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
Property prices have risen seven times faster than wages in a year. Can it continue?
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Housing values have risen at almost seven times the pace of wages growth over the past year, even though the property market is starting to weaken and pay packets are picking up.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/property-prices-have-risen-…
# Australia, Housing market.Can renting improve Australians' housing reality?
ABC (No paywall)Housing experts say that with the Australian dream now a mirage for many people, we should at least improve their reality. (ABC Politics Explained (Easily)) ... super brief
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvxEG9-qjcQ&ab_channel=ABCNews%2…
# Australia, Rent, Repairs, Federal Government, Landlords and agents, No-grounds evictions, State Government, Young people.Party and Candidate Responses to National Shelter Policy Checklist
National Shelter (No paywall)National Shelter has released the party and candidate responses to its 2022 policy platform checklist. Early in the campaign, National Shelter invited the major parties, minor parties, and C200 independent candidates to indicate how their policies or policies of their party support the National Shelter priorities. This report includes a summary of the various housing policies and programs announced by the major parties both before and during the campaign. You will find the checklist and National Shelter's analysis here.
https://shelter.org.au/national-shelter-2022-2023-federalcheckli…
# Must read Australia, Campaigns and law reform, Federal Government, Housing market.Five housing policies that wouldn’t drive up prices in Australia
Greg Jericho The Guardian (No paywall)So housing affordability has taken centre stage in the campaign. And would you believe it, the policy is designed around pumping up demand rather than addressing supply. As economist Saul Eslake has noted, pretty much every major housing affordability policy going back to the 1960s has been about pumping up demand. ... And has pumping up demand worked to improve housing affordability? Well, no.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2022/may/16/fiv…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Housing market, Planning and development, Tax.Scrapping ‘no fault evictions’ doesn’t address the problem of spiralling rents
Francisco Garcia The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The proposed renters’ reform bill contains one particularly eye-catching commitment. For years, housing activists and charities have fought for the abolition of section 21 of the Housing Act (1988), an insidious piece of Thatcherite legislation that became better known as “no-fault evictions”. The premise is simple enough. Under the terms of section 21, private landlords have been able to evict tenants without a reason, and giving just two months notice. ... Though doubtlessly a positive step, scrapping section 21 doesn’t do much to address the problem of spiralling rents. [Read on]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/16/no-fault-e…
# International, Rent, No-grounds evictions.Super for houses is a bad policy, but Scott Morrison wants to pick a fight over it
Katharine Murphy The Guardian (No paywall)If the 2022 contest is between a bulldozer and a builder, it makes sense that the final act of the election be staged on a residential housing construction site. ... As his final throw of the dice in this election, Morrison tracked back to homeownership, dusting off a well-ventilated but previously perpetually stalled proposal for people to use their superannuation to help with the purchase of their first home. Just for the record, Malcolm Turnbull once blasted this concept as “thoroughly bad” and “the craziest idea I’ve heard” and no less an eminence than Mathias Cormann noted several years ago this would “increase demand for housing and … would actually drive up house prices by more”. But here we are. Also, read Rachel Clun's and James Massola's article entitled: '"Leverage their own money": Liberals want to open up superannuation after housing plan' in The Sydney Morning Herald at: [https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/leverage-their-own-money-liberals-want-to-open-up-superannuation-after-housing-plan-20220516-p5allr.html]. Read Michelle Grattan's article entitled: 'Scott Morrison tells Liberal launch "I’m just warming up", as he pitches on home ownership' in The Conversation at: [ https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-scott-morrison-tells-liberal-launch-im-just-warming-up-as-he-pitches-on-home-ownership-183100]. Read Nassim Khadem's article entitled: 'Should you leave your money in superannuation or put it towards a deposit for a first home?' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-17/money-in-superannuation-or-housing-deposit-first-home-buyer/101071836]. Read Tom Lowrey's article entitled: 'What are the two major parties' policies for housing this federal election? What are they promising first home buyers?' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-17/what-are-the-two-major-parties-promising-for-first-home-buyers/101070144]. Read Kate Burke's and Tawar Razaghi's article entitled: 'What first home buyers think of raiding their super to buy a home' in Domain at: [https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/what-first-home-buyers-think-of-raiding-their-super-to-buy-a-home-20220516-p5alns.html]. Read Cameron Murphy's opinion piece entitled: 'House now, super later: Life is too short to delay purchase' in The Sydney Morning Herald at: [https://www.smh.com.au/national/house-now-super-later-life-is-too-short-to-delay-purchase-20220516-p5alpr.html] Read Jessica Irvine's opinion piece entitled: 'Super v housing: it’s time young people had that debate' in The Sydney Morning Herald at: [https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/super-v-housing-it-s-time-young-people-had-that-debate-20220516-p5alru.html] Read The Sydney Morning Herald's Editorial entitled: 'Aspiring young buyers must have a voice in housing policy' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/aspiring-young-buyers-must-have-a-voice-in-housing-policy-20220516-p5alsv.html]
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/15/super-for…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market, Young people.Rental stress, cost of living pressures forcing Tasmanians into cars as winter approaches
Adam Langenberg ABC (No paywall)Tracey Ransley had no choice but to leave the house she'd lived in for more than a decade when her landlord proposed raising the rent by $90 a week. ... Unable to find a new rental, the 53-year-old was evicted from her Rokeby home last month and is now living in her car with her two dogs, parked in her friend's driveway. "She lets me have a shower there and do my washing and when it's too cold she lets me stay inside and have a sleep, but it's hard," she said. Living in her car is "hard" and "scary" for Tracey, a diabetic with high blood pressure and chronic arthritis. Also, read Kate Ferguson's article entititled: 'WA housing crisis forces Exmouth workers to sleep in their cars' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-16/exmouth-housing-crisis-forces-people-to-sleep-in-car/101068440]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-17/rental-hikes-force-tasman…
# Australia, Rent, Homelessness, Women, Work, employment.Housing crisis? Look over there – a puppy!
Michael Pascoe The New Daily (No paywall)The Australian housing crisis has entered the catastrophe stage for the third of Australians not already in their own home, yet it has taken until the last week of the official campaign for the politicians and most media to get a little excited about it. And what they are excited about is a relative distraction, a sideshow that will have marginal impact of debatable worth and go nowhere towards solving the underlying problem.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2022/05/18/housi…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market.