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
Public housing alleged torture attack leads tenant to homelessness
Kenji Sato ABC (No paywall)Wayne McGee says he chose to become homeless rather than return to the social housing unit in which he was allegedly bound, gagged, and tortured. Police documents show on March 21, 2024, another resident allegedly entered Mr McGee's Chermside unit, high on methamphetamines. The man allegedly shackled Mr McGee to a toilet and bashed him over several hours, held a knife against his face, and threatened to kill him if he told the police. His alleged torturer eventually left Mr McGee's unit, taking several belongings with him. The 46-year-old now lives in a tent in Samford Valley, refusing to return to his unit for fear of his safety.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-16/wayne-mcgee-allegedly-tor…
# Must read Australia, Security and safety.A 'severe heatwave' has been declared in Tasmania and experts warn suburbs lack resilience to warm weather
Adam Holmes ABC (No paywall)In much of Australia, finding ways to withstand and adapt to extreme summer heat is simply a way of life. Regular summer tops of 40 degrees Celsius in Adelaide and Perth, high humidity 30s in Darwin and the tropics, and dry lingering heat in Sydney and Melbourne are a part of life on the dry continent. And then there's the standard eye rolling when reports of a "heatwave" arrive from the United Kingdom when it approaches the mid-20s, and crowds flock to beaches. But it's not that different in Tasmania.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-11/tasmania-heatwave-housing…
# Must read Australia, Rent.Average renter would take 8.3 years to save enough for a house deposit, new Victorian analysis shows
Benita Kolovos The Guardian (No paywall)It could take almost a decade for the average Victorian renter who puts aside 20% of their gross income to save enough money for a home deposit, according to analysis from the state’s independent Parliamentary Budget Office. But if rents were to increase in line at the historically high rate seen in 2022 and 2023, the time needed to save for a deposit could blow out to more than 65 years. The findings are from a report by the PBO, being released on Friday, which was commissioned by the Victorian Greens as they continue to push the state government to introduce rent controls. The report estimates the time required for an average household of renters, aged 25 to 34, to save a 20% deposit on a median-priced home, based on a methodology also used by the Reserve Bank of Australia.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/09/average-r…
# Hot topic Australia, .There’s an easy solution to housing affordability. But voters hate it
Jim Malo The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Lowering house prices is the best way to make housing more affordable, but experts say “heartless” major parties have almost completely discarded the approach. Others say the scale of house price falls to make housing affordable again is too great, and would damage the economy. Housing affordability is at its worst on record according to several measures. Sydney and Melbourne house prices have weakened recently, but marginal falls have not been enough to offset huge price rises over the past 20 years. High interest rates have slashed borrowing capacities, yet house prices continued to rise, worsening affordability given that buyers could borrow less to buy more expensive homes.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/house-prices-have-been-fall…
# Must read Australia, Rent.Housing crisis the top social issue keeping bosses up at night
Sumeyya Ilanbey The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)The nation’s housing crisis has emerged as the biggest social issue keeping Australian business leaders up at night. KPMG’s annual survey of more than 300 C-suite executives and board members, released on Monday, revealed almost half believed the lack of meaningful progress on housing affordability was not just a challenge facing the country, but also a danger to businesses. “[There’s] this recognition within businesses that their workforce is finding housing affordability even more of a problem, which then starts to limit individuals choosing places to work,” said Brendan Rynne, KPMG’s chief economist. “It makes it harder for people to work out where to live, how to travel to work. Working from home has been helpful in resolving some of those issues, but not everyone can do that.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/housing-crisis-the-t…
# Must read Australia, .Young people are turning to house-sitting for an exciting and cheap lifestyle
Sarah Richards ABC (No paywall)Jade and Adriana Wales last paid rent almost eight years ago and have no plans to start anytime soon. The married singer-songwriters have spent time living in places like a two-storey home with a swimming pool along the coast of New South Wales, without it costing them a cent. "It's a barter system," said Mr Wales, 29. "We get free accommodation, and they get pet sitters while they go on holiday. "No money exchanged." After Ms Wales finished university, the young couple found their full-time jobs "a little bit too toxic". "So, we decided, why don't we work for ourselves and house-sit, and we can just go anywhere," said Ms Wales, 31.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-30/house-sitting-lifestyle-y…
# Hot topic Australia, .The housing minister says property prices shouldn't fall. This is what experts say
Evelyn Manfield ABC (No paywall)"We're not trying to bring down house prices," Housing Minister Clare O'Neil declared on ABC's youth radio station triple j. "That may be the view of young people, [but] it's not the view of our government." Instead, she insisted the federal government wanted "sustainable price growth". "We don't want to see some of the growth we've seen in some parts of the country where you're getting double-digit increases in house prices year-on-year," she told Hack host Dave Marchese. The interview aired last month, but it has found a new life online this week.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-14/housing-minister-says-hou…
# Must read Australia, .Middle-income Australians experiencing rental stress with a third of pay spent on housing, report shows
Cait Kelly The Guardian (No paywall)Even Australians on median incomes are in rental stress, a new report has found, with households on middle incomes spending 33% of their wages on housing. Last year saw the smallest annual rental increase since 2021, going up 4.8% over the year – down from 8.1% in 2023, CoreLogic’s report found. But since the onset of Covid, rents have increased by 36.1% nationally, equivalent to a rise of $171 a week, or $8,884 a year at the median level. Housing advocates say out-of-reach house prices and growing rents mean the system is in crisis. With 10,000 new people accessing homelessness services each month, they are calling for governments to introduce a cap on rent increases.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/15/australia…
# Hot topic Australia, .