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
Rebuild or relocate? Australians face painful dilemma as floods become the new normal
Amanda Gearing and Conal Hanna The Guardian (No paywall)Residents cleaning up their mud-soaked homes in Queensland and NSW say they have reached ‘crunch time’.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/07/rebuild-o…
# Australia, Housing market, Local Government, Planning and development.London housing association strikes £50m deal to fund 131 build-to-rent homes
Stephen Delahunty Inside Housing (Paywall)Large London housing association Peabody and house builder Redrow have agreed a £50m deal to deliver 131 build-to-rent homes. The development at Pontoon Reach in the Royal Docks, east London, will include a mix of studio, one, two and three-bedroom apartments. ... The homes will make up part of the Pontoon Reach development, which will offer 295 new homes, including 42 affordable rent and 53 shared ownership homes to be managed by Peabody. The build-to-rent apartments at Pontoon Reach are anticipated to be available from summer 2022 and form part of the wider £314m regeneration of the Royal Docks.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/london-housing-associa…
# International, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market.Northern Ireland to give £200 to households struggling to meet energy costs
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)The Northern Ireland Executive has announced that from next week it will begin making one-off payments of £200 to households struggling to meet rising energy costs. ... Roughly 280,000 people in receipt of specific benefits will automatically receive the £200 payments, which will be made through existing payment channels.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/northern-ireland-to-gi…
# International, Utilities electricity water gas.First-home buyers urged to consider waiting as prices stall
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Homebuyers looking to get a foot on the property ladder, but fear missing out as prices in our two largest capital cities become increasingly unaffordable, are urged to consider waiting and use the time to save for a bigger deposit. ... Many property experts say the boom may be over and that prices are likely to slide from here. ... Rents are rising strongly in Sydney – another factor to consider in the decision of whether to become a homeowner. Figures from Andrew Wilson show rents for Sydney houses rose 11.5 per cent over the past 12 months and unit rents rose by 6.7 per cent. Melbourne house rents are up 4.7 per cent, though rents on Melbourne units are down 3.2 per cent.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/first-home-buyers-urged-t…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market.What are the signs that a property market has peaked?
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)The Sydney and Melbourne housing markets may have peaked or could be set to peak by spring, bank economists say, even as prices in other cities keep rising. ... So, what are the signs of a market peak?
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/what-are-the-signs-that-a-p…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.More than a quarter of Sydney suburbs have a median house price of $2m
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Median house prices have topped the $2 million mark in more than a quarter of Sydney suburbs, with areas such as Eastwood, Matraville and Caringbah South among the latest to join the club.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/more-than-a-quarter-of-sydn…
# NSW, Housing market.Growing mismatch between where Sydney’s skilled workers live and work
Anna Patty The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The number of Western Sydney residents with professional skills, including IT, finance, science and public administration, has spiked by up to 34 per cent in five years, but tens of thousands still face long commutes to jobs outside the area. ... However, the lack of employment opportunities in the region has forced more than 34,000 to commute to jobs outside the area each day, fuelling calls for more businesses to be based in the Parramatta area.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/growing-mismatch-betwe…
# NSW, Families, Work, employment.The Sydney suburbs foreign buyers searched most during the pandemic
Tawar Razaghi and Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)Blue-chip Sydney suburbs near schools, the city or surf were the most sought-after locations for foreign buyers during the coronavirus pandemic. Sydney topped the list of overseas searches, while other popular suburbs included Mosman, Middle Harbour and Chatswood, based on Domain listing data from January 2021 to February 2022.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-sydney-suburbs-foreign-…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.