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
Four bedrooms ... four bathrooms? How COVID is changing home design
James Purtill ABC (No paywall)"The Barnaby" might be a strange name for a home of the future, but that's what this four-bedroom demonstration house claims to be. Located in a small town in South Carolina, it's the size of an average new house in Australia and looks pretty normal from the outside. ... This is a design shaped by the pandemic. The team of architects, social researchers, and marketing experts that dreamed it up say every detail is informed by insights from a survey into the impact of COVID on homes and communities in America.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-05-20/covid-19-pandemic…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home.Chinese developer Sunac defaults as Beijing struggles to save the trillion-dollar sector
Samuel Yang ABC (No paywall)About a year ago, Chinese billionaire Sun Hongbin was certain that his luxury real estate company Sunac China would never "bomb". Last week, his firm,= — China's third-largest developer — defaulted, missing the deadline for coupon payments on a $US742 million ($1.1 billion) offshore bond. Unlike Evergrande, which defaulted in December last year, Sunac appeared to be financially healthy and the boss, Mr Sun, had previously been diligent in repaying debts.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-20/chinese-developer-sunac-d…
# International, Housing market, International, Landlords and agents.Intergenerational inequality to rise as tax and welfare perks target older voters, experts warn
Daniel Ziffer ABC (No paywall)Younger people are stuck in a tax system that some economists warn is stacked against them, as election promises that give advantages to wealthy, retired baby boomers over wage earners mount. "We've had a tax and transfer system that's radically benefited current older Australians throughout their lifetimes," Steven Hamilton of George Washington University says. "We're seeing further giveaways to older Australians, often quite wealthy, older Australians," Brendan Coates of the Grattan Institute adds. ... For Emma Dawson, executive director of left-leaning think-tank Per Capita, the "real culprits" are tax concessions that go to people who already have a lot of wealth, primarily around property. At the 2019 election, the concept of negative gearing — allowing property investors to deduct losses from being a landlord against their tax — was much debated. Less discussed is the impact of a discount to capital gains tax (CGT) on property investment — something that exploded at the turn of the century. "At that point, we saw the price of property, of land, in Australia take off compared to the rate of wage growth," Ms Dawson says.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-18/election-promises-risk-in…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Older people, Tax, Young people.Do we even want to solve housing affordability?
Waleed Aly The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Every few years, Australian politics gets around to not solving the housing affordability crisis. This election sees both major parties offering policies that are unlikely to work for the common reason that they are not designed to reduce (or even stall) house prices. Instead, they aim to let potential first home buyers borrow more than they otherwise could, so they can place higher bids than they otherwise would. That, by definition, drives prices up, especially at the entry-level of the market.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/do-we-even-want-to-solve-housing…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing market, Tax.Prominent Aboriginal elder joins Northern Territory's dismal homeless statistics
Jane Bardon ABC (No paywall)Outside her mother's funeral this week, prominent Larrakia elder June Mills Gudbiling anointed family and community leaders with white ochre she had collected and ground up that morning. They were honouring her mother, Kathy Mills OAM, a leader and activist in the Aboriginal community. After the service, June Mills had nowhere to go but back to but her car. "I'm homeless. I am able to stay here and there with family now and again, but pretty much I'm living in the car," she said. ... Now she's been evicted from public housing in Darwin's northern suburbs, and said she cannot afford anywhere to live.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-20/prominent-aboriginal-elde…
# Australia, Eviction, Public and community housing, Homelessness, Personal stories.Australian students struggling to rent a home, let alone buy one
Millie Muroi The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Students are facing a triple threat of a post-recession economy, stagflation and rising interest rates – making moving out of home unaffordable and home ownership an unlikely prospect. University of Sydney student Sissy Qin wants to move out of home but said the cost of living is too high for it to be realistic. “I definitely want to move out,” she said. “I think the only reason I haven’t yet is because of financial reasons. Rent is really, really high.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/australian-students-struggli…
# NSW, Rent, Affordable housing, Students.Daniel Andrews invests $30 million in ARKit sustainable prefab modular homes
Andrew Sadauskas The Fifth Estate (No paywall)The Victorian state government is rolling out 114 energy efficient prefabricated modular homes to provide housing for people, mostly in regional areas, who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/daniel-an…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Utilities electricity water gas, Homelessness.‘Like a buyer’s agent but for renters’: Sydneysiders seek professional help to find homes
Caitlin Fitzsimmons The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Time-poor Sydneysiders are turning to renter’s agents to help them find a home in the tightest market in five years. A handful of renter’s agencies have opened up in the past few years, advertising themselves as “like a buyers’ agent but for renters”, with fees to find a new home ranging from $500 to $2000.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/like-a-buyer-s-agent-but-for…
# NSW, Rent.