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
Why I’m voting for a national housing plan
Judy Kraatz The Fifth Estate (No paywall)ELECTION 2022: This election gives us a golden opportunity to begin creating a bipartisan, consistent, long-term strategy that addresses our housing crisis. Restoring housing as a basic human right and service, rather than a traded commodity, is much discussed by those seeking to address the critical shortfall of social and affordable housing in Australia.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/columns/spinifex/why-im-voting-for…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Home ownership, Homelessness, Housing market, Human rights, Planning and development, Tax.Your bank might be putting its interest rate up by more than it needs to. Here's why
David Taylor ABC (No paywall)Amid real cost of living pressures, how would you feel if you knew the big four banks were raising the cost of your mortgage to pump up their profit margins? It appears the banks are using a lack of understanding about how monetary policy is implemented to charge mortgage borrowers more than their costs are actually rising.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-07/interest-rate-rise-big-ba…
# Australia, Housing market.Has the interest rate rise broken Australia’s housing market fever?
Brigid Delaney The Guardian (No paywall)Prices remain high, but the days of frenzied auction bidding may be numbered with the recent interest rate hike and a slowing market
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/09/has-the-i…
# NSW, Housing market.Tasmania's housing market frenzy may be over, but prices still at an all-time high
Isabella Podwinski ABC (No paywall)There are signs Tasmania's real estate market has started to soften, with the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania's March quarterly report indicating the number of property sales has dropped. Despite the easing, there are lingering fears many will still be locked out of Tasmania's housing market due to an increase in property value.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-10/tasmania-housing-market-s…
# Australia, Housing market.Tasmania's Art Deco, modernist architecture captured by photographer Thomas Ryan
Georgie Burgess ABC (No paywall)Tasmania's modern architecture is often overlooked, but one man has spent the past 20 years taking a step back and appreciating it. From the brutalism of buildings like Launceston's Henty House and Hobart's former Murray Street offices to quirky suburban Art Deco, Thomas Ryan has been capturing the art movement of modernism through his lens.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-10/tasmanias-modernist-and-a…
# Australia, Heritage listings.Greens determined to topple decades-long Labor dominance in marginal inner-Brisbane seat of Griffith
Ciara Jones ABC (No paywall)Andrew Beecroft and his partner Lucy Ivers live in a rental property with their newborn daughter in the thriving, inner-city Brisbane suburb of West End. With their lease about to end and affordable properties scarce, they are facing an uncertain future – fighting for a spot in Brisbane's rental market. "It's a worry you don't want to have in your everyday life," Mr Beecroft said. "In this area, the rental crisis is the biggest issue — it's something that needs to be addressed, with more social housing and opportunities to get into a home."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-11/qld-federal-election-grif…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Housing market.Where homes sold for a loss despite the property boom
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)More than one in 10 homes sold are changing hands at a loss in some neighbourhoods despite the pandemic property boom, new figures show. The losses have been concentrated in apartment-heavy areas where a wave of new supply in recent years met falling demand while international borders were closed.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/where-homes-sold-for-a-loss…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.‘I’ve never felt this vulnerable’: Guardian readers share their rental crisis horror stories
Stephanie Convery The Guardian (No paywall)Exorbitant rent increases, no-grounds evictions only weeks after moving in, fungi and mould infestations, and scores of denied applications. Renters have shared their horror stories of the crisis in Australia’s housing market.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/07/ive-never…
# Australia, Rent, Repairs, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing affordability, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, Mould, No-grounds evictions, Regional NSW.