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
Time to get used to the idea that house prices could drop
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Australian house prices have risen to extraordinary levels. It costs more than $1 million to buy a median-priced house across Australia’s capital cities, a 25.2 per cent jump over the past year, the latest Domain House Price Report for the December quarter shows. ... The pandemic property boom has been driven by remote workers searching for more space, sending detached house prices up at a faster pace than apartments. This has been enabled by rock-bottom interest rates that allowed buyers to borrow more and turn up at auction armed with bigger budgets. ... Is it sustainable?
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/time-to-get-used-to-the-ide…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Sydney's median house price now just over $1.6m, but massive growth expected to slow
Ruby Cornish ABC (No paywall)The median house price in Sydney increased by around $1,100 a day last year, to more than $1.6 million, according to a new report. Domain's latest House Price Report, released today, revealed the median cost of houses in Australian capital cities rose to $1.06 million in the December quarter. In Sydney, it's considerably higher at just over $1.6 million —that's an average increase of $1,100 per day over the course of 2021, or a total rise of $400,000. According to Domain, the median unit price for a unit in Sydney is just over $800,000, ahead of Melbourne ($593,000) and Brisbane ($416,000).
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-27/sydney-median-house-price…
# NSW, Housing market.Regulator will ‘sit tight’ on further property lending limits: Economists
Jennifer Duke Domain (No paywall)Home buyers may not face more lending restrictions this year with top bank economists saying the regulator will likely sit tight amid prospects of an earlier than expected interest rate rise and signs of slowing property prices in Sydney and Melbourne.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/regulator-will-sit-tight-on…
# Australia, Housing market.House prices in every Sydney suburb have risen, one by more than 50 per cent
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Houses ruled supreme in Sydney last year as prices in every single suburb recorded annual growth, shooting up by as much as $745,409, new figures reveal. The housing boom was so strong that even the bottom 20 suburbs in the city posted growth in the 12 months to December 2021, Domain’s Quarterly House Price report reveals.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/house-prices-in-every-sydne…
# NSW, Housing market.Developers slam state government for favouring urban sprawl over tall towers
Andrew Taylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A lobby group for property developers has accused the state government of favouring urban sprawl over residential towers, while labelling opponents of high-rise buildings selfish and myopic. Urban Taskforce chief executive Tom Forrest said the NSW government had presided over a “dramatic downturn” in high-rise approvals and “there was a clear preference for greenfield development”.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/developers-slam-state-government…
# NSW, Strata, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Planning and development, State Government.Why Australians needn't panic about possible interest rate rises as RBA ponders next step
Ian Verrender ABC (No paywall)For months now, the world's money mandarins have been sounding the alarm that the great global experiment on free money is drawing to a close. And in recent weeks, their cries have become more shrill. Interest rates will be rising sooner, faster and to higher levels than previously expected.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-31/why-australia-should-not-…
# Australia, Housing market, International.Pension fund invests £130m in 600-home regeneration scheme
Stephen Delahunty Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... A pension fund has invested £130m in a mixed build-to-rent and affordable housing scheme of 600 homes as part of one of the UK’s largest regeneration projects. ... The Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) will be the sole investor for the development, which includes 500 build-to-rent one and two-bedroom apartments and an affordable housing component of 100 homes. Rents on the affordable homes will be a maximum of 80% of open market value
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/pension-fund-invests-1…
# International, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Interstate buyers push Brisbane house prices to steepest rise in 18 years
Sarah Webb Domain (No paywall)Brisbane house prices have hit a record median high of $792,065, following one of the biggest quarterly price hikes in two decades.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/interstate-buyers-push-brisbane-h…
# Australia, Housing market.