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
Rental vacancy rate: Melbourne weakens in July, bucking a trend of lower vacancies elsewhere
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)[In Sydney] vacancy rate remained unchanged at 2.6 per cent ... [and] the area with the highest number of homes empty was Parramatta in the west at 3.3 per cent, down from 3.5 per cent from June, Ryde in the north-west at 3 per cent, the inner south-west at 2.9 per cent and the inner west at 2.7 per cent.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/rental-vacancy-rate-melbourne-wea…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.Which tree is best for your small garden? It depends on where you live
Robin Powell The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)That old Chinese proverb “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; and the second best is now” is not actually Chinese. But that doesn’t mean it’s not true, both metaphorically and literally. In the era of climate change, the proverb acquires a new urgency: you can’t plant a tree soon enough. And winter is tree-planting season. Deciduous trees are dormant and evergreen trees have slowed their growth, making transplant less risky for both.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/which-tree-…
# NSW, Climate change, Home, Planning and development.The hidden stings from a mortgage repayment holiday
Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)As lockdown fatigue sets in – and income is squeezed in households – families are again seeking mortgage repayment holidays. ... However, there is more you need to know about mortgage repayment holidays than the immediate financial relief they provide. Firstly, these repayments are not forgiven. They are rolled into your loan and increase its value. This means that if you do not make extra payments down the track, you will end up paying more interest. Sure, it is good of the banks to provide repayment holidays but they still benefit in the long run. However, there is another, more significant way you could be disadvantaged… this time affecting people who are ahead on their mortgage payments. Any overpayments you have made could be subsumed into your loan balance.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/the-hidden-stings-from-a-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership.Public housing in Tasmania faces overcrowding, but some families are downsizing to free up space
Adam Langenberg ABC (No paywall)Elaine and Rod Smith didn't take long to say no when their community housing provider first asked them to consider moving out of the house they had lived in for 42 years. ... But with Mr Smith's early-onset dementia leading to him having falls and struggling to maintain the garden, they eventually relented last September, moving around the corner from their three-bedroom Clarendon Vale property to a newly built two-bedroom house. The new property has an easier to maintain garden, no stairs and wider hallways to allow paramedics to get a stretcher in if Mr Smith has a fall.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-07/tasmanias-public-housing-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Housing market.Why condos caught on in America
Matthew Gordon Lasner The Conversation (No paywall)The tragic collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, on June 24, 2021, made millions of Americans focus for the first time on the risks of high-rise construction and oceanfront living. Many also became more aware of the pitfalls of condominiums and other forms of co-ownership in which each unit in a multifamily building or other kind of housing complex is individually owned, while the structure itself is owned, and managed, collectively.
https://theconversation.com/why-condos-caught-on-in-america-1652…
# International, Strata, Housing market.Will they ever own a home? The scariest thing about having adult kids
Kate Halfpenny The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)When my kids were little I had two fears: meningococcal and choking. The first never happened but the second did, when my daughter turned blue eating roast lamb and her dad had to knock out her front teeth to save her. ... Yet here I am, snapping awake lately with one thought: how will my kids ever buy a home? ... I don’t know how, but we need fabulous public housing, more affordable places to buy that won’t fall apart in five years, and governments to take charge of what is fast becoming a generational heartache. Certainly a parental one.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/will-the…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Home ownership, Young people.Developer reps slam proposed boarding house and co-living changes for NSW
Duncan Murray The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Those with a foot in developer camps have slammed proposed changes to NSW housing policy, saying they will have the opposite effect to what is desired and that government planners should start again with the policy from scratch. This week, the NSW government opened its new Housing State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) for public review, among which were provisions aimed at encouraging more affordable housing, specifically in relation to boarding houses, co-living and seniors housing developments.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/developer…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Older people, Planning and development, State Government, Young people.Property investors return to the market despite price growth outpacing rents, data shows
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Property investors are piling back into the housing market as prices boom, even though rents have not kept pace, new analysis shows. Investors have been chasing the prospect of future capital growth, encouraged by stunning gains so far this year, and are hoping the worst is over for the rental market.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/property-investors-return-to-the-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.