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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
Settling for less: Perth students tighten belts as living costs soar
Mya Kordic The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Perth students chasing a degree while struggling to make ends meet have revealed how soaring living costs are affecting more than just their wallets. Finlaey Hewlett, 21, who is studying journalism and creative writing at Curtin University, said the spike in costs of everyday necessities like groceries or fuel made it difficult to live out of home. ... Hewlett lives in a sharehouse with three other girls, paying $155 in rent every week, which she says is a good deal but still barely affordable for her. If anything happened to her Centrelink payments she would quickly lose her housing.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/settling-for-l…
# Australia, Share houses, Students.Coastal towns where you can buy a house for less than $600,000
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)On a budget of $600,000, it is still possible to buy a home in a coastal town despite the pandemic-induced boom in regional property prices. It might not be right on the waterfront, but it is likely to offer peace and quiet, which are features that have been drawing buyers out of the major cities. ... Rental accommodation has been a different story. There are not enough homes available for potential tenants who are looking ...
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/coastal-towns-where-you-can…
# NSW, Housing affordability, Housing market, Regional NSW.Gunnedah residents criticise flood response as region braces for more rain
Tom Plvey The Guardian (No paywall)Residents of Gunnedah on the New South Wales Liverpool Plains are appalled by the lack of preparation, warnings and response from authorities to Sunday’s Namoi River flood, as they brace for another deluge. ... Erin and Michael Edmunds live on Talibah Street and ... are still waiting on assistance promised to them for the November floods when the water in their house was “knee high”, but state efforts seem to be focused on Lismore, they say, and the $1,000 assistance payment only applies to floods after February 2022. ... [They] are braced for further flooding, with the BoM predicting a 100% chance of rain on Wednesday.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/21/gunnedah-…
# NSW, Housing market, Regional NSW.Half of Western Sydney foodbowl land may have been lost to development in just 10 years
Nicky Morrison and Awais Piracha The Conversation (No paywall)More and more farming land is being lost to other land uses such as housing on the outskirts of our cities. But how much land is being lost? And why does it matter?
https://theconversation.com/half-of-western-sydney-foodbowl-land…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development, Sydney.House prices are falling, so why isn’t the auction market worse?
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Potential home buyers are able to get a loan more easily now than during the last property downturn, but the amount of money they can borrow has dropped as interest rates rise. The easier access to credit is helping to put a floor under auction clearance rates, alongside a shift in expectations from sellers who are becoming more likely to meet the market.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/house-prices-are-falling-so…
# Australia, Housing market.Why it’s harder to buy a home at auction than it looks this spring
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Competition at auctions has been on the decline as the property market weakens, but new figures show that appears to be changing. Bidder numbers at auctions are stabilising, and even rising in some markets, as buyers and sellers adjust to the cooler market and interest rate rises. The modest supply of homes for sale is leaving buyers with fewer options.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/why-it-s-harder-to-buy-a-ho…
# Australia, Housing market.Mortgage rates rising, but savers still getting short-changed by banks
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Banks have passed on only a fraction of the rise in official interest rates to savers, at a time of mounting cost of living pressures, including higher mortgage repayments and rents, and low wage growth. While the Reserve Bank of Australia has increased the cash rate by 2.25 percentage points since May, bonus saver accounts are paying just 1.31 percentage points more in interest, or just over half of the cumulative increase in official rates. Meanwhile, home loan customers have had almost all the cash rate rises passed on.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/banking/mortgage-rates-rising-but-s…
# Australia, Families.Recession risks grow as home buyers endure rate rises
Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Australian economy is facing a sharp slowdown that could drive up unemployment next year, with growing fears the Reserve Bank may lift interest rates too high too quickly on heavily indebted home buyers as it fights to bring inflation under control.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/recession-risks-grow-as-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.