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
Gold Coast property market booming despite closed borders — so what happens when overseas buyers return?
Dominic Cansdale ABC (No paywall)Queensland's border is once again shut but the Gold Coast property market continues to surge, driven in large part by interstate buyers unable to visit the properties they are purchasing. ... But given the Gold Coast property market has been strong despite border closures, the eventual return of overseas buyers, while still uncertain, could drive up demand even further.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-23/gold-coast-property-marke…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Rent arrears rise by £88m during pandemic waves, lettings agency claims
Matthew Lane (No paywall)From he United Kingdom ... An estate and lettings agent has analysed how the level of rental arrears has grown between each wave of the pandemic.
https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2021/9/rent-ar…
# International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Berlin buys thousands of apartments from corporate landlords
(No paywall)Berlin’s city government said Friday it is buying some 14,750 apartments from two large corporate landlords for 2.46 billion euros ($2.9 billion) — a deal announced a week before local and national elections as the German capital tries to expand the supply of publicly owned accommodation. ... Rising rents have been a hot-button issue for years in Berlin, where tenants long enjoyed low rents compared with many other capital cities. Purchases of apartments that were once government-owned but over recent decades were sold off to private companies are one way in which the outgoing city government — a left-wing coalition of the Social Democrats, Greens and Left Party — has sought to address the problem. So far, it hasn’t had much success. In April, Germany’s highest court ruled that a cap the local government imposed on rent prices last year was unconstitutional and void.
https://apnews.com/article/europe-business-elections-berlin-nati…
# International, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Tenant News
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)Check out the latest stories from Tenant News ... Lots about renting during Covid-19; new laws for pets in strata; discrimination; housing crisis; Make Renting Fair campaign; land lease communities; Tenants' Union staff
https://us3.campaign-archive.com/?u=29c79d2825cb376b3f0b06385&id…
# Must read NSW, Discrimination, Land lease communities, Rent, Affordable housing, Campaigns and law reform, Coronavirus COVID-19.Australia's housing laws are changing, but do they go far enough to prevent pet abandonment?
Emma Power and Wendy Stone The Conversation (No paywall)New South Wales recently became the latest state to end blanket bans on pets in apartments, joining Queensland and the ACT. ... But while some laws are changing, there is still too much uncertainty across the housing system. As a result, pets are often the victims when people need to relocate and can’t take their dogs or cats with them. With close to 2.5 million Australians now living in apartments and a third of Australian households renting their homes — and rising — there is an urgent need for consistent, equitable and pet-supportive housing policies across the country. ... One group is left out of the newly introduced NSW rules. Renters will still require landlord permission to keep pets in strata title apartments — and that can be hard to come by.
https://theconversation.com/australias-housing-laws-are-changing…
# Australia, Rent, Strata, Housing market.COVID secrecy could spell disaster for apartment residents
Jane Hearn The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The coronavirus pandemic is revealing just how deadly the NSW government’s attitude towards high-density apartment communities could be. It is a simple fact that strata living presents a higher risk of COVID-19 transmission than in freestanding homes. Yet, despite calls from independent experts and building managers for pandemic planning and clear rules, the strata sector has not only been ignored, worse, it is being resisted. This is why there are growing calls for a commissioner of strata living, the need for which has only become more acute throughout this pandemic. Owners corporations and their elected strata committees have a duty of care to residents, staff, contractors and visitors. This includes a responsibility to take reasonable precautions against the spread of communicable diseases.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/covid-secrecy-could-spell-di…
# NSW, Strata, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Housing market, State Government.The Global Housing Market Is Broken, and It’s Dividing Entire Countries
Alan Crawford (No paywall)Soaring property prices are forcing people all over the world to abandon all hope of owning a home. The fallout is shaking governments of all political persuasions. It’s a phenomenon given wings by the pandemic. And it’s not just buyers — rents are also soaring in many cities. The upshot is the perennial issue of housing costs has become one of acute housing inequality, and an entire generation is at risk of being left behind.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-09-19/global-housin…
# International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Young people.The solution to homeless encampments is making them unnecessary, not illegal
Jesse Jenkinson and Stephen Hwang The Conversation (No paywall)From Canada ... The number of people visibly living in encampments has increased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This has led to cities — including Toronto, Victoria and Vancouver — to work with encampment residents to move them into shelters, hotel spaces and more rarely, stable housing. ... Some cities, such as Victoria, have committed to full-scale transformation of the homeless-serving system, rooted in a right to housing and human-rights approach ... just the beginning of a more humane, consistent and evidence-based approach to addressing chronic homelessness in Canada.
https://theconversation.com/the-solution-to-homeless-encampments…
# International, Eviction, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Homelessness.