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
‘Nothing we can do’: The RBA says it is not to blame for soaring house prices. So who is?
Matthew Elmas The New Daily (No paywall)Ask Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe why house prices are so high and you’ll get a telling response. The RBA freely admits that record-low interest rates have created a cheap money binge that’s lit a fire under house prices during COVID, allowing people to bid up prices at auction and largely killing the Australian dream for many others in the process. But when asked about the sorry situation at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Dr Lowe said we should look elsewhere for someone to blame.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2022/02/03/rba-house…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Residents criticise Victorian government's 'Big Brother' approach to building social housing
Elise Kinsella ABC (No paywall)For decades, Kaye Oddie has been involved in community battles to protect the heritage of her patch of North Melbourne and make sure planning decisions reflect what locals want. But now, she and her Shiel Street neighbours feel like they have been completely cut out of a key planning decision that will soon be made for their street. ... On her street, a nine-storey apartment building has been proposed by Housing Choices Australia, a not-for-profit organisation that provides affordable housing to those in need. What has angered neighbours is how the building will be assessed.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-07/victorian-stoush-over-gov…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Planning and development, State Government.Five ways home owners can prepare for the first interest rate rise in more than a decade
Matthew Elmas The New Daily (No paywall)Millions of Australian home owners are staring at a steep rise in their mortgage repayments over the next two years as the Reserve Bank brings an end to the era of record-low interest rates, creating a debt cliff in the process. Although no one knows when rates will rise or by how much, RBA governor Philip Lowe has said an increase in mortgage rates is “inevitable”.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/your-budget/2022/02/04/intere…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Investor drops $1,485,000 on original St Peters semi as Sydney auctions return
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)An investor dropped $1,485,000 on an original semi-detached house in St Peters at auction on Saturday in the hopes of flipping the home.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/investor-drops-1-485-000-on…
# NSW, Housing market, Landlords and agents.The Sydney suburbs within reach of first home buyer budgets
Kate Burke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney’s property market has soared to new heights, with house and unit prices across much of the city slipping out of reach of first-home buyers. Aspiring homeowners with a healthy budget of $800,000 – the price cap for Sydney buyers using the federal government’s first home loan deposit scheme – would be unable to afford the median house price in the majority of Greater Sydney suburbs, Domain figures show. Typical unit prices across half of the city would also cost more than the price cap.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-sydney-suburbs-within-r…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing affordability.Informal Evictions: Measuring Displacement Outside the Courtroom
Sabiha Zainulbhai and Nora Daly (No paywall)From the United States ... The abundance of eviction research in the last two decades has helped frame eviction as more than a one-time financial shock, but a destructive and traumatic process with lasting, negative consequences on housing stability and other indicators of well-being. However, the absence of quality, accessible data on evictions has led to a lack of understanding about the true scope of the growing crisis — both before and during the pandemic. This paucity of data applies to formal, court-ordered evictions, but even more so to evictions happening outside the court system, or so-called “informal evictions.” (New America) You will find a shorter version of this article entitled: 'The Evictions That Landlords Got Away With During the Pandemic' in 'Slate' at: [https://slate.com/business/2022/01/evictions-pandemic-informal-data.html]
https://www.newamerica.org/future-land-housing/reports/informal-…
# Must read, Research alert International, Eviction, Tribunal NCAT, Coronavirus COVID-19.AHURI IN 2022
AHURI (No paywall)Welcome to 2022! ... Here at AHURI, we have a big agenda ahead of us with a fascinating pipeline of research to be published, the continuation of the Cities Research Agenda, and a series of exciting engagement opportunities – both online and face-to-face with the biennial National Housing Conference to be staged in March of this year and the National Homelessness Conference to take place in August. Read on for a preview of what we are looking forward to sharing with you in 2022.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/WhctKKXPdhfvdVxXldGDgRzT…
# Research alert Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Home ownership, Homelessness, Older people.Privacy Commission to crack down on landlords collecting intrusive information
(No paywall)From New Zealand ... Property managers and landlords are frequently collecting inappropriate and invasive information from prospective tenants, a renters advocacy group says. The Privacy Commission is cracking down on property managers and landlords breaching the Privacy Act. Renters groups call the industry a 'wild west' with little regulation or oversight for how property managers and landlords conduct their business. Renters United spokesperson Ashok Jacob told Nine to Noon landlords and property managers were doing what they thought they could get away with. Tenants were being asked to provide information on their race, gender, sexual orientation, political affiliations and whether they intended to have children. Some landlords and property managers requests were questionable when it came to privacy law, he said. (RNZ)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/460173/privacy-commission-to…
# Hot topic International, Privacy and access, Rent.