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
What is hoarding disorder and how can you help someone who has it?
Nick Baker and Emma Nobel ABC (No paywall)Professor Jessica Grisham works at the School of Psychology at the University of New South Wales, where she focuses on hoarding, obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety disorders. She's trying to make Australians understand that hoarding disorder is a treatable mental health condition and put an end to the stigma around it. "It's a chronic disabling disorder and it just doesn't go away on its own." ... It can pose serious health and safety risks and sometimes results in tragic consequences. A study sponsored by the Melbourne's Metropolitan Fire Brigade found hoarding-related fire incidents "accounted for only 0.25 per cent of all residential fires but 24 per cent of preventable fire fatalities" over the same time period. And according to NSW Fire and Rescue, 12 per cent of all fire fatalities in the state are persons "reportedly living in hoarding and squalor conditions." Listen to Professor Grisham at: [https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/helping-someone-who-hoards/13736302] (ABC Radio National Life Matters)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-17/what-is-hoarding-disorder…
# Audio NSW, Security and safety, Families, Health.Western Sydney will swelter through 46 days per year over 35°C by 2090, unless emissions drop significantly
Hannah Melville-Rea The Conversation (No paywall)If emissions continue to accelerate, Western Sydney can expect to endure up to 46 days per year over 35℃ by 2090, a new analysis from the Australia Institute finds. This is a fivefold increase from the historical average of just under nine days of extreme heat per year. Western Sydney, home to around 2.5 million people, is highly vulnerable to extreme heat and is 8-10℃ hotter than east Sydney during heatwaves. The region is too far inland to benefit from coastal breezes, and lacks the altitude of the neighbouring Blue Mountains.
https://theconversation.com/western-sydney-will-swelter-through-…
# NSW, Climate change, Health, Planning and development.Where you can buy a house for the cost of a Sydney deposit
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)House hunters looking to enter the Sydney property market now need more than $320,000 just to afford the deposit for the city’s median house price. ... While the six-figure sum won’t stretch as far as it used to – with prices booming across much of the country – it could still cover the median house price in parts of other capital cities and regional markets.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/where-you-can-buy-a-house-f…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Regional NSW.Where are the highest rental yields in Australia?
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)Sharply rising prices and record low yields in half of our capital cities can make it tough for residential property investors to find reliable returns, but there is hope. ... At the moment, Sydney generally is offering only a 2.6 per cent yield on houses, according to the latest Domain Rent Report, with Melbourne 2.92 per cent, Canberra 3.7 per cent and Hobart 4.15 per cent – all record-breaking lows. Perth has the best on offer at 5.2 per cent, and Darwin is only slightly lower at 5.17 per cent.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/where-are-the-highest-renta…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Uncertain outlook for property before international border reopens
Sezen Bakan The New Daily (No paywall)The property market is back in full swing after slowing down over the final months of 2021.
More homes are going under the hammer than this time last year and about three-quarters of them are finding buyers. House prices are following suit – rising 1.1 per cent nationally in January to end the month 22.4 per cent higher than January 2021. But the future outlook of the property market is clouded by uncertainty.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2022/02/14/property-…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.House-sitting nomads happy without a home to call their own
Brad Marsellos ABC (No paywall)Relaxing in a spa in the leafy backyard of a coastal timber house near Bundaberg, Keith Murfet looks very at home. The retired truck driver believes he has discovered his personal slice of paradise in Moore Park in what seems like a rolling beach vacation. And the best part of living in paradise is the cost of his accommodation — free. Mr Murfet is a house-sitter and lives rent and mortgage-free looking after homes while their owners travel.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-16/house-sitting-nomads-happ…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Older people.‘It’s not sneaky’: Geelong caravan park offers new homes
Benjamin Preiss The Age (Paywall)Dennis More admits he got carried away when he began widening a canal with an excavator without first obtaining a council permit on his Geelong property in 2005. The property developer said he wanted to create a marina on the 43-hectare site on the shores of Corio Bay, that would eventually form part of a low-scale residential village. ... Now, Mr More is putting new homes up for sale on the site. But don’t call it a residential development. It is officially a caravan park. Because the site is zoned for farming, which permits caravan parks, Mr More is prohibited from subdividing. Instead, he is allowing buyers to purchase dwellings that will have up to three bedrooms and they will then lease the land on which the homes sit. He insists this caravan park arrangement is an innovative use of the land that provides affordable homes, but critics say it’s a blatant attempt to exploit planning law loopholes.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/it-s-not-sneaky-geel…
# Australia, Land lease communities, Planning and development.Strata reform talks ask: Should bodies corporate be able to issue fines for bad behaviour?
Tara Cassidy ABC (No paywall)From Queensland ... A strata reform roundtable is discussing whether bodies corporate should have the power to issue fines to people breaching by-laws in buildings.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-17/strata-reform-looks-into-…
# Australia, Strata.