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
AUDIO: Property prices and rents reach record highs
ABC (No paywall)Australian property prices continued to recover from a short-lived dip to hit fresh highs in March as borrowers and prospective home buyers await a decision on interest rates today.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-01/naus_corelogicnr_0104/105…
# Hot topic, Audio Australia, .Moving house has never been so stressful. Which is why you need an elite squadron of helpers
Maddie Thomas The Guardian (No paywall)Late last year the lease on my flat came to an abrupt end. I’d read the headlines. I knew what was ahead of me. I was apprehensive, but determined. Everyone dreads moving house. But as Australia and the world face a crippling housing crisis, with rental affordability reaching all-time lows, the experience has become even more stressful. When I moved house five years ago, I got the first flat I applied for. We edged out one other couple who wanted it, and that was that – the deal was done. How times have changed.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/14/moving-hou…
# Australia, .When are you entitled to reimbursement as a renter organising repairs?
Anna Chisholm ABC (No paywall)Ever sweltered in a rental with a broken air conditioner waiting for an update from your property manager and wondered if you can just call someone in to fix it? The answer is not as straightforward as you might have hoped. Tenancy laws in Australia differ between the states and territories, but there are common approaches to getting things fixed in a rental that may help. Not all property repairs are created equal. Alice Pennycott is the principal lawyer for the tenancy team at Circle Green Community Legal in Western Australia. "There are different provisions that apply for standard repairs or ordinary repairs and then urgent repairs," Ms Pennycott says.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-30/can-you-organise-own-repa…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Repairs.Why 'forever renters' are the new buzzword in Australia’s ongoing housing debate
Lucia Stein and Kate Jones ABC (No paywall)Home ownership is a pervasive ideal in Australia. Almost from the time we are born, we are told that "rent money is dead money" and "owning a house is a safe bet". So it's perhaps unsurprising that we carry those attitudes into adulthood and dream of one day buying a home. In the 1970s, the median house price in Sydney was $18,700, while in Melbourne, it was $12,800. The median price in the NSW capital now is $1,186,459 and in Melbourne it's $772,561, according to CoreLogic.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-27/australians-forever-rente…
# Hot topic Australia, .NSW government takes Lismore Pine St squatters to the Supreme Court
Elizabeth Pike Daily Telegraph (Paywall)The Minns government’s fight to remove illegal squatters from condemned homes in Lismore will be taken all the way to the Supreme Court after the NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA) filed legal notices against the group. Squatters along Pine St were served ‘Statement of Claims’ this week as the government pursues a writ of possession to evict the collective of mostly holiday and temporary visa holders from buyback houses affected by the 2022 floods. The saga has pushed local tensions to the brink amid allegations squatters were blocking the street and defying police orders, while local “vigilantes” were accused of harassing group members.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/nsw-government-takes-…
# Must read NSW, Disasters, Eviction.Boarding House Redevelopment Displaces Long-Term Residents in Paddington
Surry Hills News (No paywall)For over 20 years, Jeff Elliott lived in a modest studio inside a Paddington boarding house on Selwyn Street. He and 31 others formed a close-knit, low-income community that offered more than shelter — it provided social connection, mutual support, and stability. In early 2025, both the Selwyn Street boarding houses were sold to LFD Developments, who plan to replace the ageing properties with four new luxury homes. Most residents, including Mr Elliott’s long-time companions, were relocated with little time to say goodbye, leaving behind decades of shared memories.
https://surryhillsnews.com.au/boarding-house-redevelopment-displ…
# Hot topic NSW, Boarders and lodgers.NSW Rental Taskforce to tackle fairness in rental market
Aksel Ritenis Sydney Times (No paywall)*Media Release by Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading Anoulack Chanthivong. Renters in NSW now have a dedicated Rental Taskforce to hold landlords and real estate agents to account, and will address rental law violations following the Government's most significant rental reforms in more than a decade. With an $8.4 million investment, NSW Fair Trading's Rental Taskforce Willa analyse activities and trends within the rental market and conduct compliance actives such as inspections, audits and blitzes to prevent and act on breaches of the law.
https://www.sydneytimes.net.au/state-politics-and-government/nsw…
# Hot topic NSW, .Misinformation on housing issues
Coast Community News (No paywall)When reading Central Coast News issue 480, I noted that one of the three full-page Liberal Party advertisements featuring Lucy Wicks as the Robertson candidate for the forthcoming Federal election is focused on housing issues. This interested me as when recently looking at what housing policies the two major parties were putting forward, I studied what was available online and was concerned that a Liberal policy included the statement that ‘Labor has also revealed it is looking to introduce new housing taxes (including changes to negative gearing)’.
https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2025/03/mis…
# Hot topic NSW, .