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
NT government announces $20 million housing scheme
ABC (No paywall)VIDEO: Delivering election promises... Today, a $20 million rent scheme for new home owners. In the new scheme, buyers will be able to access grants of up to $50,000 for buying or building a new home.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-25/nt-government-announces-$…
# Hot topic, New policy announcement, Video Australia, Rent.Most Australians agree there should be a cap on rent increases - but there's a catch
April Glover 9 News (No paywall)Most Australians agree rental laws should impose a cap on rent increases for tenants. According to a nine.com.au reader poll, the majority of Aussies would be happy to see a limit on how much a landlord can raise the rent in every state. The survey found 67 per cent of 539 users* want to see a change in the country's rental laws to reflect this. Just 22 per cent of people said they didn't want a limit on how much a landlord can legally increase rent, while 11 per cent said they were unsure. According to the Rental Pain Index, the average rental increase in Australia by July 2024 was 10.29 per cent.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/should-rental-laws-cap-rent-in…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Report finds Victoria's housing affordability at its worst level
ABC (No paywall)Analysis of Victoria's housing affordability has found median-income households are being increasingly priced out of the market as the state is now one of the least affordable.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-21/new-report-finds-victoria…
# Hot topic, Video Australia, Rent.Rental apps?! What fresh hell is being inflicted upon hapless renters now?
First Dog on the Moon The Guardian (No paywall)Already forced to pay their landlords’ taxpayer-subsidised mortgages now this... Comic reads: Rental apps? Hapless tenants are already forced to fund their landlords’ taxpayer-subsided mortgages, now this new “rent-tech boom” will make everything worse…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/sep/18/re…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.NSW voters back rental reforms to stop unfair evictions
Alexandra Smith WA Today (Paywall)Voters have backed NSW Labor’s promise to ban landlords from evicting tenants without good reason, as the government focuses on rental reforms as a key part of a housing puzzle that needs an urgent solution. An exclusive survey shows that 56 per cent of voters support the government’s ban on no-grounds evictions, while only 23 per cent are opposed to enforcing tighter rules around how a tenant can be forced out of a rental property.
https://www.watoday.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-voters-back-rental-r…
# Hot topic NSW, Eviction, Rent.Stockland’s $75m Perth Land Lease Community Approved
Clare Burnett The Urban Developer (No paywall)Stockland has been greenlit for a land lease retirement community within a wider residential masterplan in outer Perth. The 6.92ha site is part of Stockland’s Halcyon Illyarrie community at Sinagra, 32km north of the CBD and within the City of Wanneroo Local Government Area. The $71-million plans submitted earlier this year detail a 153-home development on the site of a former Inghams Chicken Factory that ceased operations in 2022.
https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/stockland-land-lease-…
# Australia, Land lease communities, Rent.The housing crisis is global. What are other countries doing about it?
Alan Kohler The Guardian (No paywall)Although Australians are naturally focused on their own housing misery, the truth is that the crisis is global. Much of the developed world has a dire housing shortage and prices are rapidly becoming unaffordable everywhere, or already are. Leo Tolstoy’s maxim “Happy families are all alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” applies to each country’s problems with housing. Leaving aside the migration and refugee flows that are causing extreme housing shortages in some countries, the number of houses being built in the world is simply falling short of population growth, even though that growth is declining.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/sep/28/the-housing-crisis…
# Hot topic International, .UK family awarded over $18,000 after renting ‘unliveable’ New Zealand home, landlord seeks rehearing
Hannah Bartlett NZ Herald (No paywall)Broken appliances. A cracked hob. Nails sticking out of the deck with boards that flipped up when you stood on them. A faulty fireplace that sent smoke billowing through the house. And landlords who allegedly spied on them through security cameras. A UK family got more than they bargained for when they came to New Zealand for a new adventure and discovered the rental they’d signed up for, on a 12-month fixed term lease, was what they describe as “unliveable”.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/uk-family-awarded-over-18000-after…
# Must read International, Rent, Repairs, Utilities electricity water gas.