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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See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
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Archive
Khan publishes guidance on green planning requirements for developers
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)Three new pieces of guidance have been published to help developers in London meet new planning requirements around energy monitoring, green space and transport routes.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/khan-publishes-guidance-on-…
# International, Planning and development.Government to consider ‘long-term regulatory standard’ to improve energy efficiency of social housing
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Ministers are considering setting a “long-term regulatory standard” to improve the energy efficiency of social housing, according to a major government decarbonisation strategy released today.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/government-to-consider-long…
# International, Public and community housing, Utilities water energy internet, Climate change.House price rises race ahead of units
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The price of houses is growing at a faster rate than apartments, making it harder for those with growing families to upgrade to a larger property with a backyard.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/house-price-…
# Australia, Strata, Housing market.Want to improve housing affordability? Here’s the solution
Peter Tulip The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)State and federal governments give billions of dollars to first-home buyers, ostensibly to improve affordability. But like other demand-side subsidies, these do not reduce overall housing costs. They improve housing access for the favoured recipients but bid up prices, making it more expensive for everyone else. Unless something is done to boost supply, these subsidies just reshuffle a fixed housing stock.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/want-to-improve-housing-affordab…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Planning and development, Tax.The Sydney suburbs with big gaps between house and unit rents
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Sydney tenants are facing a record price gap between house and unit rents, with free-standing homes in dozens of suburbs now leasing for double the cost of an apartment.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/the-sydney-suburbs-with-big-gaps-…
# NSW, Rent, Strata, Housing market.NY Landlords Renew Challenge To Eviction Protections
Emma Whitford (Paywall)A due process "fix" contained within New York's anti-eviction law is a "mirage" that effectively bars landlords from housing court, several property owners and a trade association argued in their latest attempt to block pandemic tenant protections. (Law360)
https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1431866/ny-landlords-ren…
# International, Eviction, Tribunal NCAT, Coronavirus COVID-19.Homes due for demolition to make way for rail line expansions ahead of Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games
Rachel McGhee ABC (No paywall)It may sound like a similar plot to the Australian classic film The Castle, but in a suburb south of Brisbane, dozens of people are living Darryl Kerrigan's worst nightmare and face a far less heart-warming fate. A proposed rail project between the Gold Coast, Logan and Brisbane, is set to make train travel more efficient in time for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games. But it's costing dozens of Logan residents their homes.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-21/qld-homes-demolition-trai…
# Australia, Planning and development.Sydney housing ‘overvalued’ as Australian home buyers take on more debt compared to incomes: UBS
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Sydney property prices are overvalued and Australian households are taking on more debt compared to their incomes to keep up, a new report from investment bank UBS has warned.
But there’s little relief in sight for homebuyers as property prices are likely to keep rising unless interest rates go up, the report said, a scenario the Reserve Bank views as unlikely before 2024.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/sydney-housing-overvalued-as-aust…
# NSW, Housing market, International.