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
Lack of affordable housing set to cost Australia $25b a year
Josh Gordon The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Businesses are increasingly struggling to find and retain workers who can afford to live within an acceptable commuting range, with a major new study warning a chronic lack of affordable housing is set to cost taxpayers $25 billion a year if nothing is done. ... The study, by public policy consultants SGS Economics and Planning, found decades of under-investment had triggered a collapse in the proportion of the housing stock regarded as affordable. You can download the report at: [https://housingallaustralians.org.au/whatwedo/give-me-shelter/]
https://www.smh.com.au/national/lack-of-affordable-housing-set-t…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing.'I don’t mind camping, but I won’t sleep in the car’: what happens when superannuation keeps failing women
Stephanie Wood The Guardian (No paywall)Sandra, for example, has a small nest egg but no super and barely survives on the other arm of the retirement income system, the age pension. When she first emailed me, she described herself as “homeless”. “I’ve been housesitting for eight years to alleviate the homelessness.”
Sandra is 76, doesn’t own a property, is a transient house-sitter, has a couple of hundred thousand dollars in a fixed-term deposit and nothing in superannuation. Sarah is in her mid-forties, rents the house she lives in with her three daughters and has $40,000 in superannuation. ... When Sandra hasn’t been able to get a house-sit, or that time she broke her arm, she has stayed with supportive friends and family. She thinks about other options. “A motor home is looking good and I’ve also got a tent on the top of my car; I don’t mind camping, I’m not averse to roughing it,” she says. “But I won’t sleep in the car. That’s one thing I won’t be doing.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/19/i-dont-mi…
# Australia, Homelessness, Housing market, Women, Work, employment.Swapping stamp duty for land tax would push down house prices but push up apartment prices, new modelling finds
Jason Nassios and James Giesecke The Conversation (No paywall)In Tuesday’s budget, NSW will announce a switch from stamp duty to land tax. It will become the second Australian jurisdiction to do so, with the ACT halfway through a 20-year switchover. Homebuyers who accept the offer will be taxed annually on the value of their land, instead of hit with an upfront fee (that averaged $50,000 for Sydney in 2018) when they buy. Once they have accepted, their property will be out of the stamp duty system and subject only to land tax for future owners.
https://theconversation.com/swapping-stamp-duty-for-land-tax-wou…
# NSW, Housing market, Tax.Student accommodation like we’ve never seen before wins praise
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Now new light-filled student accommodation by Sydney firm Architectus in the middle of Macquarie University’s central square precinct – shortlisted for national architecture, design, and innovation awards – is part of a growing trend to reinvent co-housing. ... The new student accommodation – with apartments for one, two, four, or six people – has been placed at the centre of the campus instead of the outskirts. It is next to the new library, a green square, teaching areas, tutorial rooms, restaurants, bars, study spaces and nooks.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/student-accommodation-like-w…
# NSW, Share houses, Students.First home buyers given land tax option in Perrottet’s stamp duty overhaul
Alexandra Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)First home buyers who opt into the centrepiece reform of Tuesday’s state budget will pay an annual levy of $400 and a 0.3 per cent tax on the value of their land in exchange for avoiding a crippling upfront stamp duty impost. ... As part of a broader housing policy, the government will also trial a shared equity scheme for first home buyers to help nurses, teachers, and police officers enter the housing market. The government will contribute an equity share up to 40 per cent for a new property or up to 30 per cent for an existing property under $950,000 in Sydney and other major regional centres. Also, read Ashleigh Raper's article entitled: 'NSW Premier goes ahead with stamp duty reform as first home buyers allowed to opt out' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-21/dominic-perrottet-nsw-premier-stamp-duty-budget-reform-2022/101168538]. Read the article by Tom Rabe entitled: 'Two-thirds of eligible first home buyers expected to choose land tax' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/two-thirds-of-eligible-first-home-buyers-expected-to-choose-land-tax-20220621-p5avg0.html]. Read the article by Alexandra Smith, Tom Rabe and Lucy Cormack entitled: 'What we know so far about the NSW budget' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/what-we-know-so-far-about-the-nsw-budget-20220617-p5auls.html?instance=2022-06-21-06-42-AEST&jobid=29395657&list_name=E2446F7A-1897-44FC-8EB8-B365900170E3&mbnr=MTA3Mzk4Njg&promote_channel=edmail&utm_campaign=am-smh&utm_content=shortlist_for_barilaros_role_thrown_out&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=2022-06-21] Read Maryanne Taouk's article entitled: 'NSW budget 2022: Here are the winners and losers' ... with 'Renters' as losers in ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-21/nsw-budget-2022-winners-and-losers/101139608]
