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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See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
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Archive
Australia’s election debate on energy ignores the miracle of rooftop solar
Saul Griffith The Guardian (No paywall)Power harvested from our roofs and stored locally could smash carbon emissions and obliterate household energy bills.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/20/australias…
# Australia, Utilities electricity water gas, Climate change.What a £350,000 average house price means for first-time buyers in Great Britain
Colin Jones The Conversation (No paywall)The average house price in Great Britain has risen above £350,000 for the first time, according to property website Rightmove. ... As a result, middle-income households are priced out of the market. ... The UK government’s statistics show that the proportion of people who owned and lived in their own home peaked at just under 71% in 2003 in England. By 2020, it had fallen to 64%. In the 2000s, the private-rented sector grew massively, with the rise of buy-to-let landlords. At the same time, there was a large increase in the number of young adults living with their parents. This phenomenon has also continued because both buying and renting have become increasingly unaffordable. Nevertheless, people largely still aspire to own their own homes.
https://theconversation.com/what-a-350-000-average-house-price-m…
# International, Home ownership, Housing market.Unprincipled moves: Is World Health Day worth celebrating?
Susan Thompson, Norma Shankie-Williams and Danny Wiggins. City Futures (No paywall)Our physical environment is central to our health. So with the NSW government dumping the D&P SEPP, is there much to celebrate this World Health Day?
https://blogs.unsw.edu.au/cityfutures/blog/2022/04/unprincipled-…
# NSW, Climate change, Health, Planning and development, State Government.The looming risk that could leave first-home buyers $20,000 out of pocket
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)First-home buyers who purchase with a small deposit risk owing thousands of dollars more on their home loan than their house is worth if property prices fall, new modelling shows. First-time buyers can consider a bigger budget after the federal government lifted its price caps for the Home Guarantee Scheme this week, allowing a purchase with a 5 per cent deposit without paying lenders’ mortgage insurance.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-looming-risk-that-could…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.The great toilet roll count: how Airbnbs have changed over time
Amelia Lester The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Nothing says hospitality like counting toilet rolls. That’s exactly what my Airbnb hosts did before I took a midweek getaway to their property. A welcome email listed how many toilet rolls would be allocated per bathroom (two) – along with the number of paper towels (“1 for properties 3 bedrooms or less, 2 for greater than 3 bedrooms”) and the promise of a single sponge.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-great-toilet-roll-count-how-…
# Australia, Short-term holiday letting.Three regional property hotspots investors need to watch
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)Houses in regional Australia have experienced outstanding capital growth, and there’s no end yet in sight. There’s also a well-documented shortage of property to lease in many of the areas, with rents on a similarly steep upward trajectory.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/three-regional-property-hot…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Regional NSW.The premium suburbs now in reach of first home buyers
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney lifestyle hotspots, including Cronulla, Dee Why and Surry Hills, plus dozens of additional suburbs in Melbourne, will qualify for the first home buyers’ low-deposit scheme when the purchase price caps increase on July 1.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/the-premium-suburbs-now-i…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market.Is this the world’s loneliest house?
Sonia Taylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A one-bedroom cabin with its own island has hit the market for $US339,000 ($458,000), or the price of a run-down Sydney shoebox. Located in Wohoa Bay in Washington County, Maine, the property affords uninterrupted 360-degree views of the bay and surrounding Atlantic Ocean.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/is-this-the-world-s-lonelie…
# International, Housing market.