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
NSW floods: drone footage shows scale of devastation in Lismore – video
The Guardian (No paywall)Communities across the New South Wales northern rivers, Australia, have been hit by major flooding for the second time in a month, with Lismore’s flood levee overflowing and the rising waters forcing people across the region to evacuate. Angus Gray, a photographer and Lismore resident, has been using a drone to film flooding in the area and is sharing it with people forced to leave their homes so they can assess the damage to their properties
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2022/mar/31/nsw…
# Video NSW, Housing market, Regional NSW.Property values soar in suburbs at risk of coastal erosion
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Property values in suburbs at risk of coastal erosion and storm surge have jumped over the past five years, but values of the most affected homes are likely to take a hit when they are no longer insurable or when it becomes harder to find buyers, experts said.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/property-values-soar-in-sub…
# Australia, Housing market.Interest rates are predicted to rise. Here's what you can do to stay afloat
Emily Stewart ABC (No paywall)Keeping up with your mortgage repayments might soon get harder. Not only is the Reserve Bank likely to raise official interest rates sometime this year, but other costs like petrol, food (even coffee!) are getting more expensive. At the same time wages growth hasn't caught up.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-31/interest-rates-mortage-re…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Regional Home Guarantee may ease housing shortages but buyers will have to wait for new builds
Emily JB Smith ABC (No paywall)Ongoing construction delays could blow out further due to a new scheme that encourages people to build homes in the bush, stakeholders have warned. The Regional Home Guarantee (RHG), announced as part of Tuesday night's federal budget, will allow eligible applicants to build or buy newly built homes in regional Australia with only a five per cent deposit. From October, the scheme will offer 10,000 places a year to first home buyers, people who have not owned a property in the past five years, and permanent residents.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-30/regional-home-guarantee-a…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market, Regional NSW.Could the property market pendulum be swinging back in favour of buyers?
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)The housing market pendulum is starting to swing back in favour of buyers, as new data shows double-digit falls in one measure of buyer interest in Sydney and Melbourne homes for sale.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/could-the-property-market-p…
# Australia, Housing market.Trees and fences source of rising neighbour disputes in South Australia
ABC (No paywall)It's something you can't guarantee when you move into a new home. How are the neighbours?
Neighbour disputes are on the rise in South Australia, and the battles being waged on suburban streets can quickly escalate. Chris Stone from the Legal Services Commission tells Stacey Lee and Nikolai Beilharz how to prevent a small dispute from becoming a big problem.
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/programs/breakfast/bad-nei…
# Audio Australia, Neighbours.Cheaper petrol, arts cuts, housing affordability and the PM slammed in the Senate
ABC (No paywall)Will cheaper petrol do the trick for Scott Morrison on polling day? Patricia Karvelas and Fran Kelly analyse federal budget week including arts funding cuts, whether the PM is doing enough for renters and that scathing character assessment of the PM by Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/partyroom/cheaper-…
# Audio Australia, Rent, Federal Government, Housing affordability.New female voices set to shake up Clover Moore’s hold on Sydney city council
Gary Nunn The Guardian (No paywall)When Sydney’s lord mayor, Clover Moore, was returned for a historic fifth term in December, not everything went her party’s way. ... The Greens return to the council after a term away. They join a new party (Unite for Sydney, represented by Yvonne Weldon), and two new candidates for a major party (Shauna Jarrett and Lyndon Gannon of the Liberals). ... As deputy chair of the new Housing for All committee, Ellsmore wants the city of Sydney – one of Australia’s wealthiest councils – to do “much more” on affordable housing. “Protecting and growing affordable housing will now be discussed monthly by all councillors.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/03/new-femal…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Local Government.