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
House v location: What you need to consider when buying property
Melissa Jenkins The New Daily (No paywall)Should you buy a rundown house in the best location you can afford, an apartment in a trendy spot, or a new house in a less desirable suburb?
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/dollars-and-sense/2021/10/17/…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Wales is in my bones, but I probably won’t be going back
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett The Guardian (No paywall)From Wales ... Housing is another factor. Property prices near where I grew up, in north-west Wales, are low when compared with many parts of England. But the proliferation of second homes is causing prices to rise and forcing young people out of their communities, not to mention having a profound effect on the language. The reasons many choose to stay in Wales – community and culture – cease to persuade when whole villages are being hollowed out and turned into unaffordable, stagnant ghost towns.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/19/wales-wels…
# International, Housing market, Young people.A green home can not only save money but even turn a profit. But how do you know if you own one?
Stephanie Chalmers ABC (No paywall)Jason York says his phone has been ringing off the hook for 18 months with people wanting quotes for insulating their homes. "It's getting to the point where I'm having a lot of trouble getting stock in. Keeping up with demand has been a huge issue," he says. "When I started in 2016, there was seemingly a lack of confidence that insulation could even work." As the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow approaches, governments and major companies are facing scrutiny over their carbon emissions. But Mr York has also found a surge in interest from home owners hoping to regulate the temperature of their homes in an effort to make them more energy efficient and generate a lower carbon footprint.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-20/green-building-commercial…
# Australia, Utilities electricity water gas, Climate change, Home ownership, Minimum habitability standards.City council register slashes holiday rental availability in Amsterdam
(No paywall)Holiday home rental company Airbnb has lost 80% of its addresses in Amsterdam following the introduction of new rules requiring owners to register with the city, the Volkskrant reported on Monday. (DutchNews.nl)
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2021/10/city-council-register-slas…
# International, Rent, Housing market, Short-term holiday letting.Urgent monitoring of structural cracks in Sydney apartment tower
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Urgent monitoring of cracks in a Sydney apartment tower will be needed to work out whether they are growing after emergency inspections by government engineers revealed visible signs of cracking in its basement car park. Almost a week after an emergency inspection, government engineers have recommended that monitoring of the 10-storey apartment building at Canterbury begin immediately, and focus on its so-called transfer structure, which shifts loads to other structures in the building.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/urgent-monitoring-of-structu…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Coronavirus gave rural USA a chance to lure young professionals to save their shrinking towns
Barbara Miller and Peter Jones ABC (No paywall)Quintina Mengyan is one of millions of Americans who took the pandemic as an opportunity to give up an expensive apartment in a crowded city for a new life in regional USA. ... But there are also risks associated with reshaping communities. Rural gentrification can eventually push out locals who are no longer able to afford property in their own towns. ... A smaller community's infrastructure may also not be able to cope with a sudden influx of new residents.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-20/coronavirus-sends-america…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Planning and development.Cut-price mortgage battle could stymie moves to slow booming housing market
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A price war between banks trying to lure new customers with cheap interest rates could dull the impact of the banking regulator’s recent move to slow the housing market, underlining the risk of further loan curbs, analysts say.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/cut-price-mo…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.We are stretched to our limits': Advocates push for extension of Ontario rent freeze
Noushin Ziafati (No paywall)From Canada ... Monique Gordon is worried about her rent increasing next year as the pandemic wears on. The single mother was laid off at the start of the pandemic and had to make do with funds from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, which left her with only a couple of hundred dollars each month after paying for rent, utilities and her phone. With Ontario’s pandemic rent freeze set to expire at the end of the year, Gordon’s monthly rent payments are set to rise by $15 in January. The Toronto resident has been called back to her job as a security guard but is concerned about potentially being laid off again while having to pay more in rent. ... Several tenant advocacy groups say they want to see the provincial government extend the current rent freeze to help individuals who have yet to fully recover from the economic fallout of COVID-19.
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/10/15/we-are-stretched-to-our-l…
# International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.