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
The severity of Australia’s housing affordability crisis is obvious - this is how politicians could fix it
Nicki Hutley The Guardian (No paywall)The problems in housing affordability have been building for decades, the clear result of policy failures across all levels of government that have now brought us to what can reasonably be described as a crisis point. The severity of the problem is obvious. For example, the Demographia Group, which reports annually on house prices in eight advanced economies, found that house prices in Australia’s five largest cities have risen from about three times average income in 1987, to seven times just prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, to 10 times in 2024.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/19/australia-…
# Must read Australia, Rent.Landlords could lose negative gearing perks unless they cap rents in new plan
Jim Malo The Age (No paywall)Landlord access to negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions would be tied to the condition of their properties and five-year lease agreements under a new proposal to reform the controversial tax measures. The changes proposed in an RMIT policy discussion paper were aimed at improving living conditions for tenants while also improving the value for money the federal government gets for the more than $10 billion it spends on tax concessions and Commonwealth Rent Assistance.
https://www.theage.com.au/property/news/landlords-could-lose-neg…
# Hot topic Australia, .Explained: The government's stalled housing agenda, and why the Greens are opposing it
Ewa Staszewska SBS (No paywall)Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged the Greens to support Labor's proposed housing legislation as two key elements face the Senate. The next steps of the federal government's housing agenda — the Help to Buy and Build to Rent bills — are both up for debate this week. After teaming up with the Coalition to block the latter bill in June, the Greens have continued to clash with the federal government on what the best solution for both renters and prospective homeowners would be.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/explained-the-governments-st…
# Must read Australia, Rent.Why has Australia fallen so short on housing targets – and how can it get out of the crisis?
Peter Hannam The Guardian (No paywall)It has been clear for some time that Australia is unlikely to come close to meeting the Albanese government’s goal of 1.2m new homes over the five years from last July. The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council, set up late in 2023, expects “just under 1m homes” over that period – an estimate in line with bodies such as the Housing Industry Association. Approvals barely topped 160,000 last financial year, or just two-thirds of the government’s desired annual target.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/sep/22/why-has-austral…
# Hot topic Australia, .Why News Corp’s realestate.com.au can put fees ‘up and up and up’, according to ex-CEO
Sarah Martin The Guardian (No paywall)A former chief executive of the News Corp-controlled realestate.com.au says the company views real estate agents as its “outsourced sales force”, outlining how home sellers have been targeted with ever-rising advertising costs. Simon Baker, who was chief executive of REA Group from 2001 to 2008 and now works as a consultant in the property tech industry, says the “vendor-paid” advertising market operating in Australian real estate is rare globally.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/sep/23/simon-bak…
# Must read Australia, Rent, Starting a tenancy.Aussies are being left with $8 after paying rent
Emily Power Domain (No paywall)Vulnerable Australians are left with $8 to their name after paying rent, new data shows. Low-income earners, people on the pension and those receiving disability support payments are struggling to afford housing, with rental prices in almost every suburb in the nation outside their means. The Priced Out 2024 by housing rights campaign group Everybody’s Home found that Aussies receiving the age pension and disability support pension would have $8 remaining after paying the rent.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/aussies-are-being-left-with-8-aft…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Making the rental market fairer
ABC Radio National ABC (No paywall)With more than 30 per cent of households across Australia renting their homes and the national rental vacancy rate sitting at 1.3 per cent, the rental market has become a hot button political issue. NSW Rental Commissioner Trina Jones has been given the task of looking at ways to make the rental market more fair and modern. She joined RN Breakfast to discuss.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-breakfast/r…
# Hot topic, Audio Australia, Rent.‘The bear at the door’: estate agents say they fear speaking out about realestate.com.au ‘price gouging’
Sarah Martin The Guardian (No paywall)Real estate agents have hit out at the market dominance of realestate.com.au, which is majority owned by the News Corp-controlled REA Group, saying the portal is “price gouging” as a result of its effective monopoly. Multiple agency directors, many of whom fear commercial retribution if they publicly criticise the $27bn behemoth, say the company’s tactics and pricing structures have become more aggressive in recent years because of its dominance in the Australian property market.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/sep/19/the-bear-…
# Hot topic Australia, .