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
Inheritance, not work, has become the main route to middle-class home ownership
Lisa Atkins and Martijn Konings The Guardian (No paywall)The cost of housing is rising so much faster than wages that buyers increasingly rely on family wealth.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/09/inheritanc…
# International, Home ownership, Housing affordability.The British middle class is in freefall, its young people pushed into precarity
Owen Jones The Guardian (No paywall)The children of affluent and working-class parents alike can no longer expect home ownership, job security or a decent salary.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/12/british-mi…
# International, Home ownership.Airbnb shares more than double in price in long-awaited Wall Street debut
De-Ann Durbin The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Airbnb proved its resilience in a year that has upended global travel. Now it needs to prove to investors that it sees more growth ahead.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/airbnb-shares-more-tha…
# International, Short-term holiday letting.Powerful debts on energy bills are tipping Australians “off a cliff”
Katrina Curtis The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Debts from unaffordable power bills are tipping Australians into long-term financial hardship because the system supposed to help them pay the money off instead sets many up for failure, an energy watchdog warns.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/powerful-debts-on-energy…
# Australia, Utilities electricity water gas.NSW Premier rejects student quarantine
Michael Fowler The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says her state will not adopt a proposal under consideration by the Victorian government for thousands of international students to be chartered into Australia and quarantined in student accommodation from January.
https://www.smh.com.au/education/nsw-premier-rejects-student-qua…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Students.Not in our backyard: Affluent councils oppose Andrews' public housing plans
Paul Sakkal The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Mayors representing residents in some of Melbourne's wealthiest suburbs including Toorak and Hawthorn have attacked an Andrews government decision to fast-track the planning process for new public housing that could be built in spite of residents' concerns.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/not-in-our-backyard-aff…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Local Government.Don't transport Melbourne planning woes to regions: liveability professor
Rachel Eddie and Benjamin Preiss The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Rachel Eddie and Benjamin Preiss write: ‘Governments must intervene now to stop Melbourne’s planning woes being replicated in regional Victoria, a liveability expert has warned, as the pandemic prompts more city dwellers to consider a tree change.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/don-t-transport-melbour…
# Australia, Planning and development.Property booming, but in wrong direction for rural dwellers
Nicola Philp The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Working from home and flexible working arrangements have become the norm by necessity and so we see a growing number of people questioning the daily commute and high-density living of the city. Accordingly, house sales in rural areas have gone bananas and prices are skyrocketing as cashed-up people buy either a new life or a bolthole …
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/property-booming-but…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Regional NSW.