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
Despite property booms across Australia, safe and secure housing remains out of reach for many
Felicity James and Tobias Jurss-Lewis ABC (No paywall)For those with a stake in the housing market, the past few years have probably been a dream come true. Many Australian towns and cities have ridden a housing boom – but what about those who have been left behind?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-08/australia-housing-and-ren…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Home ownership, Homelessness, Housing market.Landlords face higher mortgage repayments. Will renters share the pain?
Sezen Bakan The New Daily (No paywall)Landlords are facing higher mortgage repayments after the Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate for the first time since 2010. But what does that mean for renters? ... Better Renting executive director Joel Dignam said landlords charge as much rent as possible based on the advice of their property managers. He said this means rents are already so high that landlords have little room to take them higher.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2022/05/04/renters-i…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.How our bushfire-proof house design could help people flee rather than risk fighting the flames
Deborah Ascher Barnstone The Conversation (No paywall)By 2030, climate change will make one in 25 Australian homes “uninsurable” if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, with riverine flooding posing the greatest insurance risk, a new Climate Council analysis finds. As a professor of architecture, I find this analysis grim, yet unsurprising. One reason is because Australian housing is largely unfit for the challenges of climate change.
https://theconversation.com/how-our-bushfire-proof-house-design-…
# Australia, Climate change, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Understanding the lived experience and benefits of regional cities
Laura Crommelin, Todd Denham, Laurence Troy, Jason Harrison, Hulya Gilbert, Stefanie Dühr and Simon Pinnegar AHURI (No paywall)The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated concerns about housing affordability and access to services for people living in regional Australia. This research investigates the lived experience of regional city residents (in five case studies) to understand how the benefits and disadvantages of regional city life are perceived and explore attitudes towards population growth.
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/news/jobs-services-and-housing…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Planning and development.Thousands of households staring down eviction as federal rental scheme winds up
Matt Dennien The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)More than 2000 Queensland households, including 337 across the federal electorates of Brisbane and Longman, will be left paying market rent or face eviction by December under the continued phase-out of the National Rental Affordability Scheme. But amid serious concerns about housing and cost-of-living pressures, major parties are yet to devise a direct replacement for the maligned scheme, which is set to fold entirely by 2026. By that time, another 6000 households statewide will be left without a cheaper rental option.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/queensland/thousands-of-househol…
# Australia, Eviction, Affordable housing, Federal Government.How will renters like Cameron be impacted by interest rates rising?
David Taylor and Karen Tong ABC (No paywall)Economists agree as the Reserve Bank raises interest rates, renters will likely cop higher rents. Why? Because landlords who have not yet paid off the cost of their mortgage will pass on their higher monthly repayments to their tenants in the form of higher rent.
"Basically, rate rises will increase pressure on renters," said NAB's chief economist Alan Oster. Not enough to crunch them but investors will want to try to offset the impact of rate rises on their cash flow."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-06/what-impact-will-interest…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.To make housing affordable, property prices need to fall, hurting many Australians with big debts
Nassim Khadem ABC (No paywall)"Let's make housing affordable". It's a catchphrase that federal politicians in recent decades have repeatedly used in their pre-election pitches, and which current major party campaign pledges are centred on. Over the past four decades, governments have thrown money at first-time buyers under the guise that it will make housing more affordable. While those who got the grants may be grateful, many economists argue it's simply fuelled house price growth and made it harder for another generation of young people to buy a home (or at least do it without the backing of their parents). ... But anyone who talks about making housing more affordable also needs to address the worrying flip side – falling house prices for Australians who are already in the property market and have a mortgage. ... So, can we make housing affordable without sending house prices tumbling?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-05/housing-affordability-pro…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Rent Strike: How low-income tenants face hard choices over how to make up housing benefit shortfalls
Chaminda Jayanetti (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Tenants on low incomes in private housing face rent shortfalls of hundreds of pounds a year after the government froze housing benefit for a second year running, amounting to a real-terms benefit cut in most of England as living costs soar. Analysis of government data shows tenants even in relatively cheap properties face heavy and rising rent shortfalls despite receiving housing benefit. (The House)
https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/rent-strike-how-lo…
# Australia, Rent, Welfare.