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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
Tasmania's 'ambitious' target of 10,000 affordable houses within the decade — can it be done?
Fiona Blackwood ABC (No paywall)Mel has been waiting for social housing for two years — her situation is now desperate. She is frantically searching for a new place to live. "It's pretty scary," she said. Her lease ends in a matter of weeks, but because she is on a disability pension, her options are limited. The availability and the price … I shake my head and think, 'Well, I can't afford that'." Rental vacancy rates are below 1 per cent across Tasmania. ... Mel is one of more than 4,400 Tasmanian households waiting for social housing. She has been on the waitlist for two years and said she was told it may take another five years to find her a home in a suburb near her parents. Like 75 per cent of those on the list, Mel is categorised as a priority. ... Earlier this year, the Tasmanian government announced a plan to build or acquire 10,000 social and affordable homes over the next decade. The federal government is planning to build 30,000 social homes across the country over the next five years. The need across the country has been estimated at 700,000 new dwellings by the Australian Housing and Urban Institute.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-08/tasmania-10000-affordable…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Federal Government, Housing market, State Government.When crims become dodgy developers
Jimmy Thomson (No paywall)It’s hardly a true crime podcast but this week, inspired by connections made in the press between the relatives of property developers and their friends with police records, we wade into the murky waters of past cases where the Venn diagrams of criminals and property developers have overlapped.
# Audio NSW, Strata, Housing market, Landlords and agents.What can we expect on housing from new PM Liz Truss?
James Wilmore Inside Housing (Paywall)As Liz Truss takes over as prime minister, it promises to be a busy few months, not least on housing issues. On Ms Truss’ first day in the job, James Wilmore looks at what we can expect from her on housing policy.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/what-can-we-expect-on-ho…
# International, Affordable housing, Climate change, Home ownership, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, Planning and development.Home buyers still being misled by underquoting, despite falling prices
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)The days of homes for sale routinely soaring above price guides may be over, but buyers are still wasting time and money on properties they cannot afford as illegal underquoting continues. NSW Fair Trading received 51 underquoting related complaints in the first six months of this year, and issued 40 penalties totalling $88,000. That resulted in a total of 133 complaints and 96 fines last financial year.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/home-buyers-still-being-mis…
# NSW, Housing market, Landlords and agents.The auction clearance rate just stopped falling. Will property prices follow?
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Cautious home buyers are holding back at auction as interest rates jump and the cost of living rises, and new figures show just over half the auctions scheduled in August sold. Despite a modest increase in the auction clearance rate last month as sellers reduced their expectations, fewer than 60 per cent of homes scheduled for auction sold under the hammer. A result below this threshold – the level considered a “balanced market” – points to further price falls ahead.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-auction-clearance-rate-…
# Australia, Housing market.Tenants across Sacramento are organizing into ‘unions’. What do they do for renters?
Dante Motley (Paywall)Some Sacramento tenants have begun working with their neighbors to demand better conditions. (The Sacramento Bee)
https://www.sacbee.com/news/equity-lab/article264579241.html
# International, Rent, Campaigns and law reform.Look where Australia’s ‘1 million empty homes’ are and why they’re vacant – they’re not a simple solution to housing need
Emma Baker, Andrew Beer and Marcus Blake The Conversation (No paywall)The recent release of 2021 Census data revealed a shocking “one million homes were unoccupied”. This statistic sent housing commentators, government agencies and policymakers into a spin. At a time of significant housing shortages, this extra million homes would surely make a big difference. They could provide housing for some homeless, ease the rental affordability crisis, and get first-home owners into their first home. ... In fact, we’ve got a pretty good idea of what’s going on. First, it’s not a new phenomenon. When we compare 2021 with previous censuses, a slightly smaller percentage of our private dwelling stock was classified as unoccupied – just under 10%, compared with nearly 11% at the previous census in 2016. ... A big part of the story is how the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) determines whether a dwelling is occupied or not. ... The second and perhaps most important contributor to the empty homes story is holiday homes. Estimates vary, but we know 2 million Australians own one or more properties other than their own home. ... We need to find ways to ensure houses are full of people, not left empty as owners wait for investment opportunities to mature, or for absentee owners to go on holiday. We know there are solutions out there. Removing caps on council rates and treating short-term rentals as commercial properties essential to the tourism industry are just two ways we can get better occupancy of our stock. We just need to find the will to implement them.
https://theconversation.com/look-where-australias-1-million-empt…
# Australia, Homelessness, Housing market, Local Government, Short-term holiday letting.‘Worse before it gets better’: Renters face stiff competition for homes
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Australian tenants are struggling to find affordable homes, as strong demand and fewer rental options drive up competition and prices for properties. Tenants are facing record low rental vacancies – fewer than 1 per cent of rentals were left empty in August – and experts fear the situation could worsen in the months ahead. The national vacancy rate held at 0.9 per cent last month, down from 1.7 per cent the previous August, Domain data shows, and the proportion of empty rentals in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane more than halved year-on-year. Sydney’s rental vacancy rate fell to 1.2 per cent, the lowest on record for the time series, which began in 2017. Melbourne’s rate dropped to 1.3 per cent, marking the eighth consecutive monthly decline and lowest point since March 2019. ... Tenants Victoria director of community engagement, Farah Farouque, said renters on low to middle incomes – including a growing number of young families – were facing the greatest challenge, with rent hikes truly outstripping growth in wages and support payments. Even once-affordable outer suburbs and regional areas were becoming too expensive. “We’ve had a surge in people talking about financial stress from rent increases varying from $30 per week to up to $320 per week in one very stark case,” she said. ... Tenants’ Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross said the state of the rental market was “a disaster”. Rents and no-grounds evictions were rising, and some tenants who were evicted were struggling to find a new property in time. “We’re hearing from people with 100-plus applications in,” he said, adding the application process for homes was also becoming more intrusive, as some tenants were asked to provide links to their social media profile.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/worse-before-it-gets-better…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Eviction, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, No-grounds evictions.