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
Sydney first-home buyers need seven years and one month to save for a house
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Sydney’s pandemic property boom has pushed the time it takes first-home buyers to enter the market to a record seven years and one month, according to new research. It now takes six months longer than it did last year for a couple to save a 20 per cent deposit on an entry-priced house of $770,000, Domain’s First-Home Buyer Report, released Monday, found.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/first-home-buyer-report-1064381/?…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.These are the biggest housing bubbles in the world, on Bloomberg research
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)House prices are rising in Australia and around the world, but is it a bubble? The biggest bubbles are in the housing markets of New Zealand, Canada and Sweden, but Australia takes 15th place in new global rankings by Bloomberg Economics. And, the frothiest real estate markets are ringing alarm bells not heard since before the global financial crisis, the report warns.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/these-are-the-biggest-housing-bub…
# International, Housing market.‘Buyer beware’: Sydney agents selling units despite defect notices
Nigel Gladstone The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Property developers are pushing ahead with sales of off-the-plan apartments even though the NSW Building Commissioner has slapped them with orders to fix or monitor defects that real estate agents are required to tell potential buyers about.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/buyer-beware-sydney-agents-s…
# NSW, Strata, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards.Accommodation supplement propping up rental market by $30m a week
Susan Edmunds (No paywall)From New Zealand ... The amount of money spent on accommodation supplements to help struggling tenants pay rent has doubled in recent years but there are warnings there is no easy way to redesign the system. Accommodation supplements are paid to people who need assistance with their housing costs, and are tied to incomes. In the March quarter of this year, there were 360,549 receiving the accommodation supplement, up 43,023 on the year before.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/125195278/accommodation-supplem…
# International, Rent.The House Of Horrors: DFA Daily 20th June 2021
Martin North (No paywall)In today’s post we pick apart the horrors of Australian housing, look at a horror story from US housing ... (Digital Finance Analytics)
https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/the-house-of-horrors-df…
# Audio Australia, Housing market, International.A new, rebalanced UK could be the happy legacy of a shift to working from home
Rowan Moore The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... As the government contemplates making it easier for workers to stay away from the office, could this revitalise poorer parts of the country?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/20/new-rebala…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.‘Creating massive uncertainty’: Government told to act on responsible lending laws
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The federal government’s planned repeal of responsible lending laws has come under attack from the Greens who are trying to force it to take the legislation to a vote this week. The government is looking to wind back some requirements on borrowers within the National Consumer Credit Protection Act. It is concerned that the requirements are too onerous and that facilitating more borrowing could help the economy’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. But Senator McKim said the laws were there to protect consumers from “greedy banks” and to prevent them from lending money to people who cannot afford it. He criticised the government for using the pandemic to wind back the rules.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/creating-massive-uncerta…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Housing market.Australia is seeing a housing boom, but builders are struggling to get the timber to make them
Richard Willingham ABC (No paywall)Andrew Clements wishes his truss business could pump out more trusses to keep up with Australia's insatiable appetite for building supplies, but he simply cannot get enough timber due to a "perfect storm" buffeting the construction industry.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-21/australia-victoria-housin…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market.