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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. 

Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.

See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.

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Archive

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Key topics

Vacancies hit 16-year low in ‘rental crisis’

John Collett
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)

National residential property rental vacancy rates slid to just 1.2 per cent in February – the lowest since April 2006. The tight market has seen rents soar as much as 10 per cent, further hitting household budgets at a time when other non-discretionary spending on things such as petrol and food are surging. Sydney’s vacancy rate last month was 2 per cent and 2.3 per cent in Melbourne, figures from SQM Research show. Vacancies in regional rental markets are even worse. ... Renters in regional centres in NSW are faring even worse. The vacancy rates in Wollongong and the Central Coast were just 0.6 per cent. In Newcastle, it was 1 per cent.

https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/vacancies-hi…

# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Regional NSW.
 

Sydney, Melbourne among top five least affordable cities in the world to buy a home

Melissa Heagney
Domain (No paywall)

Australia’s house prices are among the least affordable across the globe, with new data revealing Sydney and Melbourne sit in the top five least affordable cities for local home buyers. Demographia’s International Housing Affordability 2022 Edition revealed Sydney was the second least affordable city to buy a house, with the median price 15 times more than the average household income in 2021. The harbour city was beaten only by Hong Kong, where house prices are 23 times the household income. Melbourne came in as the fifth least affordable city, with the median house price now 12 times the average household income. Other Australian capitals were also considered “severely unaffordable”, as they had house prices more than five times average incomes.

https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/sydney-melbourne-among-top-…

# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market.
 

‘He wants to give it to someone else’: rent rises leaving a toll on regional NSW

Michael McGowan and Josh Nicholas
The Guardian (No paywall)

In July last year, Anna’s real estate agent called to say that her landlord had decided to sell the house in Bega, in the state’s south, where she and her partner had lived for the past two years. ... Leo Patterson Ross, the chief executive of the Tenants’ Union of NSW, said he had seen a massive increase in the number of evictions like Anna's during the pandemic, due to what he called the “waves of displacement” caused by rising rents in regional parts of the state. “We saw a doubling of people calling about no grounds evictions in the regional areas because people are being pushed out to make way for the flow of people moving out of the cities,” he said. ... After they lost their Bega property, Anna and her partner were unable to find a new home for months, and lived in a tent for two months as they searched for somewhere to live. In the end, they were forced to head further south, to Pambula, to find a property.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/17/he-wants-…

# TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Rent, Housing market, No-grounds evictions, Regional NSW.
 

‘Intense flames’: One dead, multiple unaccounted for following Newtown boarding house fire

Sarah Keoghan
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)

One person is dead and multiple are unaccounted for following a boarding house fire in Sydney’s inner west on Tuesday morning. About 1am, firefighters were called to a two-level boarding house on Probert St in Newtown after reports it was alight. Upon arrival, a number of residents had self-evacuated. However, multiple people remained unaccounted for. You will find another report on this fire on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-15/fatal-newtown-boarding-house-fire/100909928] And, there's further updates on the ABC's report at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-16/newtown-fire-police-investigate-suspicious-blaze/100912718] and [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-16/newtown-fire-police-investigate-suspicious-blaze/100912718]

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/intense-flames-one-dead-mult…

# NSW, Boarders and lodgers.
 

How living near Sydney’s green spaces makes you healthier and happier

Sue Williams
Domain (No paywall)

If you live somewhere in Sydney that has access to parks, trees, fresh air, good food and walkable streets, it’s odds on that you’ll be healthier, fitter and will live to a grand old age. If, however, you’re trapped somewhere with little greenery, lots of pollution and have to hop in a car and fight traffic jams to get anywhere you want to go, then, sorry, but precisely the opposite is likely to be true.

https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/how-living-near-sydney-s-gr…

# NSW, Health, Housing market, Planning and development.
 

Investigation after images of Sydney home altered to include 'expansion joints' that were never there

Kathleen Calderwood
ABC (No paywall)

NSW Fair Trading is investigating allegations a prominent builder photoshopped images of a Sydney family's dream home to include a crucial structural aspect that was, in fact, not there. After a fire in Salv and Melissa Barbagallo's house in 2019, the family contracted Metricon — considered the nation's top residential builder by the Housing Industry Association — to build a new one. They had initially hoped to move in by the end of 2020, but their house is still not ready. By September 2020, the family had become so worried about the project they engaged a separate engineering consultant to inspect it. They found the brickwork was missing crucial "expansion joints" which allow for brick walls to move and grow over time. Without them "the brickwork in the house is likely to crack from brick growth and thermal expansion", the consultant's report said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-14/fair-trading-investigates…

# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.
 

ACT government's stamp duty reprieve extended for buyers purchasing off-the-plan properties up to $600,000

Penny Travers and Kate Midena
ABC (No paywall)

The ACT government has extended its stamp duty scheme by removing stamp duty from off-the-plan property purchases up to $600,000. It's a step intended to ease the pressure for those looking to buy in the territory's soaring market, which saw prices skyrocket during the pandemic.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-15/stamp-duty-extended-off-t…

# Australia, Strata, Housing market, State Government, Tax.
 

NT government documents reveal long-awaited Darwin public housing project in jeopardy

Jesse Thompson
ABC (No paywall)

The future of a long-awaited government housing project intended to ease a chronic housing shortfall in the Northern Territory is in question, internal documents have revealed. The NT government had expected the first stage of the development in Darwin's inner suburbs to be complete by last May, adding 30 two-bedroom units to the burdened urban public housing sector. However, the building in The Narrows is still empty. The delay has come while the public housing waitlist has soared to more than 5,700 applicants, including transfers, and advocates have called on the government to resolve the issues as soon as possible. "We’ve got 30 brand new units over there at the moment sitting empty while we’ve got a big increase in women fleeing domestic violence and [needing] long-term housing," Peter McMillan from NT Shelter said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-15/nt-delayed-darwin-public-…

# Australia, Domestic violence, Public and community housing, Housing market, State Government, Women.
 

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