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
Minns weighs new powers to bypass councils on major housing approvals
Michael McGowan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Minns government is weighing up major planning changes that would increase the state’s power to intervene on significant residential housing developments, and which could see councils bypassed on major projects. Premier Chris Minns confirmed this week that his government will in coming weeks announce a further tranche of reforms to the planning system as Labor struggles with an anemic pipeline of housing approvals. The premier made housing supply the centrepiece of his first term in office but has become frustrated at the dismal turnaround in new housing approvals.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/minns-weighs-new-powers-to-b…
# Must read NSW, .Taxpayer bill for Albo’s $4.3m home revealed
Aidan Devine realestate.com.au (No paywall)Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s recent $4.3m home purchase would deliver him a tax savings bonanza if he chose to rent the property out, economic modelling shows. It’s a move the Prime Minister has been rumoured to be considering after he made it clear to reporters Tuesday that he was not planning retirement any time soon. He also confirmed that he wanted to stay in his “current job for a very long period of time”. 2GB’s Ben Fordham revealed the sale earlier this week and claimed the PM exchanged contracts in September, with settlement expected before the end of October. Mr Albanese snapped up the clifftop home in Central Coast suburb Copacabana for about $300,000 below the advertised price.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/taxpayer-bill-for-albos-43m-h…
# Hot topic NSW, .Bold moves that got PM Anthony Albanese a $8.8m property empire
Aidan Devine news.com.au (No paywall)Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made some savvy moves in the housing market prior to his recent splurge on a $4.3m beach home in The Central Coast. Analysis of historic real estate records showed Mr Albanese pocketed large sums from properties he purchased years ago while still a backbencher on a more modest salary. Many of those astute moves were likely the foundation for a now fairly substantial property portfolio that was capped off last month when he snapped up a clifftop home near Copacabana Beach. His most recent purchase could push the total value of his real estate holdings to roughly $8.8m – although he is in the process of trying to offload a property.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/sydney-nsw/bold-move…
# Hot topic NSW, .They pay $200 a week rent to live in Paddington. They’re being evicted
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)All the battlers living in a row of four rundown boarding houses in Sydney’s Paddington have been told they’re to be kicked out – despite a massive neighbourhood fight to stop their 32 homes being turned into four luxury houses. The owner-developer, who’s currently in the Land and Environment Court (LEC) appealing a ban on the conversion by the City of Sydney, irrespective of the court outcome, intends closing the boarding houses by the end of the year. In heartbreaking scenes at a meeting on the street outside their home, the 29 male residents – one of whom has been living there for 55 years – were told by their neighbours, who’d found it in the appendix to the social impact assessment lodged by LFD Developments as part of its appeal, that they’re to be evicted from their homes.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/they-pay-200-a-week-rent-to-live-…
# Must read NSW, Boarders and lodgers, Eviction.Rental crisis is everywhere, dire for essential workers
Rachael Ward Illawarra Mercury (No paywall)Australia's housing crisis has reached the point where essential workers "are faced with a dire picture" when looking for a home to rent, and moving to the regions is no longer a ticket to a more affordable lifestyle. Anglicare Australia's latest Rental Affordability Snapshot released on Wednesday has found there's few places anywhere in Australia where key workers can live without breaking the bank. Nurses can afford just 1.4 per cent of properties, ambulance workers 2.2 per cent, while fewer than one per cent of early childhood educators and construction workers are able to find homes to rent.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/8793104/rental-crisis-…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.Good news: Rental increases in NSW have just been capped at one per year
Winnie Stubbs Time Out (No paywall)As part of its mission to solve the housing crisis in NSW, the government has just introduced a rental increase cap, meaning that rent prices can only be increased once per year. That means that from now on, if your rent goes up, it can’t be increased again for another 12 months. Look, we get that once a year is bad enough, but we'll take it. The new rent increase regulations were introduced on October 15, 2024, and apply to fixed-term leases. The cap has been introduced as part of a comprehensive overhaul of rental laws, which are expected to benefit more than 2.2 million renters across the state. Prior to this law, tenants with fixed-term leases of less than two years weren’t protected against multiple rent increases.
https://www.timeout.com/sydney/news/good-news-rental-increases-i…
# Must read NSW, Rent.Greece targets short-term rentals in bid to boost housing
Reuters Daily Telegraph (No paywall)Greece said on Friday (September 13) it would give a three-year tax break to homeowners who convert their short-term rentals to long ones, becoming the latest European country to clamp down on holiday lets to tackle a housing shortage. Zachary Goelman produced this report.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/greece-targets-s…
# Hot topic, Video International, Rent.Teaching tenants how to tackle the power imbalance with landlords
Sarina Gibbon The Post (No paywall)We have a complicated relationship with education in New Zealand. We celebrate ingenuity but denigrate anyone who seems to know too much. Why else are poppies tall if not to cast shadows over the rest of the field? This attitude does the rental sector a huge disservice. The real victim? Tenants. Here’s the thing: The inherent power imbalance isn’t just between those who own and those who rent; it’s between those who know and those who don’t. When tenants don’t know their rights, they lose — Every. Single. Time.
https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350413583/teaching-tenants-how…
# International, Rent.