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
Why the NZ government is right to rule out rent controls as a housing crisis solution
James Graham The Conversation (No paywall)Having floated the prospect of introducing rent controls just last week, it seems the government has already ditched the proposal. In tentatively raising the idea, Associate Minister for Housing Poto Williams pointed out the need for policy solutions to the problem of rapidly rising housing costs. However, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has now adamantly stated: “We are not considering rent controls.” There will undoubtedly be some disappointment at this, given the state of New Zealand’s housing and rental markets.
https://theconversation.com/why-the-nz-government-is-right-to-ru…
# International, Rent, Housing market.Sydney's population is predicted to explode — this is where people will live in 20 years
Catherine Hanrahan ABC (No paywall)The number of people who call NSW home is expected to grow by a third in the next 20 years, topping 10.6 million in 2041. Of those, 3.5 million are predicted to be in regional areas — an increase of 400,000 on today's number. While suburbs like Austral [in Sydney's south-west] will bear the brunt of the growth, almost every corner of Sydney is expected to be more crowded. [Check out the table entitled: 'Population change from 2020 to 2041 - NSW suburbs' and type in your suburb]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-10/population-growth-outstri…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Planning and development.International travel to and from Australia is resuming — how will house prices and rents respond?
Daniel Keane ABC (No paywall)International travel, both to and from Australia, is revving back into action, but questions remain about how that will impact the nation's booming real estate market. ... But greater population movement is also tipped to bring broader economic impacts, including potential flow-on effects in the housing and rental markets, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has driven record price growth. ... University of Adelaide Master of Property program director Peter Koulizos believes the earliest indications that travel is impacting the property market will not be on house prices but on rents, which have also soared to record highs in recent months. ... Mr Koulizos said that, with international travel, that trend would not only continue but accelerate. "You're going to see them [rents] increase even faster than they did last year," he said. "With literally hundreds of thousands of people coming in — a mixture of international students as well as migrants looking to settle in Australia — all of these people need somewhere to live. "The vast majority are not allowed to buy because they're not permanent residents so they are all pushed into the rental market."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-09/how-will-international-tr…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Giving developers free rein isn’t the solution to the GTHA housing challenges
Mark Winfield The Conversation (No paywall)From Canada ... Recently, concerns have peaked over skyrocketing housing prices, the lack of affordable housing and intensive development pressures in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area (GTHA). The situation has prompted suggestion that the solution to these problems is to “Let Cities Sprawl” and “build baby, build!”
https://theconversation.com/giving-developers-free-rein-isnt-the…
# International, Affordable housing, Planning and development.Caught in the rental trap, we’re trying to turn our flat into a co-op. Here’s what we’ve learned
Ruby Lott-Lavigna The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... This kind of homeownership is a sustainable solution to the housing crisis – but it’s not easy in today’s property market. My home, like many people’s, is a place of solace and comfort. It’s somewhere I’ve worked through the end of a long-term relationship, hosted parties, waged an ongoing war with a squirrel in my garden and housed my extensive condiment collection. Despite my emotional ties to this place, I do not own it. Like the other 13 million people in the UK who rent from private landlords, that puts me in a permanently precarious situation. I am at the behest of a landlord, who can evict me for no reason, at any time. In this state of uncertainty, you can be reminded of your powerlessness at any moment. That moment came for me and my housemates towards the end of last year, when we found out that our landlords were considering selling. So what did three young professionals with no rich benefactors but an unusually large understanding of housing policy do? We decided to try to turn our house into a cooperative. The housing cooperative movement has become a striking alternative to a profit-driven housing market. [Read on]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/07/rental-tra…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent.Canberra remains most expensive city to rent as market tightens even further
Peter Lusted and Penny Travers ABC (No paywall)Canberra's notoriously tough rental market appears to have reached new heights after an "exceptionally busy" period over the traditionally quiet Christmas season. "Average rents continue to climb both for housing and for apartments, in fact, Canberra is the most expensive city to rent in Australia," said Hannah Gill from the Real Estate Institute of the ACT. ... The demand is also driving prospective renters to offer well above the advertised price, despite the fact rent bidding is illegal in the territory. ... Ms Gill warned the market would only get tighter as the sector prepared for the return of international students. ... "Student housing meets a certain demographic, but a lot of students will be looking for share-housing, larger established homes or apartment living off campus and there's just a real shortage to meet that need."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-07/canberra-rents-still-most…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Students.Housing unlocked in Cooma, creating blueprint for housing delivery across regional NSW
(No paywall)Families, people in need and local workers in Cooma are set for more housing options with up to 140 housing lots to be developed between the Monaro Highway and Polo Flat Road, thanks to the NSW Government. Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole said the Government land will be repurposed with the capacity to deliver more than 200 homes. “The land unlocked in Cooma has the potential to deliver hundreds of dwellings allowing families to enter the housing market, ease local housing stress, keep tradies on the tools on Snowy 2.0, and create new jobs when construction begins on these homes,” Mr Toole said. “The blocks will be a mixture of single dwellings, duplexes, social and affordable housing as well as key worker housing and will serve as a blueprint to unlock more government-owned land across regional NSW to ease housing stress.” (Department of Planning, Industry & Environment)
https://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/news-and-events/articles/2022/housin…
# NSW, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Housing market, Regional NSW.Housing fears damaging young people's mental health and affecting life decisions such as whether to have children, research suggests
Shamaan Freeman-Powell (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Four out of five young people worried about their future housing prospects say it is having an impact on major life decisions such as having children, according to research. A new report published by Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTV) suggests that bleak housing prospects are damaging young people's mental health and negatively affecting their life choices. For many young people, the idea of owning their own property is a dream - not a reality. (Sky News) You can read the same story in Grainne Cuppe's article entitled '"Bleak" housing prospects damaging young people’s mental health, report says' in 'Inside Housing' at: [https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/bleak-housing-prospects-damaging-young-peoples-mental-health-report-says-74200]
https://news.sky.com/story/housing-fears-damaging-young-peoples-…
# International, Families, Health, Home ownership, Housing market, Young people.