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/first-home-buyers-given-land…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Rent, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, State Government, Tax.Essential workers’ home buyer scheme welcomed amid wider crisis
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)A plan to help teachers, nurses, police officers and single parents buy homes in partnership with the NSW government has been welcomed for offering a much-needed helping hand but comes with a warning it could push up prices. “Any day that someone gets more secure housing sooner than they might otherwise is a good day,” Shelter NSW chief executive John Engler said. “This is a boutique, targeted response, but there is a need for more days like this for our essential workers: the cleaners, check-out operators and carers who kept us safe, fed and watered during COVID. “Good governments have budgets that show secure housing includes greater protection for the growing number of precarious renters, often now in the regions, increasingly paying way too much of their low incomes in poorly located, energy-hungry dwellings.” ... Such shared equity schemes are becoming popular with governments worldwide, such as in the United Kingdom, where it is viewed as less expensive in the long term than providing subsidies, according to Dr Chris Martin, a senior research fellow in the University of NSW’s City Futures Research Centre. But Martin said there needs to be more significant measures taken to permanently fix housing unaffordability. “Australia is coming to shared equity a bit late, but the difficulty is that it can end up in higher prices,” he said. “We’re not doing enough in clearing some space for first home buyers. “They’re competing with investors, who are receiving negative gearing [benefits] and established owner-occupiers, who can take advantage of land-tax exemptions, so there’s not enough being done for first home buyers in that context.”
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/essential-workers-home-buye…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing market, State Government.Stamp duty catch: what happens when it’s time to sell?
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Stamp duty changes in NSW could help first home buyers get into the market sooner but its limited availability lacks the benefits of a broader overhaul, experts say. Stamp duty has long been disliked by economists as it is a tax on moving house. The NSW government had hoped to offer all buyers the choice between upfront stamp duty or a smaller annual land tax, making it easier for home owners to upgrade to a bigger home, downsize to a smaller one, or move closer to a new job. But losing stamp duty revenue would be a short-term hit to the state budget and instead the government opted for a more modest change that allows only first home buyers to opt out of stamp duty ... [Grattan Institute economic policy program director Brendan Coates said: “It looks less like a tax reform and more like just another support for first home buyers, because it doesn’t actually really start the transition ...” Also, read Phoebe Bowden's article entitled: 'The NSW government's land tax announcement explained — is this the beginning of the end of stamp duty?' in the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-22/nsw-government-stamp-duty-land-tax-reform-explained/101171810]. Read Josh Taylor's article entitled: 'What is stamp duty, why is NSW getting rid of it and what will replace it?' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/21/what-is-stamp-duty-why-is-nsw-getting-rid-of-it-and-what-will-replace-it]. Read Kate Burke's article entitled: '"Weight off our shoulders": First home buyers welcome property tax' in 'Domain' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/weight-off-our-shoulders-first-home-buyers-welcome-property-tax-20220621-p5avg9.html].
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/stamp-duty-catch-what-happe…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing market, Tax.Renters with disability face severe shortage of accessible homes
Kate McIntyre (No paywall)Disabled and elderly tenants have been forced to live in unsuitable homes where they can’t shower or access bedrooms as Sydney grapples with one of the worst rental housing shortages in years. ... PDCN CEO Hayley Stone said tenants were forced to restrict the use of their properties if they couldn’t afford to fund modifications or access the NDIS. “We’re hearing stories of people having to make do with washing through alternative means, or having to manage staircases by getting out of their wheelchair and getting their way up,” Ms Stone said. (realestate.com.au)
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/renters-with-disability-face-…
# NSW, Rent, Disability, Older people.