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
Busselton rental shortage puts men with disabilities on the brink of homelessness
Ashleigh Davis ABC (No paywall)For Paul Plowman and Stephen Brown, life with an intellectual disability can be challenging enough. Now, they're staring down the possibility of becoming homeless amid crisis-level housing shortages in regional Western Australia. Despite being supported by a disability support service and state and federal governments, the Busselton locals' landlord has decided not to renew their lease after March 28 and they are struggling to secure a new home.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-18/wa-rental-shortage-impact…
# Australia, Rent, Disability, Homelessness, Housing market, Personal stories.Lessons from a Modern Master of Low-Rise Housing
Anthony Paletta (No paywall)Cities looking to boost density and affordability should look to the work of architect Louis Sauer, who designed stylish modernist housing in the 1960s and ’70s.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-02-14/the-architect…
# International, Affordable housing, History, Planning and development.‘Our spirits are being broken’: a year after Perth’s homeless tent city was cleared, the crisis remains
Stephanie Convery The Guardian (No paywall)The camp put the issue on the agenda in Western Australia and led to housing for some. But many still struggle on society’s margins. On Boxing Day 2020, a small group of people concerned about the closure of Perth’s homelessness services over Christmas set up a camp kitchen in a Fremantle park. They half expected nobody to turn up and to be packing up their trestle tables by mid-morning. Instead, an entire community bloomed. The Fremantle tent city at Pioneer Park became a political flashpoint: a month-long, inescapable presence that reminded the Western Australian public of the most vulnerable among them. [Read on]
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/20/our-spiri…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Campaigns and law reform, Homelessness.‘Chasing rainbows’: Underquoting complaints surge as buyers waste time and money
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Underquoting is in the crosshairs of a fresh Victorian government review that will also examine conduct within the real estate industry. The practice can waste buyers’ time, money and opportunities as they chase after homes with a sticker price they can afford, but which sell for much more on auction day.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/chasing-rainbows-underquoti…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Interest rates are already rising but borrowers can cope, says NAB boss Ross McEwan
Rachel Pupazzoni and Michael Janda ABC (No paywall)The National Australia Bank boss has warned variable mortgage rates will "probably" rise later this year, but says his customers are mostly well positioned to cope. ... Despite the prospect of rising rates, Mr McEwan was confident that the vast majority of NAB's customers would cope with rising repayments. "Most customers have a buffer, in that they've been overpaying on their mortgage, i.e. paying more against their principal than then they would have normally, because as interest rates have dropped, we've given them the option to actually just keep paying the same amount that they were before," he said. "Our own book shows that at least 70 per cent of our customers are well in advance of their payments."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-19/interest-rates-already-ri…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Does your house make more money than you?
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Homeowners across NSW are making more wealth from their property than from going to work each day as new figures show rapid house price gains have outstripped incomes in most suburbs. House price growth exceeded incomes in more than four in five NSW suburbs last year, new modelling from Domain shows, with price rises in half a dozen pockets surpassing household incomes by more than $1 million.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/does-your-house-make-more-m…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing market, Work, employment.Rental struggle deepens for released prisoners as Albany housing dries up
Tim Wong-See ABC (No paywall)It is hard enough to find a rental property in Western Australia's tight market right now, let alone if you're an ex-prisoner. Justine Williams is one of the many people searching for a rental property in Western Australia — but she faces a roadblock. {Read on]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-17/homes-for-released-prison…
# Australia, Rent, Affordable housing, Homelessness, Housing market, Personal stories, Women.Brisbane suburbs forever changed by 'revolutionary' Mater Foundation lottery prize homes
Hailey Renault and Kate O'Toole ABC (No paywall)f you lived in Brisbane a few decades ago, finding home renovation inspiration required little more than a lottery ticket and a weekend road trip. Queuing up to catch a glimpse inside a Mater Prize Home was a popular way to see how the other half lived and discover new design and architecture trends in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. Beyond the front door of each new home was a world of uber-modern architecture, expensive furniture, and perfectly appointed rooms protected from the public by little white chains. Historian Marianne Taylor, who goes by the name The House Detective, said the Mater Sisters of Mercy raffled its first home in 1954 — a modest two-bedroom, fibro "shack" at Surfers Paradise valued at $7,800. Not only was the lottery system a hugely successful fundraiser, Ms Taylor said its homes brought "revolutionary" new ideas about architecture and suburban living to Brisbane.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-20/brisbane-suburbs-revoluti…
# Australia, History, Housing market, Planning and development.