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
City-fringe land sales hit record as returning Aussies buy lotsCity-fringe land sales hit record as returning Aussies buy lots
Simon Johanson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Land sales across greenfield estates on Melbourne and Sydney’s outskirts are hitting record highs, driven by Australians coming back from overseas and others being unable to leave.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/city-fringe-land-sales…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Lockdowns hit property auction clearance rates
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Ongoing lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne have hit property auctions in our two biggest cities, but most experts do not expect to see an end to the prolonged boom any time soon, though price rises are likely to slow. Preliminary figures from researcher CoreLogic show that almost two-thirds of auctions scheduled in Melbourne during the week ending last Sunday were withdrawn, contributing to a clearance rate of a paltry 35 per cent. However, in Sydney, sellers were still out in numbers, albeit with about 12 per cent of planned auctions pulled from the market. The city, nevertheless, produced a strong clearance rate of almost 83 per cent. One likely reason for the big difference in clearance rates is that, in Victoria, in-person inspections are banned during the government’s extended lockdown and can only be conducted remotely. Meanwhile, in New South Wales, private inspections are permitted by appointment but are limited to one real estate agent and one buyer at a time.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/lockdowns-hit-property-au…
# Australia, Privacy and access, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Pandemic has interstate buyers set on Queensland houses as prices continue to soar
Lexy Hamilton-Smioth ABC (No paywall)Single dad Teifi Caron has been hunting for a house in Brisbane's inner west for five months, but keeps being outbid by desperate buyers. ... [Core Logic's head of research Eliza Owen said:] "The market is being driven by perpetually low mortgage rates, relatively low levels of stock, and the fact that the state is free from lockdowns."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-01/qld-property-prices-soar-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Adelaide house prices soaring as buyers look to move from COVID-hit Sydney and Melbourne
Eric Tlozek ABC (No paywall)Adelaide's house prices are continuing to hit record levels, new figures show, with fewer homes for sale and outside investors helping drive growth.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-01/record-adelaide-house-pri…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Media release: action needed as renters living in “tin shacks” - 75 organisations urge state/territory governments to adopt minimum standards tokeep renters healthy and safe
(No paywall)Seventy-five organisations from across Australia have written to state and territory Cabinet Ministers calling for minimum standards for rental properties to safeguard the health of renters and protect them from the impacts of climate change. The open letter was signed by community, faith, environment, housing, industry, and social sector organisations, including CHOICE, Healthy Futures, People with Disability Australia, Stiebel Eltron, and the United Workers Union. It comes after the IPCC issued its most dire warning about the impacts of climate change on public health. (Healthy Homes for Renters)
https://www.healthyhomes.org.au/news/open-letter-minimum-standar…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Climate change, Federal Government, Health, Housing market, State Government.CDC eviction ban ended by Supreme Court: 4 questions about its impact answered by a housing law expert
Katy Ramsey Mason The Conversation (No paywall)The Supreme Court on Aug. 26, 2021, ended the Biden administration’s ban on evictions, putting millions at risk of losing their homes. The ruling, by a divided court, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exceeded its authority in continuing a moratorium on evictions after Congress failed to pass new legislation. We asked legal scholar Katy Ramsey Mason to explain what the ruling means, who will be affected and what happens next.
https://theconversation.com/cdc-eviction-ban-ended-by-supreme-co…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, International, Landlords and agents.Supreme Court Ends Biden’s Eviction Moratorium
Adam Liptak and Glenn Thrush The New York Times (Paywall)The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the Biden administration’s latest moratorium on evictions, ending a political and legal dispute during a public health crisis in which the administration’s shifting positions had subjected it to criticism from adversaries and allies alike. The court issued an eight-page majority opinion, an unusual move in a ruling on an application for emergency relief, where terse orders are more common. The court’s three liberal justices dissented. The decision puts hundreds of thousands of tenants at risk of losing shelter, while the administration struggles to speed the flow of billions of dollars in federal funding to people who are behind in rent because of the coronavirus pandemic and its associated economic hardship. Only about $5.1 billion of the $46.5 billion in aid had been disbursed by the end of July, according to figures released on Wednesday, as bureaucratic delays at the state and local levels snarled payouts. The majority opinion, which was unsigned, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had exceeded its authority.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/us/eviction-moratorium-ends.h…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.Disabled pensioner losing six-year fight to stay in south-west Sydney home of 21 years
Kamin Gock ABC (No paywall)Aunty Carol Carter has been fighting to stay in her home for six years. But in just a matter of weeks, the 72-year-old pensioner could be kicked out. She says she's not going anywhere. "I'm upset because no-one's listening, they never listen to me," the Kamilaroi elder said. Aunty Carol has lived in public housing in Revesby, in south-west Sydney, for 21 years. ... For the last two decades she has lived with Guillain-Barre syndrome — a rare neurological disorder that's caused her to lose feeling from her "nose to toes" and means she must use a wheelchair to remain mobile. ... Since 2015, she has been fighting to stay in her home — if she were to move, she said, the house must suit her specific health needs. The NSW government wants to relocate her to a new home a few blocks away so they can develop the area and build 18 new public housing dwellings. But Aunty Carol says it's not that simple.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-29/disabled-sydney-pensioner…
# NSW, Aboriginal renters, Eviction, Public and community housing, Disability, Estate renewal, Older people, State Government.