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
Will the housing boom be over in 2022? We ask the experts
Rhiana Whitson ABC (No paywall)What will property prices look like next year? It's not great news for first home buyers. Prices are expected to rise again in 2022 before falling in 2023 (although not enough to wipe out the gains of the current boom).
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/house-prices-property-boo…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Like songs, the best graphs tell stories. Here are my 10 favourites from 2021
Peter Martin The Conversation (No paywall)... I won’t put a graph into any story unless it is absolutely necessary to tell the story.
When I do, the picture can be worth at least the 800 words that accompany it. So here are my 10 favourites from the business and economy stories I edited for The Conversation in 2021. ... Up until the year 2000, buying a home cost between two and three times household after tax-income. Then, after the headline rate of capital gains tax was halved and investors dived into the market, prices climbed to between three and four times income. Six years ago they jumped again to between four and five times income, and in 2021 they climbed once again to more than six times disposable income. Check out the graph entitled: 'Home prices as proportion of household disposable income' ... and scroll down for more housing graphs.
https://theconversation.com/like-songs-the-best-graphs-tell-stor…
# Australia, Housing market.Is it possible to be content renting long-term? This is what Australia can learn from housing around the world
Annika Burgess ABC (No paywall)Gloria Biberger has been renting the same apartment in Berlin's lively Kreuzberg neighbourhood for 11 years. And despite being a tenant, she says, "it feels like my home". "I know that I could stay here forever," the 37-year-old said. Typically, tenants in Germany have freedom of decoration, with older and cheaper apartments even requiring you to bring your own light fixtures and kitchen sink. "I want to feel very comfortable in my own home," Ms Biberger said. "That's why it's important that I can furnish and decorate it myself; I really want to feel like it's my own thing." ... More than 80 per cent of Berlin's 3.7 million residents rent their home. Across the country, the home ownership rate stands at about 50 per cent, which is one of the lowest in Europe, according to market and consumer data firm Statista. Despite rents increasing more substantially in recent years, Ms Biberger still feels better off renting than if she owned a home. ... Australia's obsession with home ownership has become a pipe dream for many, with skyrocketing rents making it near impossible for long-term renters to save for a home. This year, tenants experienced their biggest annual rent increases since 2009, while house prices have been climbing twice as fast. Housing experts say Australia is falling behind in providing a coordinated policy structure that offers stronger renter protections, long-term stability, and adequate funding for social housing. ... Chris Martin, research fellow at the UNSW City Futures Research Centre, said a starting point was a rethink of renters' rights. Getting rid of no grounds terminations is "the simplest thing that governments could do tomorrow", he said. Australia is one of the few developed countries that allows no grounds evictions. Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT have recently made changes to eviction laws, but across much of the country booming rental prices have led to an increase in tenants being evicted without cause. ... In particular, Mr Martin said states and territories should be looking at rent regulation and rental affordability, which were issues missing from the recent residential tenancies law reviews. "We don't have any regulation of rents for affordability across Australia," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-21/rental-market-housing-cri…
# Must read Australia, Rent, Housing market, International, No-grounds evictions.Why won’t governments fix housing affordability?
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Rapidly rising property prices have led to increasing concerns around affordability, but support for government intervention may actually decline as affordability worsens, a new paper suggests. ... Authors Ben Ansell, a professor at Nuffield College and the University of Oxford, and Asli Cansunar, an assistant professor at the University of Washington, found consistent evidence that declining affordability, driven by increasing house prices, decreases support for interventionist housing policy, especially among homeowners across Europe, and increased votes for the conservative party in the UK. ... Grattan Institute household finances program director Brendan Coates said the politics of improving housing affordability was fraught because most voters already owned a house or investment and mistrust any change that might dent property prices. ... Independent economist Saul Eslake said supply side reforms were only part of the solution and the federal government needed to back away from policies that inflate housing demand, and had been pursued by both sides of government, such as first-home buyer grants, negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount. It was a tragedy that Labor had walked away from proposed changes to negative gearing and the capital gain tax, he noted, with the opportunity for such reform now possibly gone for a generation. You can access the research paper for a cost at: [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09589287211056171]
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/why-won-t-governments-fix-h…
# Research alert Australia, Rent, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, International.Report Launch - Home at Last: Solutions to ending homelessness in NSW
Ageing on the Edge NSW Forum (No paywall)The event was MC'd by lived experience advocate Glen Marie-Frost, and featured the artists from the Unseen project, all women who have experienced homelessness, and a performance by Mooncatchers Women's Choir. There were reflections on the report from Independent Alex Greenwhich MP, Rose Jackson, Shadow Minister of Housng and Homelessness, and Jenny Leong, Greens spokesperson for housing and homelessness. Watch a video of the event at: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjNGpX3_u98&ab_channel=HousingfortheAgedActionGroup] Read the report at: [https://www.oldertenants.org.au/publications/home-at-last-responding-to-homelessness-among-older-people-in-nsw]
https://www.oldertenants.org.au/content/report-launch-home-at-la…
# NSW, Campaigns and law reform, Homelessness, Older people, Women.Our favorite photos from 2021: how Guardian US pictures captured a historic year
Gail Fletcher and Alvin Chang The Guardian (No paywall)In 2021, our photographers told some of the most profound stories in America. They captured personal moments, like a man assessing the remnants of his home after Hurricane Ida. There were inspirational stories, like how a majority Black high school created a girls lacrosse team during the pandemic. And there were historic scenes, like the lead-up to the presidential inauguration just weeks after insurrectionists tried to overturn the election results. Thank you to all the photographers who worked with us this year. ... Check out stories like 'The California mothers fighting for a home in a pandemic - photo essay'; 'A chemical firm bought out these Black and white homeowners - with a significant disparity', and more.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/24/our-favorite-pho…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home, Home ownership, Race and ethnicity.New study reveals intensified housing inequality in Canada from 1981 to 2016
Yushu Zhu The Conversation (No paywall)Driven by the neoliberal belief in the superiority of the free market, the housing policy in Canada has shifted from a welfare-oriented policy to a market-oriented one over the past four decades, encouraging home ownership, deregulation and private consumption. Housing financialization, the transformation of housing from a human right to an investment opportunity, has been driven by the federal government primarily through financial market deregulation and a financial practice called mortgage securitization. Much of the debate about the housing crisis has focused on the market imbalance between supply and demand, citing factors such as foreign investment and lack of market supply. However, many housing problems today need to be viewed in the historical context of the housing system restructuring, which keeps housing and wealth inequality alive and well.
https://theconversation.com/new-study-reveals-intensified-housin…
# International, Bond, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Race and ethnicity, Women, Young people.Australian man asked his neighbour to take the bins out – so he did, literally
Royce Kurmelovs The Guardian (No paywall)Australian man Carl Stanojevic might be the world’s most considerate neighbour after he was asked to “take the bins out” and dutifully followed the request – to the letter. The practical joke began when the 54-year-old photographer from Mackay, in Queensland, received a late-night text message from his neighbour, Nick Doherty – who works remotely – asking if Stanojevic “would be able to take my bins out please”. Stanojevic then joked about taking the bin out to local restaurants and bars. The next morning, after it was emptied and cleaned, Stanojevic decided to follow through on the banter.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/24/australia…
# Australia, Neighbours.