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
Don’t retreat on stamp duty abolition, NSW: this is a reform the whole nation needs
Danielle Wood The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)This week’s comments by the new NSW Treasurer, Matt Kean, casting doubt on the future of mooted stamp duty reforms certainly reflect a cooling of enthusiasm. So what does it all mean for economic reform efforts nationally? The NSW reforms – championed by former treasurer now Premier Dominic Perrottet – held promise not only for that state but the entire nation, were other states to follow his lead. These involved slowly weaning the state off stamp duty revenue and replacing it with a broad-based land tax. The economic case is watertight: a big, one-off stamp duty payment upon the purchase of a property can be prohibitive and deters families from moving to the house or location that better suits their needs. In contrast, gradual land taxes paid each year, much like council rates, don’t distort people’s decisions. Read a report on Matt Kean's comments at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-04/sydney-news-nsw-treasurer-backs-down-from-stamp-duty-overhaul/100591084]
https://www.smh.com.au/national/don-t-retreat-on-stamp-duty-abol…
# NSW, Housing market, State Government, Tax.Certifier of Sydney’s ‘worst’ apartment complex banned
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A private certifier who signed off on a Sydney apartment complex – described by the state’s Building Commissioner as “probably the worst” he has inspected – has been banned for 12 months. More than a year after it began an investigation, NSW Fair Trading has disqualified Jason Storer, a certifier at Sydney company AED Group, from being registered for a year for issuing interim occupation certificates for the two-tower development in Auburn.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/certifier-of-sydney-s-worst-…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Your step-by-step guide to end of lease cleaning
Lauren Vardy (No paywall)The trick to a hassle-free exit from your lease is organising your cleaning regime within a proper timeframe. Use these tips to make your next bond clean a success. (rent.com.au)
# Australia, Bond.Big Melbourne is coming back, but do we still want it?
Noel Towell and Cara Waters The Age (Paywall)But then the virus came. Melbourne suddenly went from one of the fastest-growing cities in the developed world, on track to overtake Sydney as Australia’s biggest metropolitan centre within a few years, to one with a shrinking population. Overseas migration halted overnight as borders slammed shut, temporary residents went home and other Melburnians fled interstate or to the regions to escape the city’s lockdowns. Now Australia’s international borders are slowly opening up and experts say the scene is set for a return to the rapid population growth that drove the state’s economy to record heights in the seven years prior to the pandemic, with migrants attracted to the city by the same thing that brought them here between 2013 and 2019 in their hundreds of thousands: jobs.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/big-melbourne-is-com…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Planning and development, Work, employment.RBA says we are in a W-shaped recovery, with housing one of the few concerns
John Hawkins The Conversation (No paywall)The Reserve Bank has used Friday’s quarterly assessment of the economy to declare that lockdowns have “delayed but not derailed” Australia’s recovery.
https://theconversation.com/rba-says-we-are-in-a-w-shaped-recove…
# Australia, Housing market.Mid-range home-buyers paying a growing share of stamp duty
Matt Wade The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Those purchasing properties in the $1 million to $3 million range have paid a growing share of stamp duty revenue in NSW during the past three years while the proportion collected on more expensive property sales has been declining.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/mid-range-home-buyers-paying…
# NSW, Housing market, Tax.Australian banks lift fixed interest home loan rates despite RBA keeping official rate at record low
Ben Butler The Guardian (No paywall)The big banks have begun jacking up fixed interest home loan rates even though the Reserve Bank of Australia has not increased official rates in a decade and on Friday signalled it was unlikely to do so until 2024. Even with official rates frozen at record lows, banks say wholesale funding costs are increasing, in part because of the RBA’s decision earlier this year to stop lending them money at concessional rates. Interest rates could start to creep up in 2023, a year earlier than previously expected, the RBA said.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/05/australia…
# Australia, Housing market.A Quietly Big Idea on How We Think About Homeless People
The New York Times (Paywall)Should housing status be a protected category like race, gender or religion?
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/01/opinion/california-homeless-c…
# International, Homelessness.