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
Public housing tenants speak out against evictions in Waterloo and Glebe
Rachel Evans (No paywall)Public housing tenants from Waterloo and Glebe whose homes are being threatened by the New South Wales government’s inner-city privatisation plans told a rally on August 24 that more public housing, not less, was needed. The protest was organised by Action for Public Housing and supported by Hands Off Glebe to highlight the government's proposed demolition of a Waterloo public housing estate. Waterloo South estate resident Karyn Brown said: “We should build more public housing. Repair and maintain what we’ve got and build more.” (Green Left)
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/public-housing-tenants-spea…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, State Government.House price plunge spreads with biggest monthly decline in 39 years
Michael Janda and Rhiana Whitson ABC (No paywall)Australia's housing market decline has spread across all capital cities and most regional areas, with a leading index showing the biggest monthly decline in nearly four decades. ... The biggest falls continued to be in Sydney, where prices dropped 2.3 per cent last month, while Brisbane (-1.8 per cent), Hobart (-1.7 per cent) and Canberra (-1.7 per cent) had the next largest falls. Prices in Perth (-0.2 per cent) and Adelaide (-0.1 per cent) edged only slightly lower, while Melbourne recorded a further 1.2 per cent slide. Regional areas have also begun to slide quite steeply, with CoreLogic recording a 1.5 per cent fall outside the capitals. Also, read Shane Wright's and Rachel Clun's article entitled: 'House values falling nearly $1000 a day as RBA warns of "uncertainty" ahead' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/house-values-falling-nearly-1000-a-day-as-rba-warns-of-uncertainty-ahead-20220831-p5be8w.html] Read John Collett's opinion piece entitled: 'Property price falls set to continue through spring' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/property-price-falls-set-to-continue-through-spring-20220829-p5bdm5.html] Read Emily Wind's article entitled: Australian house prices falling at fastest rate since 1980s as "sharp" downturn widens' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/01/australian-house-prices-falling-at-fastest-rate-since-1980s-as-sharp-downturn-widens] Read Matthew Elmas's article entitled: 'Property prices fall at fastest rate in 39 years as rate hikes bite' in 'The New Daily' at: [https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2022/09/01/property-prices-august/]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-01/house-price-plunge-contin…
# Australia, Housing market.Big home insurance increases to put more pressure on households
Joel Gibson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)When mortgage interest rates or energy bills go up, it’s front-page news. However, when insurance premiums rise, it’s often in the business section. Such was the case when Suncorp – one of the “big two” home insurance groups and owner of brands including AAMI, GIO, Apia and others – recently announced it was lifting premiums by an average15 per cent this year. That’s the biggest increase since the Queensland floods and cyclones nine years ago, and yet another bill set to rise by hundreds of dollars for millions of households.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/big-home-ins…
# Australia, Home ownership.The Guardian view on broken markets: time to take back control
Editorial The Guardian (No paywall)When a poll finds that almost half of Conservative voters favour taking the energy industry into public ownership, and a former adviser to Tory governments describes the privatisation model for energy and water as broken, it seems fair to surmise that a laissez-faire economic orthodoxy that has lasted more than 30 years is on the ropes.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/29/the-guardi…
# International, Utilities electricity water gas.Living with your parents no longer means you're 'lazy' — you're being practical. But do you save money faster than those who move out young?
Angelica Silva ABC (No paywall)In some segments of Australian society, living with your parents is seen as not being able to make it in "the real world". Words to describe someone who either lives or moved back in with their parents used to be: lazy, disorganised and dependent. But as the pandemic persists and the nation's cost of living rises, those words have changed to include practical and cost-effective. Data from the 2021 Census released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed there were 456,543 people aged between 25 and 34 living with their parents. It is an increase of almost 17 per cent since the 2016 survey. ... [Also] The 2017 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey revealed the most common source of change in households was children leaving the parental home, and then returning after a period of time ... a group dubbed the "boomerang generation".
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-30/young-australians-living-…
# Australia, Families, Housing market, Young people.The simple changes that could cut your home energy usage by 25 per cent
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)More homes are set to be built with better insulation, light-coloured roofs and double-glazed windows under new rules that require a seven-star rating for home energy efficiency. North-facing windows can also make a house more energy efficient by capturing winter sunshine, while west-facing windows are best kept to a minimum or at least shaded by awnings or trees on hot summer afternoons. Newly built homes will have a minimum seven-star energy rating under changes agreed last week to the National Construction Code that experts say will cut home energy bills. Also, read Fiona Gray's article entitled: 'The NCC mandating 7 Star homes will cut the cost of living – but there’s more to be done' on 'The Fifth Estate' at: [https://thefifthestate.com.au/columns/spinifex/the-ncc-mandating-7-star-homes-will-cut-the-cost-of-living-but-theres-more-to-be-done/] Read Andrew Sadauskas's article entitled: 'Big surprises in the new NSW sustainable buildings planning policy' on 'The Fifth Estate' at: [ https://thefifthestate.com.au/business/the-surprises-in-the-nsw-sustainable-buildings-planning-policy/]
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-simple-changes-that-cou…
# Australia, Utilities electricity water gas, Climate change, Housing market.Understanding how policy settings affect developer decisions
Steven Rowley, Chris Leishman, Oluwole Olatunji, Jian Zuo and Adam Crowe AHURI (No paywall)New AHURI research published today examines how policy settings and new construction technologies and processes affect developer decisions to provide private sector housing supply and might improve affordability. The research, undertaken by researchers from Curtin University, University of South Australia, University of Southern Queensland and University of Adelaide examines the complexity of the development process, the structure of development organisations, the variety of products delivered, and land ownership issues mean the development decision-making process varies by organisation and site by site.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?pli=1#inbox/WhctKKXglJPKQTZsjp…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Planning and development.First home buyers snap up smaller blocks as high demand persists in property market
Owen Jacques and Jessica Lamb ABC (No paywall)The Australian dream of owning your own home has become a lot smaller in high-demand areas, with buyers snapping up tiny properties as they try to break into the housing market or downsize from something bigger.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-30/first-home-buyers-snap-up…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.