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
‘'It's totally dead now": Overseas student exodus cost Sydney's economy $2.5b
Anna Patty and Matt Wade The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The exodus of international students due to the COVID-19 pandemic has cost Sydney's economy $2.5 billion as small businesses go quiet and rental properties remain empty.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/it-s-totally-dead-now-overse…
# NSW, Sydney, Coronavirus COVID-19, Students, Housing market.Australian property bubble hasn't yet burst, but can house prices keep rising amid the pandemic?
Nassim Khadem ABC (No paywall)After years of dire predictions that Australia's property bubble could burst, national house prices continue to withstand the otherwise devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and once again the doomsayers have been proven wrong.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-06/property-bubble-burst-cor…
# Australia, Housing market, Coronavirus COVID-19.Australians are building larger homes and renovating more, thanks to COVID
Euan Black The New Daily (No paywall)What happens when governments ask millions of Australians to work from home and only leave when absolutely necessary? They build bigger homes, according to Commsec.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2020/11/09/australia…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Australian house sizes are increasing, led by the ACT: CommSec report
Jessica Taulaga Domain (No paywall)New Australian houses are getting bigger after years of shrinking amid a widespread rethink of living arrangements prompted by the pandemic, and the ACT is leading the charge with the biggest houses in the country, new research shows.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/australian-house-sizes-are-increa…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Cash-strapped retiree? PLS reverse mortgages are providing answers
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A federal government reverse-mortgage scheme that for years failed to gain any traction with cash-strapped retirees is finally seeing a big increase in the number of applications. COVID-19-induced erosion of retirement funds and falling interest rates for term deposits have left many pensioners scrambling for new options to generate enough income to live on.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/cash-strappe…
# Australia, Housing market, Older people, Coronavirus COVID-19.Outback NSW home sells for just $35,000, while some vacant blocks go under hammer for $1
Saskia Mabin ABC (No paywall)Getting into the property market as a first home buyer might seem like a daunting venture, but in outback New South Wales it can come as cheaply as $150. More than 80 properties went under the hammer across the far-west of New South Wales last week, with the most expensive purchase selling for just 3 per cent of Sydney's median house price.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-03/blocks-of-land-in-far-wes…
# NSW, Housing market, Regional NSW.The tenants who evicted their landlord
Matthew Desmond The New York Times (No paywall)United States: A new kind of housing movement has been growing across America. In city after city, renters have begun to see themselves as a class, with shared interests and problems, and to organize together against evictions, profit-centered development and landlord disinvestment. When Covid-19 hit the United States, the country was already reeling from a severe housing crisis. Tenant organizers doubled their efforts...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/magazine/rental-housing-crisi…
# International, Campaigns and law reform, Coronavirus COVID-19, Affordable housing.Bailiffs must halt evictions during national lockdown, says government
Jack Simpson Inside Housing (Paywall)United Kingdom: Bailiffs in England must not evict renters from their homes during the latest national lockdown, the government has said.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/bailiffs-must-halt-eviction…
# International, Eviction, Coronavirus COVID-19.