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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
What $1m buys you: house hunting in today’s uncertain property market
Caitlin Cassidy The Guardian (No paywall)The heat may be coming out of the housing market but prices across most regions remain at least 15% above pre-pandemic levels. The average price for a house across Australian capital cities is $1,192,586 – a 6.4% increase on the past 12 months, while the average unit price is $605,837 – a 4.2% increase.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/02/what-1m-b…
# Australia, Housing market.More homes selling at a loss as rising interest rates push down property prices
The Guardian (No paywall)The number of home sellers making a profit has subsided as the property market continues its downwards trend. Loss-making sales grew the fastest in Melbourne and Sydney, according to CoreLogic data, reflecting the sharper downturns in the major cities. There was a 6.4% increase in homes sold at a loss in Sydney in the June quarter and a 5.3% increase in Melbourne. Home values in the two cities have fallen by 2.8% and 1.8%, respectively, during the same period.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/30/more-home…
# Australia, Housing market.National Trust says Central Station tower plans ‘make a mockery’ of heritage
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The National Trust is opposing plans to demolish part of a historic postal building near Sydney’s Central Station to erect a 45-storey hotel and office tower, arguing it would make a mockery of the state’s heritage protections. The trust has objected in the “strongest possible terms” to developer TOGA Group’s $383 million plan to build above the former Parcels Post building, citing the “irreversible detrimental impact” on the old brick structure.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/national-trust-says-central-…
# NSW, Heritage listings, Planning and development, Sydney.Renting to the highest bidder: calls for federal laws to ban practice amid Australia’s cost-of-living crisis
Caitlin Cassidy The Guardian (No paywall)Peak housing bodies are calling for nationally consistent rental laws to crack down on bidding wars putting pressure on tenants in a shrinking market. Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania have introduced reforms to ban rent bidding – the process of negotiating the price of a rental by advertising a property within a “range” or without a fixed cost. But in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory and South Australia, there is no legislation against the practice. ... National Shelter chief executive, Emma Greenhalgh, said encouraging bidding was effectively putting rental properties up for auction in a desperate market. She has been lobbying the federal government for the adoption of a national legislative framework on renting. ... Tenants’ Union of NSW chief executive, Leo Patterson Ross, said a rent auction wasn’t a way of determining accurate market value when prospective tenants were under extreme stress. ... “Someone who is desperate and scared of being made homeless is an anxious person. The rent they’re willing to pay is not a fair market value when it’s inflated,” Patterson Ross said.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/01/renting-t…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, Federal Government, Housing market, State Government.Average Australian renter paid $3,000 more last year, research finds
Sarah Martin The Guardian (No paywall)Australians paid an extra $7.1bn in rent over the past 12 months, with the average renter spending $62 more a week than they did a year ago, or more than $3,000 a year. The figures are contained in research from the parliamentary library commissioned by the Greens, as they ramp up their calls for a national rental freeze, saying the increase could instead have been kept in people’s pockets to provide cost of living relief. ... The Greens’ spokesperson for housing and homelessness, Max Chandler-Mather, said the research further highlighted the rental crisis which had led the party to call for urgent federal intervention.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/29/average-a…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.How much it really costs to move from one rental property to another
(No paywall)The cost of moving house can quickly add up, and whether you’re shifting to an apartment or house locally or interstate, costs can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars in addition to your bond and rent in advance. To ensure you’re prepped, let’s break down the bigger moving costs – and some of the hidden ones you might not have expected. (rent.com.au) You will find the Tenants' Union's figures from earlier this year at: [https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/true-cost-eviction]
# Australia, Rent.Mini Budget: sector responds to Kwasi Kwarteng’s announcements
Alex Turner Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The housing sector has been reacting to Kwasi Kwarteng’s Mini Budget today. There has been criticism that the statement does too little to help people at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis, and while the announcement of stamp duty cuts drew a cautious welcome from some, there were also warnings that it will do little to solve the wider affordability problem. ... Polly Neate, chief executive, Shelter: “The chancellor has done nothing to help the 2.5 million private renters who are already behind or constantly struggling to pay their rent. Cutting stamp duty won’t protect those at risk of losing their homes, but it will push up house prices. Every day our helpline advisers answer calls from families on the brink of losing their home as they can no longer keep up with runaway rents or afford to eat. This Mini Budget is not going to ease the terror families feel, with the chancellor leaving housing benefit frozen at 2020 levels. The government has missed its shot today to prevent a rapid rise in homelessness. Allowing homelessness to rise will cost the economy more and ruin countless lives.”
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/mini-budget-sector-res…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market, Tax, Welfare.‘A social calamity’: record-high rents push tenants across Australia to breaking point
Caitlin Cassidy The Guardian (No paywall)David and his partner had been living in their inner-Sydney property for only 12 months when they were issued with a 50% rent increase. They had been paying $800 a week for a three-bedroom home with a study, one car space and no facilities. Now, they were told, it would jump to $1,200. “Their justification was it’s in line with market value,” David says. “We said we’d be prepared to pay $1,000 a week, even though the air conditioning hasn’t worked.” The same week, they were served with a lease termination notice instructing them they had 30 days to vacate the property. “We’ve negotiated in good faith but they just want to kick the can down the road,” David says. “I don’t think either of us have slept properly for the last week. It’s really heartbreaking.” ... Kate Colvin, the national spokesperson for the Everybody’s Home campaign, a national coalition of housing and homelessness organisations, says landlords have passed interest rate rises on to their tenants. “Renters on modest incomes are bearing the cost of the national inflation challenge,” she says. “This is both unfair and unwise. We need to urgently expand social and affordable housing.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/27/a-social-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.