many behind
Stephen Long ABC (No paywall)An un-renovated semi-detached home in Bondi sold recently for more than $2.7 million. It had last traded back in the early 1950s, in the pre-decimal currency era, for about a thousand pounds. The "mint original condition", three-bedroom home up the hill from the famous Sydney beach, provides a window into the extraordinary escalation of Australian real estate prices. Had its value merely tracked the rate of consumer price inflation over those 68 years, today that 1,000 pounds would only be worth about $37,000. It is not hard to see why the level of home ownership — once a defining feature of Australian society — has tumbled.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-01/real-estate-housing-affor…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Apartment price growth outstrips rents in major CBDs, new figures show
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Inner-city apartment prices appear to be defying gravity, with price growth outpacing rent growth in the hard-hit CBD unit markets of Sydney and Melbourne, new figures show. Low interest rates have reduced mortgage costs for investors, allowing many to accept lower rents for a time without being forced to sell.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/apartment-price-growth-outstrips-…
# Australia, Rent, Strata, Housing market.Council, state propose housing investment
(Paywall)City of Newcastle to consider MoU with NSW government to fund more social and affordable housing (Newcastle Herald)
https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/7481405/council-state-p…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Local Government, State Government.Will interest rates start rising with inflation and sink house prices and indebted home owners?
David Taylor ABC (No paywall)There are warnings the cost of borrowing and rents are on the march up, and much faster than many experts had been forecasting. ... But with property ownership now out of reach for many younger Australians, is it better to rent? CoreLogic's latest quarterly Rental Review showed national rental rates were rising at their fastest annual pace since 2008.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-28/will-interest-rates-start…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market.‘Era of low interest rates is over’: Rate rises expected ahead of federal election
Shane Wright and Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Official interest rates could rise before Prime Minister Scott Morrison goes to the next election, with clear signs the Reserve Bank’s hand may be forced much earlier than expected to head off inflationary pressures that are set to drive up the cost of Christmas presents.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/era-of-low-interest-rate…
# Australia, Housing market.Up to 277 applicants for every social rent home in London, study reveals
Tim Clark Inside Housing (Paywall)From London ... [A] report by the not-for-profit body Home Connections, which provides a platform that advertises council homes for those on waiting lists, analysed details of up to 26,000 properties. It found that demand increased to 277 applications per home, up from 254 people for every home prior to the pandemic.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/up-to-277-applicants-f…
# International, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.