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
Australia’s rental affordability drops to worst levels in nearly a decade
Mostafa Rachwani The Guardian (No paywall)Australian rental affordability has dropped to its worst levels in nearly a decade, with the average household spending a third of its income on rent, as the impacts of the Covid pandemic continue to be felt on the market.
Lower income households pay even more, with more than half of their income going towards their rent, according to new research from ANZ and CoreLogic.
The ANZ CoreLogic housing affordability report has found rental affordability – the portion of income required to service a new lease – is at its highest level nationally since June 2014, with 30.8% of an average income required to service a new lease.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/29/australia…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.Real estate agents accused of relisting properties at higher prices as rents rise by more than $500 in some suburbs
Cait Kelly The Guardian (No paywall)People looking for rental homes say properties they are applying for are being taken off the market before being re-listed at higher prices.
On 24 April, Linda, who did not want her last name used, applied for a property in Yeronga in Queensland, for $530 a week. The inspection was busy, so she did not think she had much of a chance, but three days later she received an email from the agents incorrectly stating that she had withdrawn her application.
“Then I looked at the ad and saw they had increased the rent price and were holding another inspection.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/27/real-esta…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents.WA's rental laws are finally being updated. Here's everything you need to know
Keane Bourke ABC (No paywall)More than a decade after Western Australia's rental laws were last updated, change is afoot.
After being delayed by COVID, the government has today announced a raft of changes that it says will balance the needs of both renters and landlords.
One of the biggest changes is that rents will only be allowed to be increased once a year – down from twice currently.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-26/everything-you-need-to-kn…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability.What does Australia’s median rent of $600 a week get you in each capital city?
Mostafa Rachwani The Guardian (No paywall)While the rental crisis continues unabated across the country, it can look and feel different from city to city.
According to the most recent CoreLogic data, the median rent for all dwellings across the country is $577 a week, and $603 in capital cities.
That median figure for combined capitals has been steadily rising – and increased 11.7% over the past year.
So what does $600 of rent get you in each capital city? Here are some examples.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/28/what-does…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.Health and wellbeing of renters at risk in unsatisfactory rental properties
Millie Costigan Canberra Times (No paywall)Australian renters are bracing for a winter in expensive, poorly insulated homes that may be taking a toll on their health.
According to a study conducted by Asthma Australia, renters were nearly twice as likely to report mould than homeowners.
New research from the University of South Australia has found that weak regulations on rental property standards are putting the health of Australian renters at risk.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8197965/competitive-renta…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Health, Housing market, Mould.On home turf: housing debate gets personal for targeted Greens spokesman Max Chandler-Mather
Joe Hinchliffe The Guardian (No paywall)A 20-hectare parcel of Brisbane land known as Bulimba Barracks, which has been slated for development, becomes ground zero in heated national debate over housing.
The vacant land of the former Bulimba Barracks snakes its way around a bend on the banks of the Brisbane River.
Here, the river widens and seeps into the fabric of the surrounding suburb – skiffs and canoes sit beside SUVs and road bikes in the garages of restored timber cottages, old Queenslanders and villas adorned with lush, subtropical gardens.
Few people who live outside Bulimba would have visited the barracks since it was sold by the federal government in 2020.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/28/bulimba-b…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Planning and development.Short shrift for short stays: Labor MPs plot Airbnb crackdown to tackle rental crisis
Broede Carmody The Age (Paywall)Victorian landlords who let their properties via short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb could be charged a new tax under measures to be considered by the Andrews government to ease the rental crisis in tourist areas such as the Mornington Peninsula.
Capping the number of nights landlords can list their properties on Airbnb, imposing a “tourist tax” as has been done overseas, or empowering local councils to charge property owners higher commercial rates should all be on the table, say Labor MPs involved in early discussions on the government’s upcoming housing policy.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/short-shrift-for-sho…
# Hot topic Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Short-term holiday letting.‘Doesn’t make any sense’: call for Queensland home park rent caps to apply to all tenants
Eden Gillespie The Guardian (No paywall)It’s “unfair” that a proposed rent cap for Queensland manufactured home park residents will not be considered for tenants in the wider private housing market, advocates say.
Manufactured home parks are marketed as retirement villages for those over 50, where residents lease the land from the park owner, with rent going towards shared facilities and utilities.
Under the state’s Manufacturing Homes Act, park owners are able to increase rent each year in line with CPI. They are also allowed to charge more if they’ve incurred significant operational costs, and increase rent further every three years after a “market review”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/27/doesnt-ma…
# Hot topic Australia, Land lease communities, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability.