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
Home ownership dream out of reach as prices skyrocket
Henrietta Cook The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Jessica Broome has been searching for a home for seven months and during that time open for inspections have evolved into events that resemble music festivals. ... Like many Victorians hoping to get their foot into the property market, Ms Broome is growing increasingly despondent, particularly in light of predictions that Melbourne’s median house price will hit $1 million by June. It’s a figure Ms Broome describes as “intimidating” and the 41-year-old is on the cusp of giving up on her dream of owning a home.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/home-ownership-dream-ou…
# International, Home ownership, Housing market.High house prices ‘a risk for all state governments’: Housing Minister wants premiers’ feet held to the fire
Angus Thompson and Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)The federal government says the states and territories must take responsibility for Australia’s housing affordability crisis, saying it is local levies imposed on new developments that are hurting first homebuyers. In a salvo that caused the NSW government to fire back, federal Housing Minister Michael Sukkar said the states need their “feet held to the fire” to address rising house prices and it was not up to the Commonwealth to fix the problem. ... The rebuke of the states prompted NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes to blame interest rates and federal tax rules for pushing up prices, opening a new front in the debate over how to make housing more affordable for young Australians. ... “Let’s tear down the myth that supply is the determinant of housing affordability. Planning plays an important and significant role in getting new housing to market but let’s not pretend tax rules and interest rates don’t also push up prices,” Mr Stokes said. “The emerging build-to-rent sector is a prime example. While our recently announced policy to introduce build-to-rent development in our market has been welcomed, industry tells us that the Commonwealth tax treatment makes projects unfeasible.”
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/high-house-prices-a-risk…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government, Tax.Unit prices rise in Australia's 'international' cities, despite rental slump
David Chau ABC (No paywall)While property prices are rising almost everywhere you look, apartments in Australia's two largest cities have under-performed on nearly every measure.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-01/apartment-prices-rise-des…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.Mascot Towers shopkeepers may put a stop to owners' plans to cut losses and sell
Ursula Malone ABC (No paywall)A plan to sell off the beleaguered Mascot Towers in Sydney's south has stalled after an intervention by shopkeepers on the ground floor of the building. It's been almost two years since large cracks appeared in the basement of the 10-storey building, forcing the evacuation of residents who have been unable to return to their homes since.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/mascot-towers-shopkeepers…
# NSW, Strata, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Riverwood residents forced to sell homes for car park struggle to afford like-for-like homes
Tony Ibrahim ABC (No paywall)A family claims they're carrying the burden of a community by having their home destroyed to make room for a multi-storey car park in Sydney's south-west. The Charan family have spent 28 years making their Riverwood house a home. It's where they planned to see out their days. But the NSW government is forcing them and two neighbours to sell — at prices they say don't reflect the surging market ...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-01/riverwood-homes-to-be-kno…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Planning and development, State Government.Dutch couple move into Europe’s first fully 3D-printed house
Daniel Boffey The Guardian (No paywall)A Dutch couple have become Europe’s first tenants of a fully 3D printed house in a development that its backers believe will open up a world of choice in the shape and style of the homes of the future.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/30/dutch-couple-…
# International, Housing market.Housing affordability: Rise of Bank of Mum and Dad fuels inequality in hot market
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)We knew house prices were booming, but it’s a shock to see how much. ... Record prices are a reminder we still have a housing affordability crisis, even if it has slipped from public debate in recent years. And the boom risks pushing home ownership even further out of reach for many, making inequality worse. UNSW housing researcher Chris Martin is blunt about the problem: although ultra-low interest rates make it cheap to pay off a mortgage, that’s no help to someone who hasn’t got a deposit. ... "Over the last few months, there have been first-home buyers getting back in [to the market] in a pretty big way,” said Dr Martin, a senior research fellow at the UNSW City Futures Research Centre. “But doing that on the back of rising house prices makes me think they are doing it with a lot of help from people who are already in.” That is, the Bank of Mum and Dad ...
https://www.domain.com.au/news/housing-affordability-rise-of-ban…
# Hot topic Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.When the coronavirus supplement was cut, single mum Leanne's darkest days returned
Rhiana Whitson ABC (No paywall)It's been almost a month since the federal government drastically reduced the coronavirus supplement to $50 a fortnight from its peak of $550. For anyone, that's a lot of money. But for single parents, many of them women, the extra cash offered them a taste of a better life, says Terese Edwards, the chief executive of the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children (NCSC). ... But now, the dark days have returned.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/coronavirus-supplements-j…
# Australia, Rent, Families, Homelessness, Welfare, Women.