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
Home quirky home: Instagram accounts celebrate Sydney suburbia
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Drew Brian Hoy is trying to save Sydney’s historic homes and buildings, one photo at a time. His Instagram account, Forgotten Sydney, is part of a social media wave that is celebrating ordinary Australian homes and apartments – and not the ones you’d find in the annual architecture awards.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/home-quirky-home-instagram-a…
# History NSW, Heritage listings, Housing market, Sydney.The Housing Shortage Isn’t Just a Coastal Crisis Anymore
Emily Badger and Eve Washington The New York Times (Paywall)San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Washington have long failed to build enough housing to keep up with everyone trying to live there. And for nearly as long, other parts of the country have mostly been able to shrug off the housing shortage as a condition particular to big coastal cities. But in the years leading up to the pandemic, that condition advanced around the country: Springfield, Mo., stopped having enough housing. And the same with Appleton, Wis., and Naples, Fla. What once seemed a blue-state coastal problem has increasingly become a national one, with consequences for the quality of life of American families, the health of the national economy and the politics of housing construction. Today more families in the middle of America who could once count on becoming homeowners can’t be so confident anymore.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/upshot/housing-shortage-us.ht…
# International, Housing affordability, Housing market.First homebuyer grants may benefit existing homeowners more than new homeowners: report
AHURI News AHURI (No paywall)Many first homebuyer (FHB) assistance programs benefit existing homeowners rather than new homeowners, thereby compounding the problems of access and risk that such schemes are supposedly meant to address, according to new AHURI research. (First published in the 'Housing News Digest' on 7 July 2022, but this is a good summary.)
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/news/first-homebuyer-grants-ma…
# Research alert Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market, International, State Government, Tax.Depending on a Curse: What History Tells Us About Property-Tax Reform in New York City
Daniel Wortel-London (No paywall)Daniel Wortel-London discusses New York’s discriminatory policies and taxes and asks: can a tax system as cumbersome as New York’s possibly be changed? And if it can, what unanticipated consequences might follow? ... [Multifamily units] made up only 24.69% of the city’s market share, but comprised a whopping 39.44% of the city’s assessed tax revenue. Since rental landlords often pass these taxes onto their tenants, and since renters are generally poorer and more likely to be nonwhite compared to owners, this policy reproduces and entrenches metropolitan inequality while adding to its housing crisis. (Metropolitics)
https://metropolitics.org/Depending-on-a-Curse-What-History-Tell…
# International, Rent, Housing market, Tax.‘Double Whammy Of Distress’: Vulnerable Public Housing Residents Are Being Forcibly Moved Out
Aleksandra Bliszczyk (No paywall)Public housing residents in Australia are increasingly being forcibly transfered into non-government community housing, which residents and advocates say divides communities, disrupts families and only adds to growing demand. ... [Marie] Chase-Sillars was forcily transfered from her estate in Macquarie Park in 2018 and is one of countless residents of old estates that have been sold off, demolished or leased to private community housing providers in recent years. ... Chase-Sillars went to community housing in nearby West Ryde which she’s happy with, but she said public and community housing are two very different beasts. ... [But, NSW Tenants’ Union] Patterson Ross said the community housing model didn’t have the same safeguards as public housing and residents were at higher risk of eviction. (Pedestrian)
https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/public-housing-residents-moved/
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Public and community housing, Estate renewal.‘Definitely a landlords’ market’: The Sydney suburbs where rents have risen most
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Sydney tenants are facing sky-high housing costs, with rental prices in some suburbs increasing hundreds of dollars a week over the past year. Median house rents in four in 10 Greater Sydney suburbs jumped at least 10 per cent over the year to June, according to the Domain Rent Report for the June quarter, released on Thursday. The largest increases were in the city’s east, northern beaches, upper north shore and Central Coast. ... Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said rent rises were sharpest in coastal and lifestyle locations that had attracted higher demand during the pandemic, as tenants sought out larger homes and desirable locations amid the rise of remote working.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/definitely-a-landlords-mark…
# NSW, Rent, Housing market, Sydney.The five regional areas where property prices will keep rising
Matthw Elmas The New Daily (No paywall)Property prices are on track for a major correction that could wipe billions of dollars from household balance sheets, but new analysis reveals the downturn won’t be felt everywhere. ... InvestorKit founder Arjun Paliwal said the huge migration of city-dwellers to regional hubs during COVID will continue, even as city prices plunge, and that this trend would push prices in some regional areas even higher. He believes areas like Tamworth in New South Wales, Bundaberg in Queensland and Wodonga in Victoria will be hotspots for strong growth, with buyers unlikely to be deterred by fast-rising interest rates.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2022/07/14/property-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Regional NSW.Conservative Party leadership contest: what do the candidates think about housing?
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)The Conservative Party is currently in the process of selecting a leader, with MPs continuously being eliminated from the race over the coming days until the final two are left to battle it out over the summer. Inside Housing has summarised what the remaining candidates have previously said, and are promising to deliver, on the subject of housing.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/conservative-par…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability.