ADVICE OVER THE HOLIDAY PERIOD
Tenants Advice & Advocacy Services have limited availability over the holiday period. The Tenants' Union will operate a Tenancy Advice Hotline from Wednesday 18/12/2024 until Wednesday 8/1/2025 (excluding weekends and public holidays). The hours of operation are 10am-1pm and 2-5pm.
Get advice on: (02) 8117 3750 or 1800 251 101
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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See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
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Archive
Election 24: What six of the parties say they'll do for renters
RTE (Ireland) (No paywall)With housing set to be a key election issue, Katie Hannon asks her panel of Ivana Bacik, Richard Boyd Barrett, Eoin Ó Broin, Paschal Donohoe, Rory Hearne, and Darragh O'Brien what they're parties plan to offer renters if they're elected.
# Video International, Rent.Tens of thousands of Spaniards protest housing crunch and high rents
Joseph Wilson and Hernán Muñoz Financial Review (Paywall)Barcelona | Tens of thousands of Spaniards marched in downtown Barcelona on Saturday to protest the skyrocketing cost of renting an apartment in the popular tourist destination. Protesters cut off traffic on main avenues in the city centre, holding up homemade signs in Spanish reading, “Fewer apartments for investing and more homes for living” and “The people without homes uphold their rights”.
https://www.afr.com/property/residential/tens-of-thousands-of-sp…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Are We Really Trying to Solve the Housing Crisis?
Christopher Cheung The Tyee (No paywall)Ten years ago, I wrote my first story on the housing crisis. (If you’re curious, it was about the development bonanza along Vancouver’s Cambie Corridor, still ongoing.) Ten years later, I’m still covering the beat. How can any Vancouver reporter escape it? You can see it in downtown alcoves, with people in sleeping bags on sheets of cardboard. You can see it in every neighbourhood, with Bobcats tearing down old apartments. You can see it in online listings, with rents and home prices soaring with every refresh. You can see it in the air, as the cranes add yet another tower to the skyline, the most luxurious of presales fetching as much as $3,100 a square foot.
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/11/22/Are-We-Trying-to-Solve-Ho…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Canada rent report: What landlords are asking tenants to pay
Sammy Hudes CTV News (No paywall)Average asking rents declined nationally on a year-over-year basis for the first time in more than three years in October, said a report out Thursday. The report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation found average asking rents(opens in a new tab) across Canada sat at $2,152 in October, down 1.2 per cent from the same month in 2023 — the first national decrease since July 2021. The decline is mainly concentrated in Canada’s major urban centres, with cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Montreal seeing rent decreases.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/national-rent-prices-decline-yea…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Rising costs of homes push South Florida families to rent over buying
CBS News (No paywall)As South Florida home prices and costs of living soar, many families are choosing to rent instead of buying.
https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/video/rising-costs-of-homes-push-s…
# Video International, .Rent prices jump back up with Auckland no longer the most expensive
Brianna McIlraith Stuff (No paywall)Aucklanders can breathe a sigh of relief, as they’re no longer paying the highest rent in the country. For eight months rental prices on Trade Me Property had been dropping but in October the latest data revealed the national median weekly rent had jumped by $5 to $635, an increase of 0.8%. The biggest month-on-month increases were in Marlborough, up $35 to $585 per week, Taranaki up $10 to $610 and the Waikato also up $10 to $590. Auckland no longer wears the crown for the most expensive region to rent in with the Bay of Plenty taking the top spot with a median weekly rent of $680 - now $5 higher than Tāmaki Makaurau.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/home-property/360486212/rent-prices-jump…
# International, Rent.NSW Govt announces $4 million over 4 years extra funding for improved access to advice and advocacy for tenants
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)
The NSW Government announced it has boosted funding for Tenants Advice & Advocacy Services by $1 million annually until 2028, increasing the 2024-25 budget to $16.2 million. The Tenants' Advice and Advocacy Program consists of 21 local organisations across NSW, handling around 30,000 requests for tenancy advice each year. The network of services provides invaluable support to renters, assisting them to navigate the rental sector. Through advice, representation and community education advice services assist to resolve issues early and spread awareness of legal rights and responsibilities.
https://www.tenants.org.au/reports/nsw-govt-announces-4-million-…
# Must read, TUNSW in the media NSW, .NSW Government figures reveal 2468 social housing properties sitting empty as waitlist tops 60,000
David Barwell Daily Telegraph (Paywall)Nearly 2500 social housing properties are sitting empty across NSW amid a cost of living crisis that has sent the number of people on the waitlist soaring. NSW Government data has revealed 2468 social housing properties were vacant as of August 2024, at a time when 61,563 people are waiting for social housing in NSW – up from 57,411 just 12 months ago. Parramatta had the overall highest number of empty homes, with 332 social housing properties vacant across the council area as of August. Campbelltown had 240, the City of Sydney had 192, Blacktown had 190, Canterbury-Bankstown had 154, Wollongong had 129 and Newcastle had 107. One renter, who lives in the Blacktown area and has been on the social housing waiting list for 10 years, said she was “shocked” by the figures.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/nsw-government-figur…
# Hot topic, Research alert NSW, Public and community housing.