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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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See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
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Archive
Consumers warned of looming 'nightmare' as AEMO reports record wholesale electricity costs
Daniel Mercer ABC (No paywall)Millions of Australian households have been warned to brace for savage hikes to their power bills after prices in the country's biggest electricity market rocketed to their highest levels on record. In a report released today, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) said wholesale power costs soared to unprecedented levels in the three months to June 30 amid the crisis engulfing the energy system.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-29/aemo-reports-record-whole…
# Australia, Utilities electricity water gas.Revised plan for Blackwattle Bay revealed after fierce backlash
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)About 1200 units in towers up to 35 storeys will be built on the old Sydney Fish Market site at Blackwattle Bay under revised plans the NSW government prepared in response to fierce backlash against an earlier proposal. The government’s development arm, Infrastructure NSW, on Thursday published an updated plan to redevelop the site of the fish market – which will eventually be shifted to a $750 million building at the head of the bay. The original proposal had triggered widespread opposition from the City of Sydney council, local MPs and residents of the Pyrmont peninsula. The government has earmarked Pyrmont for more intensive development.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/revised-plan-for-blackwattle…
# NSW, Housing market, Local Government, Planning and development, State Government.Welsh private rented sector needs to plug 98% funding gap to reach net zero by 2050
Stephen Delahunty Inside Housing (Paywall)The Welsh government is being called on to develop a long-term strategy for meeting 2050 net-zero targets, after new research revealed a huge funding gap in the private rented sector (PRS).
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/welsh-private-rented-s…
# International, Rent, Climate change, Landlords and agents.'I'm not giving up my cat': Lack of pet-friendly rentals forces Bulli woman into caravan
Grace Crivellaro Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)‘Pet-friendly’: Bulli woman Tahlia Roza lives in a caravan with her cat Dougie and has struggled to secure a rental. Finding a rental in the Illawarra is an almost impossible feat, made even tougher if you own a pet. As vacancies remain at an all-time low, it’s been a struggle for Tahlia Roza to find a new home after she was asked to vacate from her Bulli rental a month ago.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7839957/im-not-giving-…
# NSW, Eviction, Rent, Homelessness, Pets.Apartment prices outperform house prices for first time in three years
Derek Rose The New Daily (No paywall)The price of apartments outperformed houses last quarter for the first time in three years, a new report shows. ... "Affordability constraints, reduced borrowing capacity and the relative underperformance and perceived value (that) units offer will help steer buyer demand to affordable options, likely to be both units and entry-priced houses”.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2022/07/28/apartment…
# Australia, Strata, Housing market.Australia’s median house price falls for the first time in two years – how much is your suburb worth?
Ellen Lutton Domain (No paywall)Australia’s median house price has fallen for the first time in two years but the bulk of the downturn is coming from Sydney and Melbourne, a new report shows. House prices fell by 2.7 per cent in Sydney – its steepest quarterly fall since early 2019 – and 0.9 per cent in Melbourne, according to Domain’s House Price Report for the June quarter. This was the second quarterly fall in a row for Melbourne. These price falls dragged the combined capitals’ median house price down by 0.9 per cent. Australia’s median house price is now $1.065 million – $10,000 less than what it was in March but still $100,000 more than what it was this time last year.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/australian-house-prices-fall-for-…
# Australia, Housing market.Chasing a discount? The Sydney suburbs where property prices have fallen most
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Home buyers across dozens of Sydney suburbs can spend less on a property than they would have a year ago, with six-figure price declines recorded in some areas. Unit prices fell in almost one in five Sydney suburbs over the year to June, Domain data shows, and house prices were down in several suburbs.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/chasing-a-discount-the-sydn…
# NSW, Housing market, Sydney.The popular NSW tree-change towns where house prices have soared
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)The housing boom in regional NSW has begun to lose steam, new data shows, but prices are still rising in regional areas and experts say they may escape Sydney’s downturn. Every council area in the state outside of Sydney, except for two, recorded double-digit price growth in the year to June, the latest Domain House Price Report, released on Thursday, showed.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-popular-nsw-tree-change…
# NSW, Housing market, Regional NSW.