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
Housing boom to slow rapidly from mid-2022: report
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Homes are taking twice as long to build during the coronavirus pandemic and a national building boom, but analysts warn the sector is facing a hangover as the record level of construction declines. ... [UNSW City Futures Research Centre’s Professor Bill Randolph said] “There isn’t any immigration so there’s no one coming in to pick up the slack ... [Builders are] going to find themselves in trouble, it’s a rational concern. However, he said this could lead to a kneejerk reaction to change the planning system to try to push through more approvals. He encouraged builders to instead consider supporting large-scale social housing investments as it would provide them a good pipeline of work and assist with housing affordability."
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/housing-boom-to-slow-rap…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Housing market, Planning and development.Lloyds aiming to become giant UK landlord
BBC (No paywall)Lloyds is planning to become one of the UK's biggest landlords as it aims to buy 50,000 homes in the next decade. The banking giant is to charge tenants rent as a private landlord under its recently launched Citra Living brand. ... At the launch of Citra Living, Andy Hutchinson, managing director, said the intention was for the brand to work with leading housebuilders to identify sites and buy properties on them for tenants to rent. "As well as ensuring continued support for the housebuilding sector, this will also help to address the increase in demand for rental properties at the same time," he said.
# International, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Council moves to increase housing supply
(No paywall)Bega Valley Shire Council is seeking feedback on its planning proposal to change minimum site areas for dwellings, multi dwelling housing and residential flat buildings, in order to increase the supply of housing in the shire. Council’s [Director of Community, Environment and Planning, Alice Howe says:] “By removing these barriers, more units and multi-dwelling housing could be built in our medium density residential and mixed-use zones.” (Bega Valley Shire Council)
https://begavalley.nsw.gov.au/cp_themes/default/page.asp?p=DOC-E…
# NSW, Local Government, Planning and development.High demand leading to bidding wars for rental homes
Scripps National (No paywall)From the United States ... People who wanted a house and can't afford it now are turning to rental homes. It's even starting bidding wars in some places with people offering above the listed rent price. (10news San Diego)
https://www.10news.com/news/national/high-demand-leads-to-biddin…
# International, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.HomeBuilder grants blamed for costly construction bottleneck
LIz Hobday The New Daily (No paywall)The cost of building a home is set to rise, with the Housing Industry Association’s chief economist expecting the squeeze on Australia’s construction industry to last well into next year. Tim Reardon has told AAP a shortage of labour and materials has pushed costs higher, while the time to complete a stand-alone dwelling has blown out from six to nine months to about a year. “It will be well into 2022 before the industry starts to return to more normal conditions,” he said.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/08/22/homebuild…
# Australia, Housing market.Western Australia's overheated building industry could see builders going broke in a boom
Michelle Stanley ABC (No paywall)Soaring demand in Western Australia's construction sector could see some companies "go broke in the boom", a regional builder says. Last year, up to $45,000 was on offer in state and federal building grants for West Australian households in pandemic-induced stimulus measures. Geraldton builder Warren Taylor said the grants caused a spike in demand for building across the state that was now coming to a head. "Everything's changed — the whole shooting match," Mr Taylor said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-23/western-australia-buildin…
# Australia, Housing market.Four things to consider before buying your next home
Melissa Jemkins The New Daily (No paywall)Your loan is pre-approved, your must-haves are set and you’re ready to snap up your dream home. But guess what? Real estate agents don’t need you right now. ... with a market this hot, it’s not a case of real estate agents needing to pester you – you have to suck up to them.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/dollars-and-sense/2021/08/22/…
# Australia, Housing market.Lenders lure home buyers with cash as borrowers look to fix rates
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)At least two dozen lenders are offering cashbacks of up to $5000 to attract new home loan customers as competition hots up between financial institutions for new business.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/banking/lenders-lure-home-buyers-wi…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.