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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Interest rates are set to start rising. What does that mean for mortgage holders and homebuyers?
Peter Hannam The Guardian (No paywall)The prospect of the Reserve Bank of Australia raising the cash rate in May has prompted a spike in queries about fixed loans from borrowers and reinforced expectations that property prices will fall, including in Melbourne and Sydney where they may already have peaked. Traders have priced in a lift in the RBA’s cash rate to 0.25% at its 3 May meeting after Wednesday’s March quarter inflation data was much higher than forecast.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/29/interest-rates-…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market.How Ten Global Cities Take on Homelessness: Initiatives that work
Linda Gibb, Jay Bainbridge, Muzzy Rosenblatt and Tamiru Mammo (Paywall)Together they bring an array of government, nonprofit, and academic perspectives to offer a truly global view of the cities and individuals working in coordination to tackle homelessness ... Published by University of California. Press Plug on 'London Review of Books', Volume 43 Number 12, 17 June 2021, p24 at: [https://www.lrb.co.uk/]
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520344679/how-ten-global-cities…
# International, Homelessness.Barkindji woman tackles Broken Hill housing supply problem with plan to build 500 eco-friendly homes
Callum Marshall ABC (No paywall)A Barkindji woman is hoping to improve housing supply concerns in Broken Hill with a project that could result in about 500 eco-friendly homes being built in the city. Nara Nation's Narelle Osborne, who is working with the development company Cliq Build, said they were also hoping to make some of the material for the houses in Broken Hill, creating more jobs.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-29/broken-hill-eco-friendly-…
# NSW, Climate change, Housing market, Regional NSW, Work, employment.Banks are tipping the worst property price falls on record. But don’t panic
Matthew Elmas The New Daily (No paywall)Home owners are being urged not to panic about rising mortgage rates, despite predictions that Reserve Bank efforts to tame inflation will spark the biggest downturn in the property market on record.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2022/04/28/property-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Property prices may tumble 15 per cent after rate increases
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)If the Reserve Bank lifts official interest rates for the first time in more than a decade on Tuesday, as is widely expected, property prices will almost certainly take a hit, particularly if it is the start of a sustained period of higher mortgage interest rates.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/property-prices-may-tumbl…
# Australia, Housing market.Aged care head backs 25 per cent wage rise in fight for gender equality
Angus Thompson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)UnitingCare Australia has become the country’s first major aged care network to explicitly back a 25 per cent wage rise for the embattled sector’s workers, calling it a historic opportunity to address the gender pay gap. Its national director, Claerwen Little, on Friday called for the next government to fund the increase being sought by the Health Services Union – which UnitingCare has previously estimated would cost $4 billion a year – as sections of the national workforce prepare to strike in the lead-up to the May 21 federal election.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/aged-care-head-backs-25-…
# Australia, Housing market, Older people, Work, employment.Rapid rehousing is a sign homelessness prevention has failed, says Welsh charity boss
Stephen Delahunty Inside Housing (Paywall)Rapid rehousing “has some distance to travel” and is a sign that measures to prevent homelessness have failed, says the chief executive of Shelter Cymru.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/home/home/rapid-rehousing-is-a-s…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.Licensing scheme approved for all private rented homes in Oxford
(No paywall)Government approval of an Oxford City Council ‘selective licensing’ scheme means that all private rented homes in Oxford will need a licence from this September. Half (49.3%) of all Oxford’s homes are now privately rented. An independent review of housing conditions in 2020 found that a fifth (6,200) of the 30,500 homes in Oxford’s private rented sector could have a serious housing hazard. (Oxford City Council)
https://www.oxford.gov.uk/news/article/2166/licensing_scheme_app…
# International, Rent, Local Government, Minimum habitability standards.