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
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.Nearly 1,000 homes destroyed in Colorado wildfire, three feared dead
ABC (No paywall)Nearly 1,000 homes have been destroyed, hundreds more have been damaged, and three people are missing and presumed dead in the United States as a wildfire burns through neighbourhoods in the state of Colorado, a local official has said. ... The wind-whipped wildfire charred entire neighbourhoods in a suburban area between Denver and Boulder. An overnight dumping of snow and frigid temperatures Saturday compounded the misery of hundreds of Colorado residents who started off the new year trying to salvage what remained of their homes. ... The wildfire broke out unusually late in the year, following an extremely dry fall and amid a winter nearly devoid of snow until the overnight snowfall. Scientists say climate change was making weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-02/nearly-1k-homes-destroyed…
# International, Climate change, Housing market.The Bill for My Homelessness Was $54,000
Lori Teresa Yearwood The New York Times (Paywall)Debt is a hidden burden for Americans experiencing homelessness. ... My descent into homelessness felt as though it happened in the blink of an eye. It was as if one moment I was standing in a meadow next to my horses, stroking their manes, and the next I was lying inside...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/29/opinion/debt-homelessness.html
# International, Homelessness, Personal stories.Public housing isn't 'dodgy' or something to be embarrassed about, it's home
Julia from Bendigo, Dja Dja Wurrung country ABC (No paywall)I grew up on a street where everyone knew your name. We were always in and out of each other's houses, grabbing a snack or a toy. All the kids played together after school until the streetlights came on and Mum called us in for dinner. Friendships were forged and mischief was made. It wasn't until I got to high school that I noticed alarm bells would ring when I told people where I lived. Their faces would change from a smile to a concerned look, as if I had given them bad news. You see, I grew up in public housing. (Heywire)
# Audio Australia, Public and community housing, Personal stories.When the bank asked if I was pregnant, my home loan pre-approval was withdrawn — and it shouldn't have happened
Ashlynne McGhee ABC (No paywall)The house across the road was for sale and we were keen, but we had to renew our mortgage pre-approval that had expired a day earlier. I rolled through the answers: No, our incomes hadn't changed; no, we didn't have a new credit card, and then this: "You haven't fallen pregnant?" ... The Human Rights Commission is pretty clear on this. "It is unlawful to ask for information about whether a person is pregnant or intends to become pregnant," it told me in a statement. "Providers of goods and services must not discriminate against their customers on the grounds of pregnancy or potential pregnancy." [Read on]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/banks-mortgage-home-loan-…
# Australia, Discrimination, Home ownership, Women.