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
Castles for sale – in pictures
Anna White The Guardian (No paywall)From a 40-room baronial-style fortress in Scotland to a castellated gatehouse in Gloucestershire
https://www.theguardian.com/money/gallery/2021/sep/24/homes-for-…
# International, Housing market.‘Better ugly than boring’: book celebrates bizarre Belgian houses
Jennifer Rankin The Guardian (No paywall)Ever since he was a child, Hannes Coudenys had been annoyed by the “visual chaos” around him. On the road from home to his school in Bruges, he found a mishmash of architectural styles – haciendas, villas, farm-style houses, all mixed up with boxy malls and carpet shops. One day, as an adult, still exasperated, he took a photo of a house that was split into two jarringly different styles: a grey urban semi whose other half was a jaunty brick cottage. He put the photo online with the title “ugly Belgian houses” and an internet trend was born. Ugly Belgian Houses became a blog, then a book. Last month, a decade since posting that first photo, a second edition came out: More Ugly Belgian Houses.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/24/ugly-belgian-house…
# History International, Housing market.That howl of despair is the sound of housing dreams being dashed
Greg Jericho The Guardian (No paywall)Australian government policies are designed to ensure property owners’ wealth. Affordability be damned ... Oh yes, hear the cry of anguish made from those born after 1980 when they read the headline of the Australian Bureau of Statistics media release announcing the latest household wealth figures: “Record house prices continue to drive household wealth.” ... Well, isn’t that nice.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/commentisfree/2021/sep/26/t…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.CBA boss ‘increasingly concerned’ with rising property prices
Charlotte Grieve The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s chief executive Matt Comyn says he is increasingly concerned with rising house prices and household debt levels and has called for action to be taken sooner rather than later to stop the property market from overheating.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/cba-boss-inc…
# Australia, Housing market.Are new borrowing rules on the horizon? / "Factually inaccurate" mortgage applications
Emma Koehn and Colin Kruger The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Report at 1.42pm .... Jarden chief economist Carlos Cacho believes Australia could see macroprudential tightening next year in the face of our hot housing market - but new limits on home borrowers may not hit until mid to late next year, after the federal election.
Another report at 1.42pm ... As mortgage deferrals rocket in the wake of the latest lockdowns in NSW and Victoria it might be time to look at the quality of the loans the big banks have been signing up in what has been boom conditions for them. The latest UBS evidence lab on Australian mortgages reports that “factually inaccurate” mortgage applications have hit a record high.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/asx-to-rise-on-clear-out…
# Australia, Housing market.Gold Coast property market booming despite closed borders — so what happens when overseas buyers return?
Dominic Cansdale ABC (No paywall)Queensland's border is once again shut but the Gold Coast property market continues to surge, driven in large part by interstate buyers unable to visit the properties they are purchasing. ... But given the Gold Coast property market has been strong despite border closures, the eventual return of overseas buyers, while still uncertain, could drive up demand even further.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-23/gold-coast-property-marke…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Rent arrears rise by £88m during pandemic waves, lettings agency claims
Matthew Lane (No paywall)From he United Kingdom ... An estate and lettings agent has analysed how the level of rental arrears has grown between each wave of the pandemic.
https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2021/9/rent-ar…
# International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Berlin buys thousands of apartments from corporate landlords
(No paywall)Berlin’s city government said Friday it is buying some 14,750 apartments from two large corporate landlords for 2.46 billion euros ($2.9 billion) — a deal announced a week before local and national elections as the German capital tries to expand the supply of publicly owned accommodation. ... Rising rents have been a hot-button issue for years in Berlin, where tenants long enjoyed low rents compared with many other capital cities. Purchases of apartments that were once government-owned but over recent decades were sold off to private companies are one way in which the outgoing city government — a left-wing coalition of the Social Democrats, Greens and Left Party — has sought to address the problem. So far, it hasn’t had much success. In April, Germany’s highest court ruled that a cap the local government imposed on rent prices last year was unconstitutional and void.
https://apnews.com/article/europe-business-elections-berlin-nati…
# International, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market, Landlords and agents.