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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
The Mortgage Stress Problem, Discussed On The Radio
Martin North (No paywall)Nothing new, but I was able to contextualize the mortgage and home price issue. Years of poor policy and regulation. (Digital Finance Analytics)
https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/the-mortgage-stress-pro…
# Audio Australia, Housing market.Shelter says 227,000 'no fault' evictions in three years is appalling
Charley Adams & James FitzGerald BBC (No paywall)Some 227,000 private renters in England have been served a "no fault" eviction notice in the past three years, a YouGov poll has suggested. Homelessness charity Shelter wants the government to scrap these evictions, saying losing a private tenancy is the second biggest cause of homelessness.
# International, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market, No-grounds evictions, Personal stories.First time buyers prepare for rate rises, parties battle over housing
Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A quarter of a million home buyers in NSW and another 350,000 in Victoria in some of the country’s key swing electorates will face their first ever interest rate rise if the Reserve Bank, as expected, starts tightening monetary policy this week. As both major parties claimed their policies would help people get into the property market, economists and financial markets expect the sharpest lift in official interest rates since the country emerged from the global financial crisis.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/first-time-buyers-prepar…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market.‘It just doesn’t work’: renting in northern NSW is so impossible we’ve had to go off-grid
Daisy Dumas The Guardian (No paywall)Months before thousands of people were left homeless because of unprecedented flooding, rental prices in New South Wales’s northern rivers were surging, largely driven by a pandemic-induced influx of families and young professionals from Sydney and Melbourne. ['The Guardian' asks: Have you had a bad experience with the rental market? Tell us using the form provided.]
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/02/it-just-d…
# NSW, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market, Personal stories, Regional NSW.How has the student population evolved in the past 2 years?
Savills Research (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Market surges despite economic uncertainty. ... Domestic and non-EU international acceptances both grew, by 1.4% and 2.4% respectively, while the number of EU acceptances halved. This pattern has been anticipated since the UK’s exit from the EU, and the strength of domestic and other international demand has helped broadly maintain total intake. Traditionally, PBSA [Purpose Built Student Accommodation] has been disproportionately occupied by international students, so the strong growth in that segment should mean solid demand for purpose built accommodation.
https://pdf.euro.savills.co.uk/uk/market-in-minute-reports/mim-s…
# International, Housing market, Students.Home owners warned about May rate hike after ‘shocker’ inflation spike
Matthew Elmas The New Daily (No paywall)Home owners could be slugged with higher mortgage rates as early as next month after annual inflation rose to the highest rate in two decades. The price of consumer goods and services as measured by the consumer price index rose by 5.1 per cent over the 12 months to March 31. It was the highest rate of annual inflation recorded since 2001 and well above the 4.5 per cent that most market economists had expected. Everything from soaring freight costs to labour shortages and the war in Ukraine were blamed for the inflation spike, with prices for essentials such as petrol, housing and groceries leading the squeeze. And now the Reserve Bank is under pressure to lift rates as soon as Tuesday to cool what looks like an overheating economy.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2022/04/27/infla…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Inflation hits an extraordinary 5.1%. How long until mortgage rates climb?
John Hawkins The Conversation (No paywall)Australian consumer prices jumped an extraordinary 2.1% in the first three months of the year, the biggest quarterly jump since the introduction of the 10% goods and services tax at the start of the century. ... About a third of households have a mortgage, and face higher payments. But it will take a while for all of them to be affected.
https://theconversation.com/inflation-hits-an-extraordinary-5-1-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.‘Craziness’: Regional NSW house prices outpace Sydney’s growth
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)House prices in regional NSW have climbed at a faster rate than those in Sydney over the past year, new data shows, soaring by $500,000 in some popular coastal pockets. Median house prices in the majority of regional NSW council areas jumped 20 per cent over the year to March, Domain’s latest House Price Report revealed, with price growth fuelled by ongoing demand from sea and tree changers and low interest rates.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/craziness-regional-nsw-hous…
# NSW, Housing market.