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
Outback Queensland residents say banks are making it 'just impossible' to buy a home
Victoria Pengilley ABC (No paywall)Residents in outback towns claim banks are either denying home loans or requiring deposits of up to 50 per cent. They say it's "postcode discrimination" and lending criteria needs updating. The big four banks say it's not happening.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-13/securing-outback-home-loa…
# Australia, Discrimination, Housing market.Is this the worst time in a decade to buy a home?
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Australians believe it is the worst time to buy a home since the global financial crisis, a new survey shows, after property prices surged to record levels and interest rate rises loom. Not since 2008 have Australians had such a pessimistic response when asked whether it was a good time to buy a dwelling in the monthly Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment survey.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/is-this-the-worst-time-in-a…
# Australia, Homelessness, Housing market.‘Hidden’ Homelessness in Northern Ireland
Simon Community, Ulster University (No paywall)The ‘hidden’ homeless – that is, people who may be considered homeless but whose situation is not ‘visible’ either on the streets or in official statistics, continues to receive much less practical focus than other forms of homelessness which are more easily documented.
# Research alert International, Homelessness.Reimagining the economics of public housing estate renewal and the role of government – new research
Shelter NSW (No paywall)Late last week Shelter NSW released new research, calling on the NSW Government to rethink its traditional approach to supplying social housing across the state – an approach that is holding back its key agency the Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) and compromising the delivery of enough social housing to make a material difference to the housing crisis. You can read the report at: [https://shelternsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Reimagining-the-economics-of-public-housing-at-Waterloo_FINAL.pdf]
https://mailchi.mp/shelternsw/reimagining-the-economics-of-publi…
# Research alert NSW, Public and community housing, Campaigns and law reform, Housing market.Housing in the coming federal election
Hal Pawson Pearls and Irritations (No paywall)Very largely thanks to economic stimulus pumped into the economy to ward off COVID recession, Australia’s housing is now 30% more expensive than in 2019. Add to that, the recent spike in rent inflation greater than at any time since 2008, and it’s obvious that the pandemic has exacerbated this country’s longstanding housing affordability challenge. The scene is therefore surely set for housing affordability to feature as a significant flashpoint in the coming federal election – just as in three of the last five national contests. ... the cost of continuing to muddle through will be high – both for many individual housing consumers, and for the economy as a whole.
https://johnmenadue.com/housing-in-the-coming-federal-election-b…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability.Experts warn coastal communities are vulnerable to more flooding, as Gold Coast Mayor defends response
Tom Forbes, Nicole Dyer and Kirsten Webster ABC (No paywall)Town planning experts say the recent flood events in Queensland and New South Wales highlight how vulnerable coastal communities, including the Gold Coast, are to major weather events. ... Director of the Cities Research Institute at Griffith University, Professor Paul Burton, said the "horse has bolted" with development in these areas, leaving communities at risk during extreme weather. ... More than 630,000 people live on the Gold Coast and Professor Burton said authorities have very few options when trying to prevent future flood events.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-07/development-leaves-coasta…
# Australia, Housing market, Planning and development.Homebuyer blues: The musical comedy taking aim at the property market
Bridget McManus The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)In just 30 minutes, with a whole lot of colour, movement, irony, and the star power of Eurovision art-pop sensation Montaigne, the satirical sketch team from SBS’ current affairs show, The Feed, have nailed the woeful state of the property market for aspiring first-home owners. Taking aim at money lenders, real estate agents, Boomers and Millennials, Time To Buy is a black comedy musical in technicolour disguise that screams a worrying truth about our times. Check it out at: [https://tvtonight.com.au/2022/02/the-feed-time-to-buy-the-musical.html]
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/homebuyer-blues-the-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Social housing stock to be boosted by $100 million spend to address 'dire shortage' in Adelaide
ABC (No paywall)Welfare group AnglicareSA has announced a $100 million investment to replenish and expand its social housing stock, amid a further decline in affordability across the nation. House and rental prices have reached record levels in Adelaide and other capitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving low-income earners especially vulnerable and first-home buyers facing the prospect of protracted house hunting. AnglicareSA said the investment would take place over 10 years and go towards upgrading and expanding the existing stock of 2,100 social and affordable homes, to address what it described as a "dire shortage". ... Federal opposition homelessness spokesman Jason Clare attended today's announcement and said that, during the 1950s, 15 per cent of Australian housing was social housing. "Today it's barely four, and to keep it at four we've got to build 4,000 homes like this every year. We're building barely 3,000," he said. "So we need more projects like this."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-08/anglicare-invests-in-soci…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Housing affordability, Housing market.