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
Housing crisis forces pet owners and animal foster carers to make heartbreaking decisions
Michelle Gately ABC (No paywall)Ms Wooley has been forced to suspend her charity's foster care services due to increased waits for housing. Community housing waiting lists in [central Queensland] have blown out beyond 12 weeks and rental vacancy rates are at record lows. While Queensland rental reforms have removed the landlord's automatic refusal of pets, the law does not come into force until October. Until then, owners unable to find appropriate housing have no option but to re-home their pets.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-30/pet-owners-giving-up-anim…
# Australia, Rent, Pets.Aged care complaint upheld, no further action taken as Southern Cross Care, Young already 'non-compliant'
Emily Doak ABC (No paywall)Elaine Mewburn was furious when she complained to the aged care watchdog about the treatment of her husband, Gary, but was told nothing could be done because his nursing home was already considered to be non-compliant.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-02/aged-care-complaint-about…
# NSW, Health, Housing market, Older people.Dear Philip Lowe, please be careful
Alan Kohler The New Daily (No paywall)Tomorrow’s interest rate decision by the Reserve Bank is the weightiest in a generation, and not only because it would be the first hike in a decade and Australians are burdened with debt.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2022/05/02/reser…
# Australia, Housing market.‘It’s over’: Australia’s house price growth slows to a 12-month low
Ellen Lutton Domain (No paywall)Australia’s extraordinary run of house price growth has finally come to an end in all but a couple of cities, with the latest data revealing a patchwork of property markets slowing across the nation.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/its-over-australias-house-price-g…
# Australia, Housing market.The Australian city where house prices are growing by Olympic proportions
Sarah Webb Domain (No paywall)Brisbane is now the fastest-growing capital city property market in Australia, after house and unit medians skyrocketed 32.1 per cent and 9.3 per cent respectively in just one year.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-australian-city-where-h…
# Australia, Housing market.Building grants create 'unintended consequences' for Perth's overheated construction industry
Rebecca Turner ABC (No paywall)It's been 75 weeks since Perth couple Cassie and Julian Kirtisingham signed a contract to build a five-bedroom, two-bathroom house in the city's southern suburbs. Like many new home buyers, the couple signed up in late 2020 so they could take advantage of $20,000 WA government and $25,0000 federal government stimulus grants designed to keep the construction industry alive during the pandemic.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-30/building-grants-lead-to-d…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, State Government.Clive Palmer’s promise to cap mortgage rates at 3% would make it much harder to get a home loan
Isaac Gross The Conversation (No paywall)Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party continues to make waves in the federal election campaign, most recently with advertisements on massive billboards pledging a “maximum 3% interest rate on all home loans for five years”. But does this promise stack up? Keeping mortgage rates at their record lows for five years is a bold promise. Especially because – as Clive Palmer well knows – the government doesn’t set interest rates.
https://theconversation.com/clive-palmers-promise-to-cap-mortgag…
# Australia, Housing market.The Sydney suburbs where property prices have risen and fallen most
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Median house prices are still higher than last year in every Sydney suburb, with lifestyle locations continuing to lead the way, new figures reveal.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-sydney-suburbs-where-pr…
# NSW, Housing market.