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
‘You can’t smell a mortgage’: Domain boss turns focus to home loans
Zoe Samios The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Domain boss Jason Pellegrino is urging state governments to review taxes that make it difficult to enter the housing market as he flagged ambitions to invest heavily in the company’s home loans division. Pellegrino said local and state governments should invest more in understanding what type of housing is in demand, but conceded there would be single-digit decline in residential real-estate listings over the next financial year amid forecasts house prices could fall as much as 20 per cent. “Housing affordability ... continues to be an issue and whilst prices are declining, price declines alone are not going to solve that issue,” Pellegrino said. “There is a range of issues that I think from a government perspective we need to step on... rather than sort of noting the problem and then putting it in the too-hard basket. We have to help with demand and help people into the market with government support and the like, but we also have to remove friction costs. The current structure of that cost puts an upfront penalty and impedes the transaction in that market.”
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/you-can-t-smell-a-mort…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Local Government, State Government, Tax.Melbourne's multicultural suburbs hit hard by mortgage stress as interest rates rise
Kristian Silva ABC (No paywall)Three years after migrating to Australia from Africa, Lea moved into her dream house in 2019. The spacious two-storey property in Melbourne's sprawling outer south-east was perfect for her then-husband and four kids. Three years on, the decision to purchase a $900,000 home and land package in Cranbourne is increasingly becoming a nightmare. Lea, who asked her surname not to be published, is now in the final stages of settling a divorce. She is the sole carer of her children, and said her wage as an aged care worker was being stretched to afford the $2,500-a-month mortgage repayments. Lea is dreading next year, when the low-interest portion of her loan will need to be re-fixed, inevitably at a much higher rate. ... Aspirational migrants like Lea are at the forefront of Australia's mortgage stress crisis, financial experts say, with boom suburbs in Melbourne's fringe filled with owners struggling to make their repayments.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-19/mortgage-stress-hits-mult…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Race and ethnicity.Why are our houses colder than Sweden’s?: Ending our energy poverty
ABC (No paywall)Aussies love their mild winters, but studies show we have higher cold-related death rates than much colder nations like Sweden. This is partly due to our high levels of energy stress, which is on the rise. So how can we end it once and for all? (ABC Radio National)
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/why-ar…
# Audio Australia, Utilities electricity water gas, Health, Minimum habitability standards.Airbnb has already banned parties. Now it's rolling out 'anti-party' systems to weed out people trying to break the rules
ABC (No paywall)Airbnb is rolling out 'anti-party' technology across Australia more than a month after permanently banning parties at its listings. The company banned parties back in August 2020, when COVID-19 lockdowns meant places such as pubs and nightclubs were closed, prompting some to move their partying to venues such as holiday rentals. Airbnb officially made the party ban permanent at the end of June. Now the company is rolling out systems designed to weed out people who look like they're trying to throw "unauthorised parties".
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-18/airbnb-anti-party-technol…
# International, Short-term holiday letting.‘What’s the point?’: Flood pain for Hawkesbury Nepean residents wanting buyback scheme
Laura Chung and Billie Eder The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)After four floods in two years, Windsor resident Darrell Davis needs a fresh start – far away from the floodplains. So far, Davis has had little luck selling the family home of 20 years and jokes that the frequent water views aren’t attracting buyers. Because he cannot afford to rebuild, now that he is retired, Davis only has two options: sell up or hope for a government buyback scheme.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/what-s-the-point-flood-pain-…
# NSW, Housing market, State Government.NSW premier makes secret visit to housing pods being built on flooded land
Tamsin Rose The Guardian (No paywall)Hours after proclaiming building on New South Wales’ flood plains needed to stop, the premier, Dominic Perrottet, was standing in a construction zone for emergency housing that, just months earlier, lay under water.The premier’s visit to the Mullumbimby temporary housing site – where construction is being overseen by Resilience NSW – was kept secret from the media and locals.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/19/hopes-tha…
# NSW, Homelessness, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.Greens counciller criticised for encouraging squatting
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A Greens councillor has sparked backlash after encouraging homeless Queenslanders to squat in homes amid the state's rental crisis.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/greens-counciller-criticised-for…
# Video Australia, Rent, Homelessness.Chinese home owners boycotting mortgage payments as economy sinks
Daisuke Wakabayashi The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)For decades, buying property was considered a safe investment in China. Now, instead of building a foundation of wealth for the country’s middle class, real estate has become a source of discontent and anger. In more than 100 cities across China, hundreds of thousands of Chinese home owners are banding together and refusing to repay loans on unfinished properties, one of the most widespread acts of public defiance in a country where even minor protests are quelled.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/chinese-homeowners-b…
# International, Home ownership, Landlords and agents.