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
NYC Apartment Landlords Getting Burned in Gentrification Crash
Prashant Gopal, John Gittelsohn and Oshrat Carmiel (No paywall)New York’s apartment investors are suddenly waist-deep in distress. By December, they were behind on $395 million of debt backed by mortgage bonds, almost 150 times the level a year earlier, according to Trepp data on commercial mortgage-backed securities. Tenants in rent-stabilized units owe at least $1 billion in rent and wealthier ones are fleeing the city, leaving behind vacancies and pushing newly-built luxury towers into foreclosure. For years, as crime dwindled and rent climbed in New York, investors gobbled up apartment buildings. But with the city’s economy and culture crushed by Covid-19, mounting job losses have derailed the gentrification boom and put financial pressure on landlords. Read on ... (yahoo!finance)
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nyc-apartment-landlords-getting-b…
# International, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Emergency preparedness handbook for people living in social housing
Inner Sydney Voice (No paywall)Knowing what emergencies could impact on you, planning what you will do, getting your home ready, being aware that something might happen, and looking out for each other are all important things to consider before an emergency happens. Read on ...
https://issuu.com/comms-innersydneyvoice.org/docs/handbook_a4_20…
# NSW, Public and community housing.Deaths among Rome's rough sleepers surge as shelters turn many away due to Covid
Angela Giuffrida The Guardian (No paywall)From Italy ... More people are sleeping on the streets in Rome after being turned away from shelters due to coronavirus restrictions, while the number of homeless people dying from the cold has surged this winter. There are about 8,000 homeless people in the Italian capital, of whom 3,000 have no shelter for the night, according to figures provided by the Catholic charity Community of Sant’Egidio.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/01/rome-covid-rough-s…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.‘Holy grail’ of taxing land owners who profit from ‘stroke of a pen’ proves elusive
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Planning Minister Rob Stokes says major political challenges have hampered the NSW government in setting up a levy or tax on land values that skyrocket as a direct result of infrastructure projects. Mr Stokes agreed that some of the uplift in land values due to government-funded projects – such as Sydney’s second airport at Badgerys Creek – should go toward paying for the infrastructure required to support the extra development.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/holy-grail-of-taxing-land-ow…
# NSW, Planning and development, Tax.House prices predicted to rise by up to 10 per cent in 2021
Melissa Heagney Domain (Paywall)Australia’s “ferocious” property market is forecast to soar by up to 10 per cent this year, following new data that shows house prices and new loan commitments have hit record highs.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/loans-and-house-values-at-record-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.February interest rate announcement: RBA holds cash rate steady as house prices surge
Sue Williams Domain (Paywall)The official interest rate is being held at its record low of 0.10 per cent, the Reserve Bank of Australia has announced after its February 2 meeting. The ‘steady as she goes’ decision was widely expected by economists around Australia, despite the 2020 surge in house prices revealed in the latest Domain House Report of 4.5 per cent across all national capitals and 7.3 per cent across the regions.
https://www.domain.com.au/money-markets/february-interest-rate-a…
# Australia, Housing market.Singapore is building a 42,000-home eco 'smart' city
Oscar Holland (No paywall)In a country where over 80% of residents live in public housing, a government commitment to sustainable urban design could have huge implications. And when it's a tropical country where convenience and air conditioning are a way of life, the impact could be greater still. Promising 42,000 new homes across five residential districts, the eco-town of Tengah -- the Malay word for "middle," though it's in the island's western region -- will be the 24th new settlement built by Singapore's government since World War II. It is, however, the first with centralized cooling, automated trash collection and a car-free town center, which conservationists hope offers a roadmap for slashing carbon emissions in the Southeast Asian city-state.
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/singapore-tengah-eco-town/…
# International, Public and community housing, Utilities water energy internet, Planning and development."I'm saving $320 a month": How COVID has affected what Aussie women spend on rent.
Helen Vnuk (No paywall)Right now is a terrible time to be a renter – or a very good time. There’s an enormous divide between people renting houses in country areas and people renting apartments in inner-city Sydney and Melbourne. Read on ... (Mamamia)
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Regional NSW.