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
Climate change to deliver suburban house price pain: RBA
Shane Wright and Mike Foley The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Climate change could cut property prices across a swath of Sydney’s northern suburbs from Lane Cove to Ku-ring-gai, with Reserve Bank analysis showing many homeowners face declining equity in their houses and rising insurance costs. ... The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) latest report confirmed the world was on track to experience extreme weather due to global warming even if swift action was taken to limit global warming to 2 degrees. It predicted Australia, which has warmed 1.4 degrees since 1910, would experience rising average temperatures with extreme heat, more frequent and intense bushfires, droughts, floods and rising sea levels. The RBA economists said the risks in climate-sensitive suburbs could further increase if the insurance costs for affected areas became prohibitive.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/climate-change-to-delive…
# NSW, Climate change, Housing market.How your pet changes your brain chemistry for the better
Kerryn Phelps The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)For many people, the decision to get a pet is a natural one, because they grew up with pets and a home feels incomplete without one. Some people are looking for company as an antidote to sadness or loneliness, or because they seek unconditional loyalty or motivation to get up in the morning. Some parents want their children to learn the responsibility of caring for a pet. ... The profound psychological effects of having a family pet are well documented. Animal lovers know that having a pet can make you feel calmer, less anxious and more loved. ... In 2013, a group of cardiologists reviewed the evidence on pet ownership and heart disease for the American Heart Association. They concluded that “Pet ownership, particularly dog ownership, is probably associated with decreased cardiovascular disease risk.” ... In older people, we know that pet ownership can improve a person’s mental health by providing companionship, meaning and purpose, relieving loneliness and encouraging social interaction.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/how-your-pe…
# Australia, Health.No bubbles in sight, but Australia’s property boom comes at a cost
Jessica Irvine The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The truth is, Australia’s property market is less likely to go “bang” than it is to exert a slowly building stranglehold over all of our lives. Most obvious, of course, is the impact on first home buyers, particularly low-income earners and those with no parental support to get over the “deposit hurdle” and into secure housing.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/no-bubbles-in-sight-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market, Young people.Evergrande's collapse could be very bad news for Australia and the world. Here's why
David Taylor ABC (No paywall)China is the world's second biggest economy. Its property sector makes up 25 per cent of gross domestic product or GDP. Evergrande is China's second biggest property developer, the world's most indebted, and it's in severe financial distress. ... A Chinese property market crash would cripple China's economy. China is Australia's largest trading partner, so this has obvious and sizeable flow-on effects for Australia's economic growth, stock market and superannuation balances.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-22/evergrande-collapse-could…
# Australia, Housing market, International.Retirement village owner uses squatters’ rights in court bid to claim Sydney property
Chrisytopher Knaus The Guardian (No paywall)The operator of a private retirement village tried to stop a woman taking possession of her deceased grandparents’ land on the fringes of Sydney, claiming it as its own using squatters’ rights. ... Because Australian Retirement Holdings failed to prove its predecessor had secured the land for its private use, it failed to show a 12-year period of continuous exclusive use, meaning the claim for squatters’ rights failed. And read the followup article entitled: '"They’re going to meet their Waterloo": woman wins remarkable legal battle against developerat: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/22/theyre-going-to-meet-their-waterloo-grandma-wins-remarkable-legal-battle-against-developer]
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/22/retiremen…
# NSW, Squatting.After leaving her marriage Maya ended up homeless and locked out of her accounts
Grace Jennings-Edquist ABC (No paywall)Maya used to run a successful a manufacturing business. But for the last two years, she's been homeless in regional Victoria after leaving an abusive marriage. "I was the managing director of my own company for 20 years, but he has taken everything, including my dog," says Maya, 49. "Now I'm destitute." As with most of regional Australia, in the Gippsland region, where she's based, women face higher levels of poverty and disadvantage following family violence ... Women are also more vulnerable to homelessness, partly because regional crisis accommodation shelters are struggling to meet demand. (ABC Everyday)
https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/left-homeless-after-fleeing-tech…
# Australia, Domestic violence, Homelessness, Personal stories.Earthquakes don’t kill people; buildings do. And those lovely decorative bits are the first to fall
Ann L Brower The Conversation (No paywall)News of Melbourne’s earthquake today made my left leg hurt. That’s the leg I nearly lost. On February 22 2011, there were nine of us on a red bus from Sumner to Canterbury University in Christchurch. At 12.51, the unreinforced brick facade of 605 Colombo Street crushed our bus and four pedestrians. I felt brick after brick land on my left hip, and wondered how long I would last. I’m the only one left — the lucky thirteenth. ... It wasn’t the earthquake that killed everyone but me on that bus. It was the building, its lack of regulation, lack of structural support, and lack of a fence. It wasn’t just bad luck. ... After Christchurch, New Zealand learned our lesson and reformed our building legislation. ... I treasure my left leg, scars and all. But please, Australia, learn from your Kiwi cousins.
https://theconversation.com/earthquakes-dont-kill-people-buildin…
# Australia, Housing market.China's real estate house of cards could be brought down by Evergrande, the world's most indebted company
Bill Birtles and Paddy Fok ABC (No paywall)Chinese property giant Evergrande is being picked over by outside advisers who are trying to untangle more than $400 billion of debt. One of the nation's largest real estate developers, the company claims to own more than "1,300 projects in more than 280 cities in China ... And until this year, Chinese property was booming. ... Despite skyrocketing property prices in China's top cities, a glut of apartment blocks in smaller, less desirable cities has curtailed demand for Evergrande's projects and hurt sales. Worsening the company's crisis, it is yet to finish building an estimated 1.4 million apartments that it previously sold off-the-plan to buyers, creating yet another group of people eager to recoup their money amid concerns construction will stop. You will find a similar analysis by Eryk Bagshaw entitled 'Running on empty: how Evergrande became the world’s most indebted property company' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/what-caused-the-evergrande-crisis-20210922-p58tru.html]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-21/china-property-bust-everg…
# International, Home ownership, Housing market, Landlords and agents.