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
Changes to NSW land taxes to impact renters, industry says
Heath Parkes-Hupton news.com.au (No paywall)More landlords and investors could face higher costs under a government plan described by a senior real estate figure as a “tax grab by stealth”, which could exacerbate the strain on an already tight property market. The NSW government is set to announce the threshold at which its land taxes are triggered will be frozen at $1.075m, meaning more properties will be captured in coming years. Previously the tax-free threshold moved in line with property prices, with the changes forecast to raise an extra $1.5b for the state budget over the next four years.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/sydney-nsw/changes-t…
# Must read, Legal significance NSW, Rent.Concerns over Kanwal development
Coast Community News (No paywall)Member for Wyong David Harris has encouraged interested locals to submit their thoughts on a proposal to redevelop the Oasis Caravan Park at Kanwal to create 675 units in a series of buildings up to 12 storeys in height. He said he had concerns about what might happen to current residents. He spoke about the matter in Parliament in March and has since met with local businesspeople, the proponents, representatives from the Department of Planning and the Minister for Homes Rose Jackson. “Some of the issues are being addressed but there are still concerns,” Harris said on his Facebook page, as he urged residents to read the documents and submit their opinions – either for or against.
https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2024/06/con…
# Hot topic NSW, Land lease communities, Rent.The magic number that tips the rental market in tenants’ favour
Jim Malo The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Australian tenants have not experienced a renters’ market in the past 20 years, other than during COVID lockdowns in some cities, which have baked-in market conditions that contribute to the rental crisis, experts say. Historical data shows that the country’s national vacancy rate has not fallen below 3 per cent since 2005, when the SQM Research records began. A rental market with a vacancy rate higher than 3 per cent was typically considered a renters’ market, tenancy advocacy groups said.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-magic-number-that-tips-…
# Must read, TUNSW in the media, Research alert Australia, .Coming home to Country
Rachel Mounsey ABC (No paywall)Diane Stokes Nampin’s rusty-looking block is scattered with broken-down cars, a weather-worn donga and a tumbled-down tin shed. Inside the shed Diane lives in, her body is slumped with grief in a plastic chair. It was a 44-degree day when her six-year-old grandson died suddenly of heart complications related to rheumatic heart disease (RHD). “It was his heart,” she says, her long fingers softly tapping her chest. “I raised him from little … you know?” “And now he’s gone.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-14/jurnkkurakurr-residents-f…
# Must read Australia, Aboriginal renters, Utilities electricity water gas.John was notified of a rental increase, then he was lawfully evicted. Here are the rent increase rules where you live
Dannielle Maguire ABC (No paywall)John Bath calls 2024 his "annus horribilis". He'd been renting his two-bedroom home in Midland, Western Australia, since 2020. A new landlord bought the house in 2022, but he stayed on as a tenant, paying $250 a week. But a few months ago, his landlord mentioned needing to increase his weekly rent. Mr Bath was shocked to receive an email proposing an extra $100 a week, based on a property evaluation. The aged pensioner sent an email back disputing the increase. Then a property agent informed him the rent would actually be going up by $200 a week. That would have taken his rent from $250 to $450 a week. "I couldn’t pay that," Mr Bath says. Not long after that came the eviction notice — which, according to state law, was completely legal.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-15/rental-increase-rules-sta…
# Must read Australia, Eviction.Why are Australian houses so cold, and how can we build 1.2m new ones without trashing the environment?
Philip Oldfield The Guardian (No paywall)The federal government has set a target of building 1.2m new homes in Australia by 2029. If we construct these homes the same way as we do today, their materials will contribute to millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, while our poorly performing existing homes will remain freezing in the winter. We need to change the way we design, build and retrofit housing to avoid a climate catastrophe.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/17/wh…
# Must read Australia, Utilities electricity water gas.102 millionaires paid no tax and the richest and poorest postcodes and occupations revealed
Nassim Khadem ABC (No paywall)More than 100 Australians earned more than $1 million in total income yet paid no tax in 2021–22, while Australia's highest earners live in Double Bay, according to newly released data from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). In its latest annual Taxation Statistics, data extracted from tax returns reveals the number of people who earned more than $1 million but paid no tax has climbed to 102 in 2021–22, up from 66 a year earlier. Analysis of the data by the Australia Institute and the ABC shows this cohort of affluent taxpayers earned on average $3.8 million each. Overall, these 102 millionaires claimed $279 million worth of different deductions to reduce their tax bills to zero.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-17/millionaires-paid-no-tax-…
# Hot topic Australia, .New South Wales, Victoria unveil new plans to tackle housing crisis
Essam Al-Ghalib SBS (No paywall)It was news that was a surprise to almost no-one: Sydney and Melbourne being ranked in an international study as being "impossibly unaffordable". The two capitals were ranked in the top 10 of most expensive places to live in Chapman University’s Frontier Centre for Public Policy’s Demographia International Housing Affordability report. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has now announced plans to make things a little easier - at least for the state's essential workers, who will be offered rents at subsidised prices.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/podcast-episode/new-south-wales-vict…
# Hot topic, Audio Australia, Rent.