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
Five things you should know about this year’s census
Craig Butt The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)On a winter evening last August, you or a family member probably would have filled out the 2021 census, along with millions of other people across Australia. The survey’s questions canvassed everything from living arrangements and household structures to work, education, ancestry, health and more. The census is a huge undertaking, and it takes the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) a while to collate the results. It will release the first, and biggest, tranche of data on Tuesday.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/five-things-you-should-know-abou…
# Australia, Families, Housing market.Pandemic’s impacts on how people live and work may change city centers for decades to come
Andrii Parkhomenko and Eunjee Kwon The Conversation (No paywall)If companies allowed more of their employees to permanently work from home, businesses would gravitate toward city centers, while people would primarily live in the periphery, resulting in less traffic congestion and falling real estate prices downtown.
https://theconversation.com/pandemics-impacts-on-how-people-live…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Work, employment.Renters under increasing strain as cost-of-living pressures bite across Australia
Melissa Brown ABC (No paywall)It's lucky Siobhan Joseph likes the cold, because she can't afford to turn on her heater. The 57-year-old is paying more than 80 per cent of her JobSeeker benefit on rent for her Marrickville home in Sydney's inner-west. Ms Joseph gets about $770 per fortnight from JobSeeker and other support payments, and spends about $600 of that on rent. "So I have about $174 left over for everything else," she said. [Read on]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-27/renters-facing-increased-…
# Australia, Rent, Utilities water energy internet, Families, Personal stories.Where essential workers can buy in Sydney under the shared equity scheme
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)Essential workers who qualify for the trial of the NSW shared equity scheme could choose an apartment closer to the Sydney CBD or a house further away, analysis of data shows.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/where-essential-workers-can…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing market, State Government.The Sydney regions with the lowest and highest turnover of homes
Kate Burke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)About one in every 17 homes were sold across Greater Sydney during the past year, with home owners in some lifestyle locations particularly keen to cash in on strong price growth.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-sydney-regions-with-the…
# NSW, Housing market.‘Are prices going to slide further?’ What’s next for NSW’s property market
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)Despite the current state of turmoil in the NSW property market, with prices slowing or falling, interest rates rising and inflation spiralling, a major new report has signalled that buyers today are unlikely to regret any purchasing decisions.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/are-prices-going-to-slide-further…
# NSW, Housing market.‘Situation is urgent’: Push for rethink on critical shortage
(Paywall)A Far North housing crisis has been the catalyst for a push to unlock more low cost home construction through policy shifts and should be tackled in a similar way to a natural disaster response. (Cairns Post)
https://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/cairns-housing-q-shelt…
# Australia, Housing market.Why the surge in home construction will do little to address affordable housing
Amber Schultz (No paywall)Following a two-year slowdown in housing construction, the boom is back, with a record number of houses being developed. But it’s not likely to fix Australia’s shortage of affordable or social housing, despite government investment. Labor, land and material shortages continue to slow down construction, while interest rates will keep rental costs high. (The Mandarin)
https://www.themandarin.com.au/192749-why-the-surge-in-home-cons…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing.