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
How do you know if you’re buying a home with a grisly past?
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)From the outside, 147 Easey Street in Collingwood looks like any other house in the area. Unremarkable. But this home comes with an infamous and dark history. The two-bedroom terrace was the scene of the double murder of housemates Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett in 1977, a crime which remains unsolved. So when the home came up for sale in 2017, agents believed buyers needed to know about it, even though it was more than 40 years after the shocking crime. [Read on]
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/how-do-you-know-if-you-re-b…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Banks lift lending to high-risk home buyers as prices ‘skyrocket’
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Bank lending to highly-indebted home buyers and those with skinny deposits rose in the December quarter as growth remained strong in the $1.9 trillion mortgage market during the lead-up to Christmas. However, a leading analyst said the trend was unlikely to worry financial regulators too much because the rate of growth in a key type of higher-risk lending was slowing, and potential interest rate hikes were also likely to take the heat out of the property market.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/banks-lift-l…
# Australia, Housing market.Living on the edge: City fringe land rush puts squeeze on buyers
Noel Towell The Age (Paywall)Prices for plots of land in Melbourne’s growth suburbs rose faster than for established homes at the end of 2021 as buyers flocked to the fringes searching for larger and more affordable houses. New research from property advisory group RPM, to be published on Tuesday, shows the popularity of building on Melbourne’s fringes is also driving more families into financial stress.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/living-on-the-edge-c…
# Australia, Families, Housing market.Population, house prices spike as Victorians run to the regions
Benjamin Preiss The Age (Paywall)Most people who move to the regions love it. New research indicates internal migration has become a long-term trend. Most people who move from Melbourne revel in the lifestyle benefits, including being closer to nature.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/population-house-pri…
# Australia, Housing market, Regional NSW.Perth’s troubled building boom: Pay more to finish, even more to get out
Peter Milne The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Some Perth builders are asking customers to absorb enormous cost increases and charging even more to terminate a contract, as demand for materials and labour skyrockets and causes chaos for builders and buyers alike. The situation is crushing some budding homeowners who have already gone to their financial limits with the initial contract.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/perth-s-troubl…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Pleas for NSW flood survivors with disability to be prioritised for urgent housing, care
Bruce MacKenzie and Samantha Turnbull ABC (No paywall)Toynera Macgregor and her 16-year-old son Annan are homeless after floods swamped their Lismore rental. They expect to have a tougher time than most finding a suitable place to live in northern NSW. Annan lives with autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, an intellectual disability, and uses a wheelchair. "It took a year to find this [now flooded] place because there's a serious problem with affordable, wheelchair-accessible social housing," Ms Macgregor said. Disability service providers and advocates are joining her in calling on governments to urgently prioritise the needs of flood survivors living with disability. ... Ms Macgregor said the trauma of evacuating from a flooded home was exacerbated by being unable to live in accommodation such as an evacuation centre. ... NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet fronted media in Lismore on Thursday to outline details of a $551 million housing strategy for the region. He said the needs of people living with disabilities were covered by the plan.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-11/flood-survivors-with-disa…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Disability, Homelessness, State Government.‘We must separate the idea of house from home’: the case for drastic action on shelter
Tone Wheeler The Guardian (No paywall)How does Australia change from an investment-property-owning gerontocracy to a home-for-all loving nation? It’s time for radical reform. Inequality is the greatest threat to our society, and nowhere is that inequality more evident than in housing. The rich get richer with ever more houses; the poor get rent stress or homelessness. And inequality will only grow with the rising incidence of housing crises resulting from natural disasters like fire and flood.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/13/we-must-s…
# Must read Australia, Rent, Affordable housing, Home, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Tax.2022 National Housing Conference shines post-COVID
AHURI News AHURI (No paywall)The 2022 National Housing Conference (NHC), delayed by six months and moved 1600 kilometres from its planned location in Brisbane due to the COVID-19 pandemic, made a triumphant return in Melbourne last week. From Wednesday 2 to Friday 4 March, close to 1300 delegates (over 800 in the room and almost 500 online) from a broad range of sectors came together to learn the lessons for the housing sector from the pandemic and other external challenges, and importantly, to re-connect with friends and colleagues, old and new. {Read the full report]
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/news/2022-National-Housing-Con…
# Must read Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Climate change, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Home ownership, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Housing market, Race and ethnicity, Women.