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
Federal Election 2022 – electorate of Sydney
South Sydney Herald (No paywall)All candidates for the federal electorate of Sydney were asked what three areas of reform they would prioritise to achieve social and economic equity for the community they seek to represent. They were also asked to respond to two key prompts on housing and climate change. (South Sydney Herald)
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/federal-election-2022-electorat…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Climate change, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.PIF’s challenge: “Everyone is deserving of a home”
Rose Mary Petrass The Fifth Estate (No paywall)What the foundation tries to do is change the trajectory that many young people can find themselves on without a stable home. ... Since it was established in 1996 the foundation has built 232 bedrooms for homeless youth across the country – including 103 in the past five years. ... Housing in Australia has traditionally been more “asset focused”. “We need to have those conversations with people to change the way they see housing.”
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/pifs-chal…
# Australia, Home, Homelessness, Housing market, Young people.Property prices fall in Sydney and Hobart as national boom slows
Euan Black The New Daily (No paywall)Property prices are falling in Sydney and flatlining in Melbourne as declining affordability and looming interest rate hikes deter buyers from entering the market. But the pandemic housing boom is still surging in other parts of the country, with property values over April rising by 1.9 per cent in Adelaide, 1.7 per cent in Brisbane and 1.1 per cent in Perth. Hobart was the only capital city besides Sydney to see prices fall over the month (-0.3 per cent), according to data released by CoreLogic on Monday.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2022/05/02/property-…
# Australia, Housing market.Newbie homeowners will be hit hardest by the rate hike
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Many mortgage holders should easily withstand higher interest rates, but those who entered the property market recently are more likely to feel the squeeze and could find their debt rise above the value of their homes if house prices fall further in Sydney and Melbourne.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/newbie-homeowners-will-be…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Affordable housing in Perth being held back by parking requirements, planners say
Emma Wynne ABC (No paywall)Requirements that mean new homes must have two parking spaces if they have two or more bedrooms are holding Perth back from more affordable and creative housing choices, planners say. Town planner Ben Carter said smaller developments that provided housing choice and increased density were often likely to be knocked back on parking grounds.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-01/ditching-double-garage-to…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Local Government.Start your (Sunday) jackhammers: NSW pursues extended construction hours
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The sound of drilling could become a permanent feature of Sundays in Sydney with the government considering a permanent extension of construction hours to ease pressure from staff shortages and supply chain constraints. Planning Minister Anthony Roberts told developers the government was exploring options to extend the hours as part of its commitment to build more homes; 50,000 a year across NSW for 20 years.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/start-your-sunday-jackhammer…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development.Building crisis hits rural communities as good seasons drive increased demand
Alys Marshall ABC (No paywall)How long would you wait for a builder? Builders across the country became very busy, very quickly when the federal government's HomeBuilder program was announced in the middle of the pandemic in 2020. For rural communities, like Goondiwindi in southern Queensland, the influx of building jobs coincided with rain that broke the most severe drought on record and brought with it good season after good season. Suddenly, farmers had money to spend. But with residential construction busier than ever, the motivation for builders to travel out of town for farm jobs disappeared.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2022-05-02/goodiwindi-building…
# Australia, Housing market.It’s not all nomadland: how #vanlife made mobile living a middle-class aspiration
Bronwyn Eager and Alex Maritz The Conversation (No paywall)Announce to your friends and family that you’re choosing to live in your vehicle and you’re likely to raise some concern. The 2017 book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century” by Jessica Bruder – made into the 2020 film starring Frances McDormand – drew attention to the hundreds of thousands of Americans living itinerant lifestyles due to poverty and insecure employment. But not everyone choosing to live in a van is doing so out of desperation.
https://theconversation.com/its-not-all-nomadland-how-vanlife-ma…
# Australia, Land lease communities, International.