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
‘It hurts’: Homebuyers already paying hundreds per month extra for the average house
Melissa Heagney and Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)The cost of a typical house has risen by hundreds of dollars a month for someone buying now compared with those who bought a year ago, as property prices rise and banks lift mortgage rates. An average new borrower’s regular repayments are as much as $1359 a month higher than if they bought a year ago despite no official interest rate hike, due to a skyrocketing property market and an increase in fixed mortgage rates by major lenders.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/it-hurts-homebuyers-already…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.How will Australia's property markets be impacted by the return of overseas arrivals?
Gareth Hutchens ABC (No paywall)As Australia's borders reopen, the return of overseas arrivals and subsequent demand for housing is expected to be slow. But a CoreLogic analyst says historical housing patterns show which segments of the property market could see changes in values as arrival numbers increase. And we're seeing some developments already. {read on]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-25/how-will-property-markets…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Students.How Jodie bought her mum a home at the age of 22
Rachael Evans ABC (No paywall)Growing up in south-western Sydney, Jodie's mother, Teresa, worked long hours earning minimum wage. After a string of injuries and, later, an osteoporosis diagnosis, Teresa was no longer able to easily access the family home. Once Jodie graduated from uni her first goal wasn't to travel — it was to buy her mum a home that she could live in comfortably. (ABC Everyday)
https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/how-jodie-bought-her-mum-a-home/…
# NSW, Families, Home ownership, Personal stories.Relief for home buyers: Price boom may be over
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Property price growth in Melbourne and Sydney has stalled, as affordability constraints and higher fixed-interest rate mortgage rates start to bite and crimp demand. That will be good news for first home buyers struggling to save fast enough for a deposit. The property price boom has pushed 70 per cent of homes out of reach of buyers on middle incomes, despite record-low interest rates, with those able to buy forced to save for an extra year to have a big enough deposit.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/relief-for-home-buyers-pr…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.What you need to know before renovating an investment property
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)Because while it can be good fun with an investment property to pull out a rickety old kitchen and replace it with acres of gleaming marble, and to transform a grotty bathroom into a dazzling white spa, many amateurs discover that they’ve spent far more than they could ever recoup. “It’s easy to get carried away and overcapitalise on an investment property,” Belinda Botzolis, valuer and senior property strategist at Metropole Property, says.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/what-you-need-to-know-befor…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents.RBA to gradually increase rates to avoid mortgage shock, top economists predict
Shane Wright and Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)An increase in household debt during the COVID-19 recession will force the Reserve Bank to only gradually increase borrowing costs, the nation’s leading economists believe, although they warn official interest rates could easily climb above 3 per cent.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/rba-to-gradually-increas…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.A tale of two dwellings: Why more Sydneysiders are buying second homes
Sue William Domain (No paywall)Deborah [Thomas, the former editor of The Australian Women’s Weekly and now the chief executive of kids’ cancer charity Camp Quality], 65, together with vodka manufacturer husband Vitek Czernuszyn, 68, are just two of a slew of Sydneysiders who’ve bought homes in the country, or on the coast, since the advent of the pandemic and are spending much more time there. Many are now dividing their lives between their two bases, some renting either out when they’re not using them to make it less expensive, but others managing to keep both for their exclusive use. It’s all part of a trend both in Australia, and globally, to buy a holiday home that is almost equal to, or even better than, the main residence.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/a-tale-of-two-dwellings-why…
# NSW, Housing market, Short-term holiday letting.The true cost of eviction
Jemima Mowbray Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)We all know the pain of moving - the stress, anxiety, and high costs involved. Lots of us hold off from moving even when we want to because it just seems way too expensive. Now put yourself in renters’ shoes. We move more often than our owner-occupier neighbours. Over 80% of private renters have moved in the last 5 years; a third have moved between 2 - 3 times; and 10% have moved 5 times or more. For many of us – up to 30% of renters – the move is not our choice. Our recent special report: 'Eviction, Hardship and the Housing Crisis' looks closely at the immediate and direct costs of moving. ... Eviction is a driver of poverty over the medium to longer term. Eviction is associated with long term impacts on employment, health and education outcomes, and an increased demand on health and housing services. ... We often talk about our housing system as in crisis. There seems to be general agreement we are experiencing a ‘housing crisis’ in relation to affordability. ... Given the high costs associated with eviction overall, in terms of immediate, direct costs but also the longer-term harm and substantial financial costs to the household but also to governments and the broader community – how can we better discourage the use of eviction, except where absolutely necessary? Where eviction is necessary, how can we better minimise or mitigate impacts and more equitably distribute the associated costs? You will find a link to the full report at: [https://www.tenants.org.au/news/tenants-union-nsw-publishes-special-report-eviction-hardship-and-housing-crisis].
# Must read, Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, No-grounds evictions.