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
The Park Regis intercom broke years ago, then COVID came knocking
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)It was once feted as Australia’s tallest – and most luxurious – apartment building but residents of the Sydney CBD’s Park Regis today live in what’s almost become a fortress. With the buzzers at the entry of the iconic tower broken for the past four to five years, and no plans to fix them, no deliveries or services can gain access to the foyer. ... But the row over the long-time broken entry system, and the Owners Corporation’s failure to repair it, has already gone to NSW Fair Trading for mediation, and now looks likely to end up at the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-park-regis-intercom-bro…
# NSW, Repairs, Strata, Tribunal NCAT.‘Patch of paradise’: Property’s tree-change trend tipped to continue
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)The booming tree-change trend in property is predicted to continue into 2022, even though homebuyers may be forced back to city offices if life returns to some kind of post-lockdown normality.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/patch-of-paradise-property-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Regional NSW.Sunnybank house prices soar as Brisbane families try to move inside catchment for four popular schools
Jessica Rendall ABC (No paywall)The southern Brisbane suburb of Sunnybank is surrounded by four primary schools that are described as being of "high demand" and "oversubscribed". Macgregor, Sunnybank Hills, Robertson and Warrigal Road state schools have become major selling points for real estate agents in the area. Antonia Mercorella from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) said it was common for in-demand schools to drive up house prices in certain suburbs. ... Sunnybank resident Wei Chia has been renting in the suburb for four years. When she and her husband Matt Wheare looked to buy a house, they realised they could not afford to put down roots in that area or surrounding suburbs.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-09/qld-sunnybank-property-bo…
# Australia, Families, Home ownership, Housing affordability.Radioactive soil from Hunters Hill to be shipped to the US
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Radioactive soil excavated from Sydney’s lower north shore will be trucked interstate and then shipped to the United States following opposition to the waste being stored at a facility in the city’s south-east. The NSW government last year resolved to remove up to 1800 tonnes of soil beneath six properties along Nelson Parade in Hunters Hill, where a carbolic acid plant and a uranium refinery operated in the 1900s.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/radioactive-soil-from-hunter…
# NSW, Asbestos, lead, hazardous materials, State Government.Housing is scarce on the Capricorn Coast, but beach community rejects plans for high-rise development
Michelle Gately ABC (No paywall)[Former Sydneysider Rahela Beevers] was one of nearly 200 locals who made public submissions to Livingstone Shire Council [in central Queensland] opposing the multi-million-dollar proposal. Only a handful of submissions were in favour of the development, which could see up to 49 apartments built over seven storeys and commercial space on the ground floor ... saying it would help boost housing, especially for retirees.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-10/emu-park-high-rise-propos…
# Australia, Local Government, Older people, Planning and development.Housing affordability should be a federal election priority
Editorial The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)An expected slowdown in property price rises this year may bring some relief to frustrated first home buyers who have been shut out of Australia’s booming housing market, or those who need a larger dwelling to house their growing families. ... Housing affordability is a key political issue that many Australians – or their children – now face. If major parties continue to avoid seriously tackling this issue, it will be the nation’s loss.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/housing-affordability-should-be-…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Tax, Young people.Could collaborative living provide an answer to the housing crisis and climate change? Some people think so
Maani Truu ABC (No paywall)Donna Lavell is no stranger to sharing her home with people. In her 20s, she lived in share houses in Sydney's inner suburbs; later, after buying a home in Newcastle, she offered up her spare rooms to friends in need, housemates and Airbnb guests. Now, at 61, she's decided to build a home with three women she met less than a year ago. "I have such a good experience of sharing spaces with people," she says. "It just makes more sense to me." Donna — along with her future housemates Joanne, Lisa, and Sarah — has secured a plot of land inside Narara Ecovillage — an "intentional community" of more than 100 people on the NSW Central Coast. ... [Collaborative living] encompasses many different models; from ecovillages, where multiple people live on a single piece of land, often owned by a cooperative, to urban co-housing developments, where everyone has their own apartment but shares common space. What they all have in common, however, is the rejection of the traditional model of property ownership. Typically, this looks like a single person or a couple purchasing a standalone property with a mortgage and without a focus on the surrounding community.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-05/collaborative-housing-cou…
# NSW, Share houses, Climate change, Housing affordability, Housing market, Regional NSW.Forecasters predict Australia’s hottest property market in 2022
Sarah Webb Domain (No paywall)More jobs, more interstate migrants and the 10-year insurance policy of hosting the world’s biggest sporting event will send South East Queensland property prices to record heights next year, industry experts say, with the current housing boom tipped to burn into the early months of 2022.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/forecasters-predict-austral…
# Australia, Housing market.