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
National Low income housing coalition update
(No paywall)From the United States ... Join NLIHC and other national leaders of the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF) tomorrow (July 15) for a national call-in day to tell Congress that housing is vital infrastructure! (International Union of Tenants News)
https://www.iut.nu/news-events/national-low-income-housing-coali…
# International, Campaigns and law reform, Coronavirus COVID-19.Where in Australia it’s cheaper to pay off a mortgage than rent
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)It’s now cheaper to buy rather than rent well over a third of the properties in Australia, the latest figures have found.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/where-in-australia-its-cheaper-to…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market.The next housing crash will hit even harder than the last
Rory Hearne (No paywall)The latest house prices show the disastrous extent of the crisis in housing — there needs to be a sea change in policy. (Irish Examiner)
https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-40327…
# International, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market.'They got out of hand’: Auckland street wrestles with fate of 400 pet rabbits
Tess McClure The Guardian (No paywall)After years of complaints from neighbours and concerns about house prices, hundreds of rabbits in a suburban garden had to go ‘by any means necessary’. ... The story starts simply. In August 2014, residents Elaine Cowlin and Dylan Lewis bought four rabbits from a local pet shop. They didn’t de-sex them. The rabbits began to breed. “We just love rabbits,” Cowlin tells the Guardian. ... One of the villas across the road sold for $3.62m in February. In such a place, a multitude of fluffy animals let loose is not just an eccentricity – it represents a potential threat to the value of a street packed with multi-million-dollar assets.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/14/they-got-out-of-ha…
# International, Health, Housing market.Pandemic boost to household wealth leaves many renters feeling poorer, research finds
Rob Stock (No paywall)From New Zealand ... Robert Whitaker is wealthier than a year ago, but feeling poorer. A lot of other renters feel the same. ... Whitaker, one of the founders of the Renters United political group representing the interests of renting households, was not surprised renters were feeling poorer, despite many having more money in the bank, and in KiwiSaver, as the rapid rise in house prices had put many further from ever owning a home. (Stuff)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/125735639/pandemic-boost-to-hou…
# International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership.Australian house prices to soar by up to 16% in 2021, ratings agency says
Ben Butler The Guardian (No paywall)Australian house prices are set to soar by as much as 16% this year, driven by government support and stronger than expected economic growth, the ratings agency Fitch predicts. ... “Low interest rates in Australia have also started to encourage housing investors into the market, potentially replacing demand from first-time buyers as they start to be priced out,” Fitch said.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/16/australia…
# Australia, Housing market.Homelessness, household stress on the rise
John Kidman (No paywall)Homelessness is projected to surge across Australia by nine per cent this year and housing stress could increase 24 per cent. The two are joint symptoms of a broken national system, says advocacy coalition Everybody's Home. Instead of treating the issues separately, the organisation suggests a holistic approach with five prongs. It wants more first-home buyer support, more low-cost properties, a better deal for renters, immediate relief for stressed households and a plan to end homelessness by 2030.
https://7news.com.au/business/housing-market/homelessness-househ…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Homelessness, Housing market.The Sydney regions where you make a profit from property and the regions where you make a loss
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Almost all homes at the top end of town in Sydney recorded a profit this year, with many turning around up to a million dollars in the space of just 12 months, new figures reveal. ... CoreLogic counted more than 2000 profit-making sales across Sydney where properties were held for a year or less in the March 2021 quarter. About one in five of those were investor resales and the remaining majority were owner-occupiers benefiting from large capital growth in the past year, said Ms Owen.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/the-sydney-regions-where-you-make…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing market, Landlords and agents.