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
A quarter of Australia’s property investments held by 1% of taxpayers, data reveals
Mostafa Rachwani and Antoun Issa The Guardian (No paywall)Only 1% of Australian taxpayers own nearly a quarter of all property investments across the country, amid concerns over escalating rates of wealth concentration.
Data provided by the Australian Taxation Office has revealed the extent of that concentration, with more than 7% of property investors – or 215,321 people – accounting for 25% of all property investments.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/04/a-quarter…
# Must read, Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Get a housemate? It sounds silly, but might be the reality until Labor and the Greens can build some homes
Paul Karp The Guardian (No paywall)Philip Lowe wants everyone to get a housemate to fix the housing crisis.
It’s the sort of highly clickable headline that turns Australia’s housing woes into great content, giving angry renters someone to blame for their predicament: an out-of-touch Reserve Bank governor.
In context, what Lowe said wasn’t so silly. He merely noted while giving evidence at Senate estimates that since the pandemic “the average number of people living in each dwelling declined and that increased total demand for dwellings”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2023/ju…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.More people than ever are looking for a flatmate, with more 55+ people searching
Liana Walker ABC (No paywall)With inflation, house prices, rents and the cost of living rising RBA Governor Philip Lowe told senate estimates this week more Australians need more people in their dwellings.
But for many this is already an uncomfortable reality as pressures have hit hard and those in the industry have confirmed it is already happening.
At 39 years old, Claire did not ever foresee herself having to share her housing with anyone other than her 18-year-old daughter.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-04/record-breaking-numbers-a…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Older people.‘I’m obviously not first choice’: rental crisis forcing older Australians back into share houses
Cait Kelly The Guardian (No paywall)At 51, Mandy Pritchard does not want to live in a share house, but the unfolding rental crisis means the full-time worker may have to.
It’s a situation the Reserve Bank governor, Philip Lowe, suggested more people would need to consider to bring rents down – telling Australians on Wednesday “we need more people on average to live in each dwelling”.
After splitting with her partner of 19 years, Pritchard – an NGO worker – wants to move from Melbourne to be closer to friends in Sydney or Wollongong, and is being forced to apply for share houses.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/31/im-obviou…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Older people.Labor and the Greens don’t get along. Here’s why
Mark Kenny The Conversation (No paywall)Relations between a centrist Labor government feeling its way and an ascendant Greens party have become surprisingly strained of late.
The rancorous tone of public exchanges reveals deep-seated enmities born of an increasingly direct electoral contest in the inner cities, legitimate policy differences, and a hyper-sensitivity to criticisms made of each other.
A current flashpoint is Labor’s housing policy, or, as the Greens would describe it, Labor’s failure to square up to a full-blown rental affordability crisis.
https://theconversation.com/labor-and-the-greens-dont-get-along-…
# Hot topic Australia, Campaigns and law reform, Federal Government, Housing affordability.How gentrified is your postcode? Search our map of Australia’s capital cities
Josh Nicholas The Guardian (No paywall)More than a third of Sydney and Adelaide suburbs and a quarter in Brisbane are affordable only to the most wealthy, and Hobart and Melbourne are following a similar path, analysis of census data on income and housing costs has found. Almost half of Darwin suburbs are either at risk or already well on the way to being “gentrified”, with a similar figure in Perth.
Researchers at the Australian Urban Observatory, who created a gentrification index from the data, say many of the areas most at risk of being gentrified are relatively recent greenfield areas in what were once outer suburbs, where many lower income families were able to find affordable housing. These families now run the risk of being displaced even farther afield.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/08/how-gentr…
# Must read, Hot topic, Research alert Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Planning and development.‘Defies logic’: How much income buyers need to purchase a typical house
Melissa Heagney-Bayliss Domain (No paywall)Sydney house hunters need to earn more than $250,000 to borrow enough to purchase a typical home, while their Melbourne counterparts need almost $180,000, making homeownership near impossible for the average Australian.
The sizeable sums needed to secure and service a loan for a median-priced house are the result of 11 cash rate rises since May last year, which have slashed buyer borrowing power faster than prices and increased mortgage costs.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/defies-logic-how-much-incom…
# Hot topic Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Brisbane renter wins right to have Chihuahua under Queensland's new tenancy laws
Jessica Black ABC (No paywall)A Brisbane renter whose agent refused her request to a get a Chihuahua because the property was not big enough has won her appeal, in one of the first tests of Queensland's new pet laws.
Since October last year, a landlord must give a reason for refusing a tenant's request to have a pet — and those reasons are laid out in legislation.
They include if the animal is dangerous, the property is unsuitable because of its size and security or if it's not allowed under body corporate by-laws.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-06/test-of-queensland-s-new-…
# Hot topic Australia, Campaigns and law reform, Personal stories, Pets.