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
Brad Pitt’s apparently defunct foundation reached a $20.5 million settlement with Hurricane Katrina survivors over its green housing debacle
Judith Keller The Conversation (No paywall)The six homeowners who sued Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation over the faulty construction of housing it built for them have reached a US$20.5 million settlement with the apparently defunct charity. ... Make It Right built a total of 109 eye-catching and affordable homes in New Orleans for a community where many people were displaced by damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The vast majority of the recently constructed homes are now riddled with construction-related problems that have led to mold, termites, rotting wood, flooding and other woes.
https://theconversation.com/brad-pitts-apparently-defunct-founda…
# International, Affordable housing.China tears down tower blocks in effort to boost stalling economy
Tom Rees (No paywall)China is tearing down tower blocks and pausing construction on buildings that could house 75m people as Xi Jinping’s government seeks to prop up the country’s stalling property market. Analysts have warned Beijing has adopted a “build, pause, demolish, repeat” strategy as Chinese officials seek to restrict supply to avoid a plunge in house prices and boost economic activity through more construction. ... Indebted Chinese developers have been plunged into crisis as the struggling property market weighs heavily on the world’s second-largest economy. China has vast unoccupied “ghost cities” after huge amounts of debt-fuelled development while demolitions have increased as builders run out of money. (The Telegraph) Same article published in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/how-china-is-manipulating-its-property-market-20220824-p5bc84.html]
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/08/23/china-tears-towe…
# International, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Melbourne renters forced out as city prices bounce back to pre-pandemic levels
Kate Ashton ABC (No paywall)Melbourne renters who signed on to reduced city rents at the height of the pandemic are now being forced out of the CBD and inner suburbs, with some reporting rental increases of more than 30 per cent.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-29/melbourne-renters-forced-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Like a beige, banal biscuit tin: why London’s new buildings all look the same
India Block The Guardian (No paywall)If you’ve walked through redeveloped parts of London recently you may have noticed an eerily similar type of building. Every edge is so crisp and flat that staring at it face-on gives you the weird sensation the world has temporarily turned 2D. This single style has emerged as the hegemonic default for housing developments in London.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/24/new-homes-…
# International, Home.Sorry, home owners, but this is when you should have sold your house
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Is it a good time to sell your house? Home owners might not want to hear it, but the best time to sell was last year. Rapidly rising interest rates have reduced buyer demand to below-average levels this winter, new analysis shows, but buyer interest was on the decline well before that in most markets.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/sorry-home-owners-but-this-…
# Australia, Housing market.As Sydney’s spring selling season begins, will property prices reverse?
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Further interest rate rises are set to weigh on Sydney’s spring property market and the size of the increase to mortgage costs could determine how far house prices fall. ... with another interest rate rise around the corner, ANZ and Westpac updating their Sydney house price forecasts to peak-to-trough falls of 20 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively, and buyer demand on listings websites showing signs of a drop, experts have reservations about how the spring property market will perform.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/as-sydney-s-spring-selling-…
# NSW, Housing market, Sydney.The International Union of Tenants (IUT ) calls for help for tenants to prevent a worsening of the European housing crisis
(No paywall)The IUT Board met in Helsinki in June 2022 during the Social Housing Festival and discussed the ongoing housing crisis in the countries represented at the Board. The Board therefore agreed to issue a statement to ask national governments and the European Commission to do more to help tenants. Click link to Statement.
https://www.iut.nu/news-events/the-international-union-of-tenant…
# International, Rent, Utilities water energy internet, Homelessness.How 5 key tenancy reforms are affecting renters and landlords around Australia
Wendy Stone, Terry Burke and Zoe Goodall The Conversation (No paywall)Private rental forms an increasingly large part of our housing system. Just over a quarter (26%) of Australian households – 2.4 million of them – live in privately rented dwellings. And increasing numbers are renting long-term. These trends are reshaping expectations of private rental housing. Residential tenancy reforms that are rolling out around the nation – albeit in slightly variable ways – are an important part of this national change. These reforms are important to ensure tenants are safe, secure and happy in their homes. Insecure and poor-quality housing can harm renters’ health and wellbeing.
https://theconversation.com/how-5-key-tenancy-reforms-are-affect…
# Must read Australia, Rent, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards, No-grounds evictions.