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
Meet a family at the centre of the homelessness crisis in Queensland's fastest growing region
Baz Ruddick ABC (No paywall)"It's homelessness elite," Leia McCabe jokes as she gestures to the caravan she now shares with her husband, daughter and dog, which cost them most of their savings. It's been a tumultuous 18 months for the family, who went from living in the same rental for nearly 10 years, to subletting, then finally, to homelessness. ... [Karen Rollinson works for a Homestay program with community organisation Encircle, which helps people at risk of losing their accommodation] "We've had families have to split up so some of the kids have had to go to one of their friend's places, we have had families of five sleeping in cars, or they'll sleep in a tent or couch surf in different people's houses," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-28/qld-homeless-crisis-moret…
# Australia, Homelessness, Housing market, Personal stories.Sydney real estate agents under fire for failing to warn buyers of 'serious defects' in apartment towers
Amy Greenbank ABC (No paywall)Real estate agents selling apartments in two Sydney high rise buildings found to have "serious defects" by government inspectors have been targeted in a fiery New South Wales parliamentary hearing. Courtney Houssos — who is Labor's shadow minister for better regulation — used parliamentary privilege to take aim at agents selling units in the Atmosphere Towers in Castle Hill and the Aya Eliza building in Auburn. Ms Houssos described the buildings as "notorious" and claimed she had discovered several real estate agents had not disclosed to prospective buyers that both developments were under prohibition orders.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-27/sydney-real-estate-agents…
# NSW, Strata, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards.New ombudsman tables reveal worst-performing landlords on damp and mould
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The Housing Ombudsman has unveiled a series of tables highlighting the worst performers regarding damp and mould in homes as part of a new ‘spotlight’ report into the issue. Between April 2019 and March 2021 the watchdog examined 410 complaints related to damp and mould, investigated 142 landlords and made maladministration findings in 56% of cases. This rose to 64% for complaint-handling.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/new-ombudsman-tables-r…
# International, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Mould.Evictions fell by more than 90% during pandemic, new RSH figures show
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)Evictions in England fell from more than 10,000 to fewer than 800 between April 2020 to March 2021, according to new data from the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH). The 90% drop in evictions during the year were revealed as part of the the English regulator’s annual Statistical Data Return, which provides wide-ranging statistics for the state of the social housing sector. This year’s publication comes after a one-year hiatus as last year’s return was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The government legislated several protections for both tenants and landlords during the pandemic, most notably a ban on all new possession proceedings in courts between March 2020 and September. After this, the government brought in a ban on bailiff-forced evictions between September 2020 and May 2021. Evictions were still allowed during that time but only for cases of significant rent arrears, false statement, serious anti-social behaviour, rioting or domestic abuse.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/evictions-fell-by-more-than…
# International, Eviction, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Shambolic short-term rental rego process to decimate listings in NSW
Martin Kelly (Paywall)NSW’s short-term rental industry is heading for a “train wreck” because of state government mismanagement likely to result in thousands of properties being barred from trading next week, multiple industry figures say. The issue surrounds the already delayed rollout of the government’s compulsory short-term rental registration scheme. Owners must register their properties by November 1, the same day all NSW travel restrictions are lifted, or be banned from taking guests. New short-term letting laws – under which unhosted rentals in busy markets such as Sydney, the far North Coast and South Coast can only let their properties for 180 days – also apply from that date. By Friday, the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment said 19,000 properties had signed up.
The Australian Short-Term Rental Association (ASTRA), estimates there are more than 50,000 properties using the online aggregators and that there could be up to 80,000 short-term rentals in NSW in total. (Financial Review)
https://www.commercialrealestate.com.au/news/shambolic-short-ter…
# NSW, Housing market, Regional NSW, Short-term holiday letting, State Government.‘Disgracefully slow’: Work starts on project to remove flammable cladding
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The NSW government will consider extending assistance to apartment owners who have already been forced to pay for the removal of flammable cladding from their high-rise buildings. It has, however, ruled out expanding the criteria used to determine buildings eligible for its interest-free loan program, despite the City of Sydney warning that only a quarter of the 290 residential buildings it still has under investigation for flammable cladding will be able to access it.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/disgracefully-slow-work-star…
# NSW, Strata, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Cashed-up foreign buyers still seek Australian property, but are they really to blame for price rises?
Michael Luu ABC (No paywall)While COVID border closures hamper Australian property sales to international buyers, many Australians still struggle to break into the market because of rising house prices. Is this proof that overseas buyers are not to blame for the inflated dwelling costs in Australia? It might come as a surprise to some, but the Foreign Investment Review Board's latest survey shows that overseas buyers' purchasing activity has hit record lows, with residential real estate approvals for foreigners falling from 40,141 in 2015-16 to 7,056 this year. And CoreLogic's research director Tim Lawless says foreign buyers have comprised a consistently smaller portion of residential housing demand in Australia over the past five or six years.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-26/international-buyers-role…
# Australia, Housing market, International.Vested interest: How the home-ownership game is rigged
Ross Gittens The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The poor relation in all our worries – about the pandemic, the economy, climate change – has been housing affordability. While everything else in the economy has been weak, house prices have been rocketing. ... The rules of the home-ownership game are rigged in favour of existing home owners. That’s because they far outnumber aspiring home owners. And they’re not willing to give up their tax and other privileges to help the younger generation. Except, of course, their own kids. The Bank of Mum and Dad has played a big part in making seemingly unaffordable house prices able to be afforded – by some. The ever-rising proportion of Australians who’ll never own their homes are mainly those who failed to pick the right parents. Want proof of the widening gap between the rich and the rest? Look no further than home ownership.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/vested-interest-how-…
# Australia, Families, Home ownership, Housing affordability.