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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Algorithms at the auction: US startups use tech to shake up house buying
James Titcomb The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)For some American homeowners, one number is the most important indicator of wealth in their life: the Zestimate. An approximation of their house’s value from the property website Zillow, based on public records and a computer algorithm, it is a real-time assessment of people’s most valuable asset - and checked religiously by potential sellers.
https://amp.smh.com.au/business/companies/algorithms-at-the-auct…
# International, Housing market.The same places keep appearing in most-disadvantaged lists. COVID means it could be getting worse
Norman Hermant and Josie Taylor ABC (No paywall)[Community worker and local Foodbank, volunteer] Chandelle Wilson has spent her life in Western Sydney. She now lives in Blackett, an area that repeatedly ranks as one of the most disadvantaged in New South Wales. She believes many people in the community have struggled for so long they've given up long-term thinking. ""[They're] literally limping along in survival mode." ... [and] COVID has likely deepened inequality ...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-18/disadvantage-in-australia…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Families.How to sell your strata on sustainability: ‘Think of all the things people might object to’
Sally Dillon The Guardian (No paywall)With the federal government dragging its feet on legislating to reduce carbon emissions, many Australians are decreasing their individual carbon footprints, changing their lifestyles and even their homes to become more sustainable. Installing solar panels, solar hot water systems and rain tanks is relatively straightforward on detached houses, but the increasing number of apartment dwellers is posing new challenges for sustainable living.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/18/how-to-se…
# Australia, Strata, Utilities electricity water gas, Climate change, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Houses of tomorrow: A more hopeful vision of domesticity, or a dystopian nightmare?
Richard Godwin The Guardian (No paywall)In the future, will we find a better way to live, or will our homes be taken over by surveillance and despotic appliances? ... Are we inexorably sliding into a world of surveillance and atomisation, climate crisis and housing crisis, drowning alone as our meta headsets suck the very data from our souls? Maybe a bit of both ...
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/nov/14/houses-of-t…
# International, Home.Housing is expensive now, imagine a market with more migrants. Economists see rent, house price lift in 2023
Nassim Khadem ABC (No paywall)When Australia opens its borders to migrants, already skyrocketing house prices could rise further. While immigration is not the only factor influencing house prices, it adds to the already strong demand for housing. Economists say about one extra home is required for every three migrants.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-17/migration-house-prices-re…
# Australia, Housing market.Plans released for $100 million apartment, retail and accommodation development at Hobart's Macquarie Point
Laura Beavis and Loretta Lohberger ABC (No paywall)A planning expert is warning Tasmania must learn from the "complete disaster" of Melbourne's Docklands precinct as it redevelops Macquarie Point on Hobart's waterfront. Also, view the video at: [https://www.abc.net.au/radio/hobart/programs/drive/the-escarpment/13635012]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-16/macquarie-point-apartment…
# Australia, Housing market, Planning and development.Rents up, listings down as inner-city suburbs continue COVID-19 recovery
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)Australia’s capital city unit rents are continuing to recover, new data shows, thanks – in part – to new locally-based tenants entering the market for the first time attracted by cheaper rents. Property managers say the type of tenant is changing in inner Melbourne and Sydney after the two cities, whose apartment rental markets have traditionally relied heavily on international students and overseas professionals, took the brunt of the pandemic rental falls. These new tenants, including professionals returning to the office and looking to rent an affordable inner-city pad rather than commute more than 10 hours a week from outer suburbs or regional areas, have helped see a drop in the number of available rentals.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/rents-up-and-the-number-of-listin…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Was relocating a good move? As the city reopens, I’m feeling a bit of FOMO
Kate Halfpenny The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)There are tons of people like us who ran for the hills during COVID. By August, over 22,000 of us decamped from Melbourne to rural Victoria. We were set on a cruisier life and bigger houses for less money, strangely pricked – me anyway – by the passage of time. Now, with Melbourne reopening, I’m feeling the odd prick of FOMO. I wonder how everyone else is going. Did we make a giant mistake? Is the countryside all it’s cracked up to be or is it now awash with townies suffering relocation remorse?
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/was-relo…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home, Housing market.