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
Report from the future: Aotearoa New Zealand is looking good in 2040 – here’s how we did it
Thomas Nash The Conversation (No paywall)Housing for all ... Anger at the divide between property owners and renters culminated in a general rent strike in 2024. The government responded with new financial rules ending the treatment of housing as an asset class. Kāinga Ora, Māori organisations and councils have undertaken a massive public housing construction effort. Most new housing is now public infrastructure rather than private homes built to store individual wealth. Public ownership has expanded, in particular for entities that provide core services such as transport, energy and water. In 2024, the government worked with councils to focus plans on quality universal design housing. Since the new building code was adopted in 2025, all new homes have high standards for energy efficiency and accessibility. Higher density apartments line public transport routes in the main centres, with terraced homes in smaller towns. Structural timber has replaced concrete and steel in many construction projects.
https://theconversation.com/report-from-the-future-aotearoa-new-…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent, Utilities electricity water gas, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.China’s Evergrande halts trading after ordered to tear down apartments
Jan Dahinten The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Chinese developer shares tumbled following local media reports that China Evergrande Group has been ordered to tear down apartment blocks in a development in Hainan province. Evergrande halted trading in its shares. ... The government of Danzhou, a prefecture-level city in the southern Chinese province of Hainan, asked Evergrande to tear down 39 illegal buildings in 10 days, Cailian reported on Sunday, citing a document from the local government. You can read the same story at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-03/china-evergrande-shares-halt-detb-crisis/100735938]
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/china-s-evergrande-hal…
# International, Housing market, Planning and development.‘Storm clouds gathering’ for Sydney and Melbourne property markets
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Melbourne house prices and Sydney apartment values eased at the end of the biggest boom year in three decades, prompting economists to warn a downswing has begun in these two major property markets.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/storm-clouds-gathering-f…
# Australia, Housing market.Sydney and Melbourne property values slow to lowest levels in a year
Jennifer Duke Domain (No paywall)The nation’s two biggest capital cities recorded the slowest property price growth in the nation at the end of 2021, with both Melbourne and Sydney recording falls for some homes.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/sydney-and-melbourne-proper…
# Australia, Housing market, Regional NSW.Should you buy that investment property this year?
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)Property investors are set to snap up homes and apartments across Australia in 2022, as interest rates remain low and rental vacancy rates continue to tighten. But experts are forecasting it won’t all be smooth sailing, as future landlords face the uncertainty of both federal and state elections, with housing policies that are yet to be defined. They also face possible interest rate hikes, which are looming on the back of inflationary pressures
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/should-you-buy-that-investm…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Will interest rates rise in 2022?
Elizabeth Redman and Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Chatter about rising interest rates is set to slow property price growth in 2022, although the cash rate is expected to stay on hold until late in the year or 2023, economists say. ... ANZ expects the first hike in the first half of 2023, Westpac tips February 2023, NAB says mid-2023, while both CBA and AMP Capital predict November 2022.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/will-interest-rates-rise-in…
# Australia, Housing market.Sydney and Melbourne house prices cool off
Sezen Bakan The New Daily (No paywall)National property prices rose by more than 22 per cent in 2021, but new data shows the housing boom in Sydney and Melbourne is running out of steam. Figures released by CoreLogic on Tuesday show prices in December almost reached a standstill in Sydney (+0.3 per cent) and went slightly backwards in Melbourne (-0.1 per cent). Analysts said the data suggested Australia had entered a two-speed property market, with prices flatlining in the country’s two largest cities but continuing to rise in smaller cities such as Adelaide (+2.6 per cent) and Brisbane (+2.9 per cent).
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2022/01/04/property-…
# Australia, Housing market.Victoria is spending big to rebuild public housing, but some tenants say they're not being heard
Oliver Gordon and Ahmed Yussuf ABC (No paywall)Clare Hanson moved into the Ascot Vale Estate 12 years ago, following a stint of homelessness. ... But Ms Hanson is afraid her life in the flats is set to change. The Victorian government has outlined plans to knock down the 'walk-up' style buildings Clare lives in over the next 15 years and replace them with more sustainable buildings. The government claims the process will be a "renewal" that will make buildings more accessible and more secure. But Ms Hanson fears that may not be the case. "You say renewal, I hear demolition and displacement," she said. ... [And] According to a new independent report on Victoria's public and community housing systems, many public and social housing tenants feel their voices are being ignored.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-01/public-housing-residents-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, State Government.