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
‘Chasing rainbows’: Underquoting complaints surge as buyers waste time and money
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Underquoting is in the crosshairs of a fresh Victorian government review that will also examine conduct within the real estate industry. The practice can waste buyers’ time, money and opportunities as they chase after homes with a sticker price they can afford, but which sell for much more on auction day.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/chasing-rainbows-underquoti…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Interest rates are already rising but borrowers can cope, says NAB boss Ross McEwan
Rachel Pupazzoni and Michael Janda ABC (No paywall)The National Australia Bank boss has warned variable mortgage rates will "probably" rise later this year, but says his customers are mostly well positioned to cope. ... Despite the prospect of rising rates, Mr McEwan was confident that the vast majority of NAB's customers would cope with rising repayments. "Most customers have a buffer, in that they've been overpaying on their mortgage, i.e. paying more against their principal than then they would have normally, because as interest rates have dropped, we've given them the option to actually just keep paying the same amount that they were before," he said. "Our own book shows that at least 70 per cent of our customers are well in advance of their payments."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-19/interest-rates-already-ri…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Does your house make more money than you?
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Homeowners across NSW are making more wealth from their property than from going to work each day as new figures show rapid house price gains have outstripped incomes in most suburbs. House price growth exceeded incomes in more than four in five NSW suburbs last year, new modelling from Domain shows, with price rises in half a dozen pockets surpassing household incomes by more than $1 million.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/does-your-house-make-more-m…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing market, Work, employment.Rental struggle deepens for released prisoners as Albany housing dries up
Tim Wong-See ABC (No paywall)It is hard enough to find a rental property in Western Australia's tight market right now, let alone if you're an ex-prisoner. Justine Williams is one of the many people searching for a rental property in Western Australia — but she faces a roadblock. {Read on]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-17/homes-for-released-prison…
# Australia, Rent, Affordable housing, Homelessness, Housing market, Personal stories, Women.Brisbane suburbs forever changed by 'revolutionary' Mater Foundation lottery prize homes
Hailey Renault and Kate O'Toole ABC (No paywall)f you lived in Brisbane a few decades ago, finding home renovation inspiration required little more than a lottery ticket and a weekend road trip. Queuing up to catch a glimpse inside a Mater Prize Home was a popular way to see how the other half lived and discover new design and architecture trends in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. Beyond the front door of each new home was a world of uber-modern architecture, expensive furniture, and perfectly appointed rooms protected from the public by little white chains. Historian Marianne Taylor, who goes by the name The House Detective, said the Mater Sisters of Mercy raffled its first home in 1954 — a modest two-bedroom, fibro "shack" at Surfers Paradise valued at $7,800. Not only was the lottery system a hugely successful fundraiser, Ms Taylor said its homes brought "revolutionary" new ideas about architecture and suburban living to Brisbane.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-20/brisbane-suburbs-revoluti…
# Australia, History, Housing market, Planning and development.Fremantle’s ‘lady who lives in the port’ dies age 89
Peter de Kruijff The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Eileen Carmel Mullally, a North Fremantle character who became renowned for her battles to keep living in her cottage as her neighbourhood was swallowed up by industry expansion, has died aged 89. ... Carmel told ABC Perth in 2019 she never really did anything, ‘just refused to sell’.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/fremantle-s-la…
# Australia, Housing market, Personal stories.Where house prices could be in two years if economists are right
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Where would property prices be if they rise a little further and then fall slightly over the next couple of years, as economists expect? Home prices could end up close to current levels or back at the same level as last year, but with the kicker that mortgage repayments will be more expensive. Once the Reserve Bank lifts the cash rate – perhaps as early as June or as late as 2023 – home buyers will be able to borrow less, which could constrain how much they can bid at auction and push prices down. The forecasts come after home values soared in the pandemic, as locked-down buyers armed with crisis-era interest rates chased more spacious accommodation to work from home.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/where-house-prices-could-be…
# NSW, Housing affordability, Housing market.Space Invaders’ Peter Walsh draws the line on serious clutter
Bridget McManus The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The distinction between cluttering and hoarding, [Peter Walsh] says, is that clutterers ... might not be able to eat at their dining room table, so piled is it with domestic detritus, but they still do the washing up and put out the rubbish.
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/space-invaders-peter…
# Australia, Health, Home.