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
The average Australian landlord isn't who you might imagine
Angus Moore (No paywall)Australia is unusual in that the vast majority of the residential dwelling stock is owned by households – more than 95% of it, in fact. That's unlike some other countries, where government or corporate ownership of rentals is more common, such as with build-to-rent developments. What do Australian property investors typically look like? If you imagine some ultra-rich mogul with dozens of properties, you might be surprised.
https://www.realestate.com.au/insights/the-average-australian-la…
# Australia, Rent, Federal Government, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Tax.We know what the problems are in housing, and we have known for a century where to find the solutions
Alison Inman Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Alison Inman stumbles across a book in a second-hand bookshop that reveals as much about housing today as it does the problems when the book was published, in 1931 ... She concludes: 'Until housing is given the political, social and economic priority that we know it needs, then there will be another edition of this lovely little book in another 90 years. We must do better.'
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/comment/we-know-what-the…
# History International, Public and community housing, Rent, Families, Housing market.Federal minister urges Australians to help tackle homelessness ‘in their back yard’
Paul Karp The Guardian (No paywall)Australians will be challenged to stop resisting solutions “in their back yard” to the homelessness crisis, as the Albanese government attempts to drive social housing construction. The housing and homelessness minister, Julie Collins, will make the comments in a speech to the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute on Monday, in which she also accuses the Coalition of a “decade of inaction” on homelessness. Collins’ speech, an advance copy of which was seen by Guardian Australia, suggests the commonwealth will take greater responsibility for housing, accepting that “the task of ensuring every Australian has a safe place to call home is not someone else’s job” – and not one that will be left to the states.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/08/federal-m…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Federal Government, Homelessness.UK house prices: history says the market is in for a long slowdown not a crash
Colin Jones The Conversation (No paywall)It’s going to be easier to get on the property ladder following a recent decision by the Bank of England to relax some of the criteria for getting a mortgage. Combined with expectations of a slowdown in the property market, this news will be something of a relief to those who have been unable to buy a home due to booming prices in recent years.
https://theconversation.com/uk-house-prices-history-says-the-mar…
# International, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.As rents and mortgage repayments rise, is multi-generational living the secret to thriving in tough economic times?
Rhiannon Stevens ABC (No paywall)Staring down the possibility of taking out a large mortgage to buy a house they could barely afford, Luke Saliba and his wife Claire Gooch decided to try something different. Instead, the young couple moved in with Claire's mother Sylvia and took out a much smaller mortgage to renovate her house. ... Edgar Liu, a senior research fellow at the UNSW's City Futures Research Centre, said economic circumstances were often the driving factor for people choosing to live in a multi-generational setting. Dr Liu, who researched multi-generational living over several years and defined them as households with more than one generation of adults, said data from the UK and US showed that the economic shock of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) increased the number of multi-generational households in those countries. Also, read Lisa Clarke's article from 2019 entitled 'The experience of retiring into a share house' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/the-experience-of-retiring-into-a-share-house/11076624].
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-06/surviving-cost-of-living-…
# Australia, Share houses, Families.Timber skyscrapers reach for record heights and sustainable Australian cities
Angus Mackintosh ABC (No paywall)Timber skyscrapers up to 50 storeys tall may soon dot Australian skylines in a push to decarbonise and revitalise urban construction. Three separate plans have been submitted to build hybrid timber buildings in Perth and Sydney between 180 metres and 220 metres high.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-06/timber-skyscrapers-cut-em…
# Australia, Climate change, Housing market.Lights out and blinds drawn on the Australian dream as black money fuels house prices
Nathan Lynch (No paywall)Gaping loopholes, earnest advisers and an international reputation for stability have made Australia a place of choice for illicit funds. Despite a crackdown on the foreign ownership of established houses, there are still many ways for crooks to score a piece of the action, no matter which government is in power. (Michael West Media)
https://michaelwest.com.au/money-laundering-fuels-house-prices-a…
# Australia, Housing market, International.Houses to remain in flood zone under Lismore buy-back scheme
Catherine Naylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A scheme to buy back people’s houses in flood-hit Lismore will likely target hundreds of homes, not thousands, according to the man in charge of rebuilding the town, meaning many more properties will remain in flood-prone areas. Almost 11,000 homes were damaged across the Northern Rivers in the February and March floods, and more than 4000 have been deemed uninhabitable, mostly in Lismore.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/houses-to-remain-in-flood-zo…
# NSW, Housing market, State Government.