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
What the return of international students to NSW means for the student accommodation sector
Alison Worrall (No paywall)A pilot program to allow small batches of fully-vaccinated international students to return to NSW to finish their studies has sparked hope for the crippled student accommodation sector. It comes amid growing concerns that thousands of foreign students are becoming impatient with Australian border closures and opting to study in the UK, US and Canada. After months of discussions between universities, purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) providers, health authorities and government officials, the latest announcement is seen as a light at the end of the tunnel for the sector, which was worth roughly $40 billion to the Australian economy in 2019. Industry players now hope other states will follow the NSW government’s lead and allow students to complete quarantine in student accommodation buildings.
https://www.commercialrealestate.com.au/news/what-the-return-of-…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Students.Population growth and mobility in Australia: implications for housing and urban development policies
Amity James, Steven Rowley, Amanda Davies, Rachel Ong ViforJ and Ranjodh Singh AHURI (No paywall)This research tracks Australia’s population growth over the period 2006–16 to examine how actual growth differed from projected growth. It also examined key drivers of population mobility in Australia to inform future urban development policy responses to demands on infrastructure and housing.
# Research alert Australia, Housing market, Planning and development.Col James Student Housing for quarantine trial
Lyn Turnbull (No paywall)Scape built and operates the Col James Student Housing building adjacent to the railway line under a long-term lease from the Aboriginal Housing Company which paid for construction of the Aboriginal housing. In May, Scape took a proposal to the NSW treasurer to use its new building to quarantine overseas students. On September 23 Scape was awarded the contract to run a trial starting in December 2021. The building accommodates about 500 students in single rooms with individually contained air-conditioning. Students, who will arrive in groups of 250 for their 14 days in quarantine, must be fully vaccinated with one of the four Australian approved vaccines – AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson. The buses they arrive in will pull into the building’s delivery area to avoid external contact with local residents. (South Sydney Herald)
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/col-james-student-housing-for-q…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Students.Guarantor loans jump 71 per cent across Australia in six years: Aussie Home Loans
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Guarantor loans have increased by 71 per cent over six years, new figures reveal, as runaway house price growth prompts more parents to help their children get onto the property ladder. The bank of mum and dad has become prolific in Australia, bankrolling about $35 billion worth of loans and is now the ninth biggest lender in the country.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/guarantor-loans-jump-71-per-cent-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.China’s property sector in turmoil as another developer hits trouble
Sofia Horta e Costa and Rebecca Choong Wilkins The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A missed bond payment by a Chinese developer has reignited investor angst about the health of the nation’s property sector.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/china-s-property-sector-…
# International, Housing market, International, Landlords and agents.Quality of social housing ‘scandalously poor’, says Gove
Nathaniel Barker Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... [The new housing secretary Michael Gove said:] the quality of social housing, particularly in some parts of the country, remains scandalously poor. “That there are people who are living in conditions which are overcrowded, there are people living in conditions affected by damp and other factors, which hold back the flourishing of children and families.”
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/quality-of-social-housing-s…
# International, Public and community housing, Repairs, Families, Mould.Agglomeration effects and housing market dynamics
Christian A. Nygaard, Sharon Parkinson and Margaret Reynolds AHURI (No paywall)This research quantifies productivity-related agglomeration benefits arising from the concentration of employment in Australia. Clustering of jobs in cities can improve labour productivity by reducing the costs of exchanging goods and services, labour and ideas, and may allow for better matching of skills to jobs, which in turn may produce higher wages as firms compete for skilled labour. However, cities also typically have higher house prices, which reduce entry and ongoing affordability, and greater pollution and other wellbeing detriments such as crime and noise which may reduce productivity.
# Australia, Housing market, Work, employment.‘The Moratorium Saved Us. It Really Did.’
Matthew Desmond The New York Times (Paywall)From the United States ... With the eviction moratorium over, the road to more opportunity and less inequality runs through affordable housing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/opinion/sunday/eviction-covid…
# International, Eviction, Affordable housing, Coronavirus COVID-19.