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
Turning shut-down shops into homes? It’ll be the developers who enjoy the bargains
Rowan Moore The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... By relaxing rules on planning permission, the Tories are doing nothing for tenants or our high streets.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/23/turning-sh…
# International, Housing market, Planning and development.‘Expect to see mortgage rates moving up’: Bank funding costs to rise as $200b scheme ends
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The end of a $200 billion emergency Reserve Bank funding scheme put in place to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus crisis is expected to lift fixed mortgage rates from ultra low levels and dampen soaring demand for housing.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/expect-to-se…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Super scheme little value if you want to buy property now
Noel Whittaker The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Last week’s federal budget revealed an increase to the maximum contributions to the First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS) from $30,000 to $50,000. It was widely reported that the government has changed the amount a first-home buyer could withdraw from their superannuation for a home deposit to $50,000. That is incorrect. {Read on]
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/super-scheme-little-value…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market.The $28,000 home that could have been our goldmine
Monica Dux The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)As a child, I loved to hear my family’s foundation stories. And happily, Mum and Dad were eager to oblige. ... Then there was the belter about my parents shopping for our family home. It was the early 1970s, and they’d looked at dozens of places, but seen only two that took their fancy. The first was a three-bedroom apartment, with stunning views of Sydney Harbour. But it was expensive: $28,000! The second was a modest brick veneer, part of a new housing estate, built over an old tip, deep in the suburbs, but carrying an affordable $18,000 price tag. Inevitably, they settled on the cheaper, more sensible option. My parents’ story is a common one among people of their generation. A relic of a time when buying a house was a real possibility, even for people of modest means, and the returns proved astronomical. How much that story has changed. A friend recently told me that she’s started turning off the radio whenever the real estate market is discussed. ... The flipside of this is higher rents, rising rates of homelessness, and lifelong housing insecurity for anyone who hasn’t been lucky or privileged enough to buy: people who face the reality that home ownership is a major determinate of whether they will end their life in poverty.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/the-28-000-home-that-coul…
# NSW, Rent, Home ownership, Homelessness, Housing market.Domain real estate cyber-attack sees rental applicants asked to pay fake deposits by third party
Summer Woolley (No paywall)Australian rental applicants have been targeted in an elaborate phishing scam after real estate listing portal, Domain, was hit by a cyber attack ... According to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s ScamWatch, $227,872 had been lost in just over 4,460 scams in the month of April alone. (7News.com.au)
https://7news.com.au/business/domain-real-estate-cyber-attack-se…
# Australia, Rent, Landlords and agents.How to win at the property auction game
Joel Gibson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Just like tens of thousands of other Aussies, I have been spending quite a bit of time doing the rounds of property auctions lately. With a little help from real estate agents and economists, I have come up with a few tips and tricks to help you get to the front of the line with your auction bids as you try to secure your dream home. ... Richard Holden, Professor of Economics at the University of New South Wales, says the “winner’s curse” is an even greater risk in an overheated property market. “[Your research] is always going to be imperfect. If you bid right up to the amount you think the property is worth and you win, you’ll overpay. It’s about scaling back what you’re willing to pay, even if it means missing out, and setting your limit based on your research”.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/how-to-win-a…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Caution needed when buying a house with a small deposit
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A total of 20,000 places will be made available from July 1 in schemes operated by the federal government where first-home buyers and single parents need only a small deposit.
However, while qualifying first-home buyers can put down a deposit of 5 per cent and single parents just 2 per cent, there are traps that await the unwary. [Read on]
https://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/caution-needed-when-buyin…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability.Why do renters get a bad rap in Calgary?
(No paywall)From Canada ... Luis Virla and his wife Inés Hernández-Virla rent a two-bedroom unit in a fourplex in Windsor Park, an established community in southwest Calgary. But with two children to care for, their hearts are set on homeownership. “Owning a home is a symbol of stability,” Virla said. “If you don’t own one, you’re unstable.” Their aspirations are akin to those of many Calgarians, who see renting as just a temporary arrangement. But in Calgary, like in cities across North America, renters aren’t always welcome, which makes it difficult to find a suitable, stable home to raise one’s family. To some homeowners, renters can seem detached and uninvested in their communities. [Read on] (The Sprawl)
https://www.sprawlalberta.com/why-do-calgary-renters-get-a-bad-r…
# International, Rent, Home ownership.