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
Interest rate rise time bomb waiting for whoever wins next federal election
Tom Lowrey ABC (No paywall)Whoever wins the next federal election, which has to be held by May, has a whole bunch of political curve balls already heading their way. ... At the start of 2020, interest rates were already very low. The Reserve Bank had the cash rate target at 0.75 per cent. By late March 2020, as the pandemic was unfolding within Australia and across the globe, it had been slashed to 0.25 per cent, and by late 2020 is was at 0.1 per cent. A lot of people saved a lot of money, as their mortgage repayments shrunk. But historic lows can't last. [Read on]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-22/interest-rate-rise-time-b…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market.Would you co-buy with the government if it meant you could own a house?
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Another story on the Grattan Institute's proposal ... The federal government could help more Australians into the property market by co-purchasing homes with lower-income earners, a leading think tank has proposed as the nation’s housing crisis pushes the dream of homeownership further out of reach for many. A national shared equity scheme, where the federal government co-purchases up to 30 per cent of a property’s value, is being called for by the Grattan Institute ahead of the next election as a way to help arrest declining rates of homeownership among poorer Australians.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/would-you-co-buy-with-the-g…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability.How good design can make aged care facilities feel more like home
Rosemary Kennedy and Laurie Buys The Conversation (No paywall)The stark difference between an aged care “home” and a real home has been laid bare by the COVID pandemic. Residential aged care buildings are often institutionally designed, even if they have the appearance of a hotel. Think long corridors, vast dining rooms, nursing stations and bland corporate furnishings. These design choices support a model of care underpinned by cost efficiencies rather than real people’s rhythms of daily life. So, how can we make aged care facilities feel more like home, while keeping them pandemic-safe?
https://theconversation.com/how-good-design-can-make-aged-care-f…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Older people.Affordable housing drive will benefit everyone
Jude Munro and Michael Lennon The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Australia is one of the most expensive developed countries in terms of access to affordable housing, the impact of which is now being felt, particularly by our young people and those living on low incomes. More than two years ago, a diverse group of parties from multiple sectors was asked to advise the Victorian government on what role the planning system might play in easing the problem. Bear in mind that no matter from where you look, there has been severe underinvestment in social and affordable housing at all levels of government. ... Infrastructure Victoria nominates social and affordable housing “as one of the top three most important actions for governments to take in the short to medium term”.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/affordable-housing-driv…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.Morrison seeks volunteer army to fill aged care staffing gaps
Dana Daniel The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The federal government is recruiting volunteers to fill staff shortages in aged care — a move criticised by Labor and unions as “miserly” and “a cop-out” after a slow rollout of Defence Force support. The Health Department has asked Volunteering Australia to sign up thousands of people to answer phones, talk with residents, brush their hair and help them exercise, and restock masks, freeing up overworked staff for showering, wound dressing and medication management. ... [Health Services Union NSW secretary Gerard Hayes said] "It’s flying in absolutely the wrong direction [to be] going from an underpaid to an unpaid workforce.”
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-seeks-volunteer…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Health, Housing market, Older people.Labor’s social housing levy faces upper house hurdle
Josh Gordon The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)he Andrews government’s proposed social housing tax on property developers could face a rocky passage through State Parliament, with the opposition vowing to vote against the $800 million annual contribution in the upper house. Under the overhaul, all newly built developments with three or more dwellings or lot subdivisions would hand over 1.75 per cent of the expected project value, with the cash used to fund an extra 1700 social and affordable homes each year.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/labor-s-social-housing-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Housing market, Planning and development, Tax.House prices and rents surge in regional Australia amid influx of arrivals from cities
Natasha May The Guardian (No paywall)Regional Australia has experienced record levels of growth across housing and rental markets in the last 12 months, according to a new report, as locals say the rising demand has priced them out. NAB’s Regional Migration Impacts on Property Report, released on Tuesday, found “the continued flow of new arrivals into regional areas has placed an unprecedented level of upward pressure on property values, with many locations now experiencing dwelling values at new record levels”. House prices rose most sharply in the southern highlands and Shoalhaven region in New South Wales, with an increase of over 38% in the 12 months to the end of January 2022, according to the report. ... The report also showed that on a local government area basis, the Byron shire on the NSW north coast had the highest median house value of any regional LGA, with an average price of nearly $1,850,000, an increase of 30.2%. Houses in the Kiama LGA, also in NSW, recorded the greatest increase, with a 43.9% uplift in the past 12 months. “High-population coastal centres close to capital cities continue to be the main destinations for capital-city dwellers making a regional move,” the report said.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/22/house-pri…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Regional NSW.Sydney property development with no sewerage connection turns dream into nightmare
Catherine Hanrahan and Kamin Gock ABC (No paywall)t started as a dream but aspiring home owners Matt Pyatt and Michael Buckingham say it has become a nightmare. The couple bought a land package as part of a new development in Sydney's south-west in February 2020. More than two years later, the block remains vacant. The reason? Sewerage.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-23/sewerage-connection-delay…
# NSW, Utilities electricity water gas, Home ownership, Housing market.