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
Up to 277 applicants for every social rent home in London, study reveals
Tim Clark Inside Housing (Paywall)From London ... [A] report by the not-for-profit body Home Connections, which provides a platform that advertises council homes for those on waiting lists, analysed details of up to 26,000 properties. It found that demand increased to 277 applications per home, up from 254 people for every home prior to the pandemic.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/up-to-277-applicants-f…
# International, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.‘Era of low interest rates is over’: Rate rises expected ahead of federal election
Shane Wright and Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Official interest rates could rise before Prime Minister Scott Morrison goes to the next election, with clear signs the Reserve Bank’s hand may be forced much earlier than expected to head off inflationary pressures that are set to drive up the cost of Christmas presents.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/era-of-low-interest-rate…
# Australia, Housing market.Will interest rates start rising with inflation and sink house prices and indebted home owners?
David Taylor ABC (No paywall)There are warnings the cost of borrowing and rents are on the march up, and much faster than many experts had been forecasting. ... But with property ownership now out of reach for many younger Australians, is it better to rent? CoreLogic's latest quarterly Rental Review showed national rental rates were rising at their fastest annual pace since 2008.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-28/will-interest-rates-start…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market.Council, state propose housing investment
(Paywall)City of Newcastle to consider MoU with NSW government to fund more social and affordable housing (Newcastle Herald)
https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/7481405/council-state-p…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Local Government, State Government.‘Woollahra is full’: The battle to stop more homes in one of Sydney’s wealthiest areas
Andrew Taylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Councillors in one of Sydney’s wealthiest areas say they will campaign against their colleagues’ decision to sign up to state government housing targets, accusing them of currying favour with Macquarie Street and arguing “Woollahra is full”.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/woollahra-is-full-the-battle…
# NSW, Housing market, Local Government, Planning and development, State Government.Hobart becomes Tasmania's first million-dollar median house price city
Kate Ainsworth ABC (No paywall)he median house price of Hobart's innermost suburbs has surpassed $1 million for the first time, data from the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania shows.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-28/hobart-becomes-tasmanias-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.How the RBA allowed Australia to become a servant to property prices in a $9 trillion market
Ian Verrender ABC (No paywall)A decade ago, when Main Street was forced to bail out Wall Street and taxpayers around the world stumped up trillions of dollars to save commercial banks and the entire capitalist system, it was all the justification that was required. The banks, they said, were Too Big To Fail. Once again, it has become the phrase du jour. A few weeks back, it was China Evergrande. ... Here's another one to add to the list: our very own residential property market. ... Having created the biggest real estate bubble in history, our very own Reserve Bank now has its hands tied. Property is now Too Big To Fail. ... If they can't raise rates to slow down inflation, the onus will fall to government to slash spending. That is never popular with voters. Declining housing prices aren't either. And given there are far more voters who own homes than those who dream of owning one, guess which side governments are likely to favour? That's why, when our leaders talk about affordable housing, they're talking through their backsides.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-01/rba-australia-a-servant-p…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Special Rapporteur on the right to housing to the UN General Assembly: Discrimination in the context of housing
(No paywall)Mr Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, will be presenting to the UN General Assembly his new Report on discrimination in the context of housing ... The report highlights that discrimination in housing is a global problem and continues to be one of the most pervasive and persistent barriers to the fulfilment of the right to adequate housing. Housing discrimination includes discriminatory access to private and public housing, to building land, housing for rental, mortgages and credit and inheritance, ensuring equal security or tenure, protection against evictions, habitability, equal and affordable access to public services, such as water and sanitation, energy, public transport and others. The report sets out the human rights obligations of States, public authorities, regional and local Governments, public and private housing providers to ensure non-discrimination in housing. It provides an overview how public authorities can work towards elimination of housing discrimination through regulation and anti-discrimination legislation, and ensure that victims of housing discrimination have access to justice and remedies through judicial and non-judicial mechanisms. (International Union of Tenants News)
https://www.iut.nu/news-events/special-rapporteur-on-the-right-t…
# International, Housing market, Human rights.