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 buyers brace for financial pain as economy sits on knife-edge
Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Home buyers would need to find up to $1000 extra a month by year’s end to cover their increased mortgage repayments if the Reserve Bank ramps up interest rates in line with financial market expectations, prompting warnings from experts the economy is on a knife-edge.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/home-buyers-brace-for-fi…
# Australia, Housing market.Wollongong estate agents on the housing crisis
Natalie Croxon Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)Wollongong real estate agents say the region’s housing crisis is unlike anything they ever have seen, with every rental property routinely attracting over 100 prospective tenants. First National Wollongong property manager Sophie Wellard said she received up to 120 online enquiries for a single property and almost all who enquired would show up for viewings, especially if it was a family home.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7766527/never-seen-it-…
# NSW, Rent, Landlords and agents.Rent control: Oakland will cap rent increases at 3% under new ordinance
Annie Sciacca (Paywall)From California ... The new law will cap rent increases for rent-controlled properties. (The Mercury News) If you face a paywall, check out council's notice at: [https://www.oaklandca.gov/topics/allowable-rent-increases]
https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/05/31/rent-control-oakland-will…
# International, Rent, Housing market, Local Government.Tax treatment of a short-term Airbnb rental
George Cochrane The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Since last August, anyone renting part of their NSW home on Airbnb, or similar, must obtain a STRA registration number from the state government’s planning portal. Airbnb now requires that number for people to keep hosting on its website. ... When a person rents part of their home, via Airbnb or otherwise, they lose the full main residence exemption from CGT.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-retirement/tax-treatment-…
# NSW, Short-term holiday letting, Tax.‘Money was never going to be free forever’: Borrowers can withstand higher rates, says Westpac
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Westpac’s chief executive of consumer and business banking, Chris de Bruin, says the vast majority of mortgage customers can manage a series of interest rate rises, though the bank is watching closely for weaker discretionary spending. Before Tuesday’s widely expected increase in official interest rates, de Bruin on Sunday played down the chances of widespread mortgage stress this year, saying consumers and businesses were prepared for rates lifting from abnormally low levels.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/money-was-ne…
# Australia, Housing market.They’re in between a house and a unit, and they’re going up everywhere
Tawar Razaghi The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Duplexes have exploded in popularity in Sydney thanks to priced-out house hunters and builders looking for better profit margins. Approvals for semi-detached dwellings, which include duplexes, terraces and townhouses, have increased by 24 per cent in NSW in the year to April, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/they-re-in-between-a-house-…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development.‘Dead place’: Rising property prices put Sydney’s creative sector at risk
Andrew Taylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney risks losing its creative sector, as artists, musicians and performers are priced out of the city. Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore warned the city would turn into a “dead place to be” if its “creative spirits” could not afford places to live and work in the inner city.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/dead-place-rising-property-price…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Housing market, Local Government, Sydney.Tracking down birth certificates and ID a crucial step to finding housing for the homeless
Cecile O'Connor ABC (No paywall)In a Geraldton church, where people usually gather to worship, there is a buzz of talk at tables around the hall of more earthly matters. People who have been sleeping rough have arrived looking for help to track down birth certificates. Without that crucial paperwork, they become even more invisible. Organisers of the event, which brought together charities and government departments, said when that paperwork is missing homeless people can fall off the waiting list for housing without realising.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-04/homeless-in-geraldton-com…
# Australia, Homelessness.