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
Couple who found old gold coins under their kitchen floor are $1.3 million richer
Emily Power Domain (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... A couple who found a jar of old gold coins under their kitchen floor are £754,000 ($1.3 million) richer after selling the surprise treasure trove at auction. The home owners in England were laying new flooring, ripping up the existing floorboards and jackhammering through the concrete beneath, when they struck a bounty: 260 ancient coins in a small urn.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/living/couple-who-found-old-gold…
# International, Home.Real estate scam prompts Sunshine Coast single mum's warning
Olivia Mason ABC (No paywall)Nikki Hart had been working towards home ownership for years. After being knocked back from property after property, the single mother-of-one thought she had finally managed to secure her own place. But it was an elaborate scam. Ms Hart said she received an email requesting a 1 per cent deposit to secure a Sunshine Coast property after she had put an offer on it through a real estate website. "It was a $4,000 deposit … if I didn't like the property once I signed the contract or something had fallen through, I would get that refund back," she said. Ms Hart arranged a time to inspect the property with her parents and daughter Poppy and sent the $4,000.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-12/real-estate-scam-leaves-s…
# Australia, Home ownership, Welfare.The suburbs where the most people moved from, according to the census
Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Australians fled Sydney and Melbourne to escape the harsh reality of COVID lockdowns but most drew the line at departing their home state as they sought out a safe place to ride out the pandemic. Data from the 2021 census, released on Wednesday, showed substantial levels of intra and interstate movement out of the nation’s two largest cities as people headed for the regions. ... Over five years, almost 41 per cent of people changed their address. Of that 9.8 million people in total, almost 7.4 million moved within their state, another 921,000 moved interstate and 1.3 million left the country. ... The biggest hit was to Sydney’s inner south-west, covering the area from Botany Bay to Bankstown, where a net 13,249 people moved out during the preceding 12 months.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-suburbs-where-the-mo…
# Research alert Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Productivity Commission releases extensive review of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA)
Productivity Commission AHURI (No paywall)AHURI News: The Productivity Commission’s newly released review on the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA) has found the Agreement to be ‘ineffective’ and that there should be focus on ‘improving the affordability of the private rental market and the targeting of housing assistance’. As such, the Commission considers that the NHHA ‘should be expanded to include all government-provided housing assistance including Commonwealth Rent Assistance and first home buyer assistance.’ This finding, together with many of the recommendations in the report, is consistent with AHURI’s submission and advice to the review.
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/news/productivity-commission-r…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.New Waterloo estate consultations
Geoff Turnbull (No paywall)Following a long absence, the Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) is back with its consultants in Waterloo. LAHC wants to talk with the community and stakeholders about a “People and Place guiding framework” it is developing for the next stage of the redevelopment. (South Sydney Herald)
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/new-waterloo-estate-consultatio…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, State Government.Why have auction clearance rates risen for two months in a row?
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)The auction clearance rate has edged higher for two months in a row as home sellers reduce their price expectations to meet those of cautious buyers. Auctioneers have noticed the occasional hot auction starting to creep back in, but many buyers are unable or unwilling to overpay as their borrowing capacity falls along with prices.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/why-have-auction-clearance-…
# Australia, Housing market.What is a sustaining tenancies program?
AHURI (No paywall)AHURI Brief: Sustaining tenancy programs assist tenants who are at risk of losing their rental accommodation to stay in their homes and therefore ‘avoid eviction and entry into homelessness.’ Tenant support programs may also help some tenants at the beginning of their tenancy by supporting formerly homeless people enter and sustain a new rental tenancy.
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/brief/what-sustaining-tenancie…
# Australia, Eviction, Public and community housing, Rent, Federal Government, Homelessness, State Government.Paying price of housing stress
Lachlan Leeming (No paywall)The number of homeless people in NSW has surged by 10 per cent in just two years – with an economic cost that could hit $2.5 billion in the next six years, according to a landmark new report. (Daily Telegraph) Read the report at: [https://www.ncoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/IE_Aftershock_Housing_V5b_SINGLES.pdf]
https://www.ncoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Daily-Telegr…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Housing market.