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
“A better way of doing suburbs”: How eco villages can help the cost of living
Andrew Sadauskas The Fifth Estate (No paywall)At a time when the cost of living is rising faster than wages, a community on the southern outskirts of Adelaide is demonstrating how to combine arts, permaculture and sustainability with affordable living.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/a-better-…
# Australia, Strata, Affordable housing, Climate change, Older people.Meet the Brisbane couple who claimed two major prizes at the BAFTA Game Awards
Alex Brewster ABC (No paywall)A Brisbane couple has turned the dreaded experience of moving house into two BAFTA awards. Wren Brier and Tim Dawson are part of a small team that created Unpacking, a part block-fitting puzzle and part home-decoration game, in which players are invited to create a satisfying living space while learning clues about the life they are unpacking.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-15/unpacking-brisbane-baftas…
# Video Australia, Starting a tenancy.Housing concerns jump to new high as election campaign kicks off
Michael Bleby (Paywall)Politicians of both sides need to take measures to address the looming housing supply crunch, the country’s largest property lobby group says. ... The lack of affordable housing for purchase and concerns about insufficient supply have risen to their highest-ever level as a federal election looms, according to the Property Council’s quarterly survey of industry sentiment. (Australian Financial Review)
https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/housing-concerns-jump-to…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market.‘Gross overdevelopment’: Sydney council fights Blackwattle Bay skyscraper plan
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Apartment towers up to 45 storeys high proposed for the Sydney Fish Market site on Blackwattle Bay should be built in shorter blocks, and buffered by a wider foreshore promenade, according to the City of Sydney. The government’s development arm, Infrastructure NSW, last year revealed plans to redevelop the site of the Pyrmont fish market – which is being shifted to a $750 million building that is under construction on Bridge Road.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/gross-overdevelopment-sydney…
# NSW, Housing market, Local Government, Planning and development, State Government.Squeeze on first-home buyers likely to worsen
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)First-home buyers are likely to struggle even more to get a foothold on the property ladder this year as higher interest rates, rents, and cost of living conspire to reduce their capacity to save and to borrow.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/squeeze-on-f…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Coalition targets first home-buyers by upping mortgage guarantee scheme
Mike Foley The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Coalition will raise the price caps for houses eligible under its controversial Home Guarantee Scheme to help home buyers get into the property market faster as the soaring cost of housing plays a key role in the federal election.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/coalition-targets-first-…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability.Change is on the way for the private rented sector. It remains to be seen whether it will be enough
Jules Birch Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... This is shaping up to be a significant year for the regulation of rented housing, with the Social Housing Regulation Bill set to be followed by a white paper on the private rented sector. While there are still clear differences between the two sectors, there are also similarities in terms of landlords who are unaccountable and tenants who lack a say. In a hybrid world, social housing has become more business-focused and private renting has become, by default, home to many of those in the greatest housing need. [Read on]
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/change-is-on-the-way-for…
# International, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.'House hackers' buy homes to live in, then rent out rooms to help pay their mortgages. Now critics are taking to TikTok to accuse them of 'exploiting' tenants.
Dan Latu (Paywall)People are blasting live-in landlords as "leeches" in the comments of real-estate-investing skits on TikTok. Landlords counter it's a "partnership." (Business Inside)
https://www.businessinsider.com/real-estate-investing-house-hack…
# International, Landlords and agents.