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
Housing policy is a failure for young and old
Don Edgar and Patricia Edgar Pearls and Irritations (No paywall)Blaming Baby Boomers for the housing crisis is a diversion. What we need is a complete rethink of our housing supply.
https://johnmenadue.com/housing-policy-is-a-failure-for-young-an…
# Australia, Families, Housing market, Older people, Young people.These households are ditching gas, slashing bills and going 'net zero'. Here's how
James Purtill ABC (No paywall)n February 2020, just before the pandemic, Annabelle and Alex bought a typical Melbourne home in Brunswick East — almost a century old, draughty, and with gas heating and hot water. After receiving a $400 gas bill in their first month, they began a process of improving insulation, swapping out gas appliances for electrical ones, and generally making the house "net zero" in terms of energy use, meaning it produces as much energy as it consumes over a period of time.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-10-25/households-ditchi…
# Australia, Utilities electricity water gas, Climate change, Housing market.First home buyers hit with 'emotional rollercoaster' trying to break into sky-high property market
Poppy Johnston ABC (No paywall)For over a year, Brisbane couple Eve Anderson and Jordan Roberts have spent every weekend at back-to-back open homes. Their lives have been swallowed up by inspections, scrolling property websites and chasing real estate agents as they hunt for their first home in a market which has seen a 20 per cent increase over the past year. Multiple times the pair have fallen in love with a property and spent days assembling the paperwork to put in an offer only to learn that the house has already sold for $100,000 over the asking price. For the couple — who both work full time — it's been 12 months of disappointment, frustration, and the same conversations on repeat. "It's an emotional rollercoaster," Anderson says.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-24/the-emotional-toll-of-bre…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Homebuyers to need $200,000 a year in many suburbs if debt limits come in
Jennifer Duke and Elizabeth Redman The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Homebuyers will need to earn more than $200,000 a year to buy a mid-range house in more than 270 Sydney suburbs if tougher borrowing limits are introduced. ... More than 500 suburbs in Sydney would require a $100,000-a-year income to service an average mortgage, and in Melbourne the same applies to more than 300 suburbs. Check out the table entitled: 'Sydney house prices and income needed to purchase'.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/homebuyers-to-need-200-0…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Airbnb registry in play but fire safety on back burner
Jimmy Thomson (No paywall)It has almost been forgotten during the great Covid exodus of foreign tourists, and the intermittent border closures in Australia, but NSW is about to impose its long-awaited compulsory registry of holiday rental homes.
# NSW, Short-term holiday letting.Glasgow landlord refused licence for 20p per shower rental tenement
Sarah Hilley (No paywall)A landlord of a Glasgow property where tenants had to put 20p into a coin meter to use the shower has been refused a licence. Councillors raised concerns about the 'pay per go' shower at the four bedsit tenement in 94 Cartvale Road, Langside at a meeting. And SNP politician Rhiannon Spear said she couldn’t “believe her ears” when she heard people paid to wash every time.
https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-landlord-refused-lice…
# International, Rent, Utilities electricity water gas.The great dilemma: Who will look after mum or dad?
Noel Whittaker The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)How to take care of ageing parents is becoming a huge issue for many baby boomers. ... the family is often overwhelmed by the range of options available, together with the advantages and disadvantages of each. These may well include retirement villages and land-lease communities. When it all appears too difficult, families often simply say “mum or dad can come and live with us”. Unfortunately, it is usually anything but simple.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-retirement/the-great-dile…
# Australia, Families, Older people.5 key factors to consider when choosing retirement living
Simon Webster The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Finding the perfect home and community for your retirement lifestyle requires a bit of research. Downsizing and moving into a retirement village is a big deal. Even if you’ve decided that it’s a good idea in theory, the practicalities of decluttering, choosing a community and getting your head around the financial implications can be overwhelming.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-retirement/5-key-factors-…
# Australia, Housing market, Older people.