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
Australia still in a property boom as values rise by 2.2 per cent in just one month
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)Australia’s property boom has picked up pace again, with national housing values rising 2.2 per cent in May, new data shows.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/australias-housing-boom-rolls-on-…
# Australia, Housing market.‘Lists and sags’: Questions around PEXA’s $3.3b valuation
Charlotte Grieve and Colin Kruger The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Property settlements platform PEXA is set to become the largest float in almost three years after its majority shareholder Link Administration opted to maximise the company’s potential value. ... PEXA is a private company owned by Link, Commonwealth Bank and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners that has gained a dominant market share in online property lodgements and settlements since launching in 2010.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/link-confirm…
# Australia, Housing market.Australian house prices to rise by 15 per cent this year but slow in 2022
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)House prices across Australia will rise by 15 per cent by the end of the year before slowing to just 5 per cent in 2022, a new Westpac Housing Pulse has revealed.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/australian-house-prices-to-rise-b…
# Australia, Housing market.First-home buyer stamp duty concessions are about to change in the Northern Territory
Felicity James ABC (No paywall)Leah Brown and her partner Darren are feeling the pressure to buy a house after a significant rent hike. They are searching in Darwin, where rental vacancy rates are among the tightest in the country – their rent has jumped by $150 a week. ... But they are trying to enter the market and buy their first property at a time when the NT Government is preparing to scrap its stamp duty exemption for first-home buyers. The decision to scrap a stamp duty exemption worth almost $20,000 at the end June – the Territory Home Owner Discount – means Ms Brown and her family will need more money for a deposit.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-31/nt-first-home-buyers-conc…
# Australia, Home ownership, Tax.Renters short by £360m as pandemic protection disappears
Kate Hughes (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Tenants caught between the pandemic fallout and rising housing costs are now more likely to lose their homes after the ban on evictions expired this week leaving £360m of rent unpaid, poverty activists warn. Evictions can now resume again in England after a pandemic hiatus that had protected up to a million people from being forced to leave their homes. Also, the required minimum period of notice will come down from six to four months, the housing ministry has confirmed. (Independent)
https://www.independent.co.uk/money/rent-arrears-eviction-help-l…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.McGowan reveals $377 million to target household fees and charges
Peter de Kruijff The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)West Australian Premier and Treasurer Mark McGowan says the state government will commit $377 million to keeping household charges low with a 1.6 per cent increase for the coming financial year – or $99.37 for the average household. ... Electricity and water charges for households will go up in line with the projected increase to the consumer price index, a rise of 1.75 per cent, as per an election commitment made by the Premier. “We have been very focused on keeping costs and living pressures down for families across Western Australia and this budget will continue that course,” Mr McGowan said.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/watch-live-mcg…
# Australia, Utilities electricity water gas.COVID-19: Lockdown support for Victorian tenants
Lauren Vardy (No paywall)Victoria has moved to circuit-breaker restrictions from Friday, 28 May to Thursday, 3 June. Here’s what you need to know about Victoria’s 7-day lockdown and tenancy support. (Rent.com.au)
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Welfare.Global solutions to a global crisis: International housing policy lessons from the pandemic
AHURI (No paywall)AHURI Brief: Overall, the consistency in the policy responses to the pandemic across the participating countries was striking. All countries addressed street homelessness, had eviction moratoria (or limits on forced evictions), and provided additional income support measures. However, due to different systems and pre-existing social conditions the way in which these were implemented and framed varied significantly.
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/ahuri-briefs/global-solutions-…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Housing market, International, Welfare.