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
Selling up and raising rents: how landlords are cashing in and exacerbating the cost of living crisis
Ruby Lott-Lavigna The Guardian (No paywall)Sarah had been living with a friend in the same rental flat in south-west London for the past three years. But when she came to renew her tenancy this June, the agency asked for an extra £217 a month – a staggering 14% increase. The 26-year-old tried to negotiate, citing a multitude of problems – from an ongoing mice infestation to security issues with the flat’s shared entrance. Within 30 minutes of her email, the agent had advertised the property on RightMove, ready to be snapped up by the highest bidder. The landlord would not negotiate the price, she was told, leaving her with no choice but to pay up, or move out. Britain’s dire rental market is nothing new. ... But somehow, the rental market has reached a heady new state of crisis. ... Rental caps seem like an obvious solution, an idea supported by tenants’ rights groups like Generation Rent. Research has, so far, been US-centric, but the data looks promising. Studies consistently show rent controls stop the displacement of communities and are generally successful at keeping rents down – as long as their net is cast wide enough. London mayor Sadiq Khan has touted the idea regularly during his term, but with a quarter of Conservative MPs being landlords (and Khan having no remit to cap rents in the capital), it seems unlikely this government will prioritise driving down prices.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/31/britain-te…
# International, Rent, Housing market.The rent cap consultation: what the government is proposing
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has launched a consultation laying out its proposals for a cap on social housing rent increases, to be implemented next year. It comes amid soaring inflation and a resulting cost of living crisis for tenants and social landlords. Inside Housing looks at exactly what the government is proposing and the impact those changes could have
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/the-rent-cap-consultatio…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent.Almost 80 TDs and Senators are landlords, landowners or both
Jennifer Bray and Cormac McQuinn (No paywall)Register of Members’ Interests for Dáil and Seanad indicates substantial portfolios. (Irish Times)
https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2022/08/24/almost-80-tds-and…
# International, Housing market, Landlords and agents.NSW 'nowhere near' social housing goal
Luke Costin Canberra Times (No paywall)NSW will struggle to meet its goal of building 23,000 new social housing premises by 2025, a senior government official admits. The goal was set in 2016 as part of social housing reforms but figures show as of late 2021, stock had only increased by 1996 dwellings. Opposition housing spokeswoman Rose Jackson asked Planning Department Secretary Michael Cassel about the shortfall at a parliamentary budget estimates hearing on Monday. "We're nowhere near delivering, are we?" she asked. Mr Cassel agreed.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7879986/nsw-nowhere-near-…
# NSW, Public and community housing, State Government.Public housing tenants speak out against evictions in Waterloo and Glebe
Rachel Evans (No paywall)Public housing tenants from Waterloo and Glebe whose homes are being threatened by the New South Wales government’s inner-city privatisation plans told a rally on August 24 that more public housing, not less, was needed. The protest was organised by Action for Public Housing and supported by Hands Off Glebe to highlight the government's proposed demolition of a Waterloo public housing estate. Waterloo South estate resident Karyn Brown said: “We should build more public housing. Repair and maintain what we’ve got and build more.” (Green Left)
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/public-housing-tenants-spea…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, State Government.House price plunge spreads with biggest monthly decline in 39 years
Michael Janda and Rhiana Whitson ABC (No paywall)Australia's housing market decline has spread across all capital cities and most regional areas, with a leading index showing the biggest monthly decline in nearly four decades. ... The biggest falls continued to be in Sydney, where prices dropped 2.3 per cent last month, while Brisbane (-1.8 per cent), Hobart (-1.7 per cent) and Canberra (-1.7 per cent) had the next largest falls. Prices in Perth (-0.2 per cent) and Adelaide (-0.1 per cent) edged only slightly lower, while Melbourne recorded a further 1.2 per cent slide. Regional areas have also begun to slide quite steeply, with CoreLogic recording a 1.5 per cent fall outside the capitals. Also, read Shane Wright's and Rachel Clun's article entitled: 'House values falling nearly $1000 a day as RBA warns of "uncertainty" ahead' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/house-values-falling-nearly-1000-a-day-as-rba-warns-of-uncertainty-ahead-20220831-p5be8w.html] Read John Collett's opinion piece entitled: 'Property price falls set to continue through spring' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/property-price-falls-set-to-continue-through-spring-20220829-p5bdm5.html] Read Emily Wind's article entitled: Australian house prices falling at fastest rate since 1980s as "sharp" downturn widens' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/01/australian-house-prices-falling-at-fastest-rate-since-1980s-as-sharp-downturn-widens] Read Matthew Elmas's article entitled: 'Property prices fall at fastest rate in 39 years as rate hikes bite' in 'The New Daily' at: [https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2022/09/01/property-prices-august/]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-01/house-price-plunge-contin…
# Australia, Housing market.Big home insurance increases to put more pressure on households
Joel Gibson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)When mortgage interest rates or energy bills go up, it’s front-page news. However, when insurance premiums rise, it’s often in the business section. Such was the case when Suncorp – one of the “big two” home insurance groups and owner of brands including AAMI, GIO, Apia and others – recently announced it was lifting premiums by an average15 per cent this year. That’s the biggest increase since the Queensland floods and cyclones nine years ago, and yet another bill set to rise by hundreds of dollars for millions of households.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/big-home-ins…
# Australia, Home ownership.The Guardian view on broken markets: time to take back control
Editorial The Guardian (No paywall)When a poll finds that almost half of Conservative voters favour taking the energy industry into public ownership, and a former adviser to Tory governments describes the privatisation model for energy and water as broken, it seems fair to surmise that a laissez-faire economic orthodoxy that has lasted more than 30 years is on the ropes.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/29/the-guardi…
# International, Utilities water energy internet.