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
The Price of Ubers and Airbnbs Is About to Get Jacked Up
Dan Robitzski (No paywall)Unfortunately for everyone who got used to booking suspiciously-cheap rides across town or taking affordable vacations while living in a stranger’s home, companies like Airbnb and Uber are emerging from the pandemic much more expensive than they were before. (Futurism)
# International, Rent, Housing market, Short-term holiday letting.Is it worth selling my house if I’m going into aged care?
Colin Zhang The Conversation (No paywall)or senior Australians who cannot live independently at home, residential aged care can provide accommodation, personal care and general health care. People usually think this is expensive. And many assume they need to sell their home to pay for a lump-sum deposit.
But that’s not necessarily the case.
https://theconversation.com/is-it-worth-selling-my-house-if-im-g…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market, Older people.Fire, drought and real estate prices are ending the Californian dream
Kathryn Diss and Cameron Schwarz ABC (No paywall)And some Californians simply can no longer afford to live here. San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego have become expensive, with house prices growing in line with Silicon Valley's rise. The median house price in San Francisco is $1.8 million. That's even more expensive than Sydney, where the median house price is $1.3 million. Critics argue that has pushed out and priced out many middle-class Americans, created an ever-widening wedge between the state's poor and the uber-rich. It has also exacerbated the state's homelessness crisis, with an estimated 161,000 people sleeping rough. That's the highest of any state in the US.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-13/california-dream-is-becom…
# International, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market.Adelaide outperforms interstate rivals to be declared world's third most liveable city
ABC (No paywall)Adelaide has scaled the heights of a global ranking of the world's most liveable cities, reaching third spot overall and edging out its interstate rivals.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-09/adelaide-declared-worlds-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Housing market, International.Former Ray White real estate agent Ant Manton investigated for alleged data theft
ABC (No paywall)A real estate agent who dobbed in an employee for stealing client data — an act he said would result in "the end of my business and everything associated with it" — is now the subject of a similar complaint.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-09/ex-ray-white-agent-ant-ma…
# Australia, Landlords and agents.Australian house values have fastest quarterly growth in more than 32 years
Rachel Wells Domain (No paywall)National home values have risen a staggering 7 per cent in the three months to May, the highest quarterly growth rate in more than 32 years.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/nations-house-values-experience-f…
# Australia, Housing market.Why some investors are choosing art over property as the real estate market heats up
Sarah Cummings ABC (No paywall)According to New Zealand auction house Webb's, a growing number of investors are choosing art over property, as the real estate market continues to soar. Head of art Charles Ninow said buyers were increasingly looking for alternative investment opportunities.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-13/tania-blanchard-artist-ar…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Share-housing in your 60s: ‘Six of us wanted to do retirement in an extraordinary way’
Eve Grzybowski The Guardian (No paywall)... we settled on buying a 1.6-hectare spread on Mitchells Island on NSW’s mid north coast. ... [But] to test the theory that we could live tout ensemble, we began a trial of cohabiting in a rented house in Sydney. It shouldn’t have surprised us, but potential landlords weren’t in a hurry to rent to six adults. ... We struck it lucky. Judy found a three-level waterfront house in Longueville, Tambourine Bay. We had to downsize our possessions to move in together ... [Read on]
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jun/13/share-housi…
# NSW, Share houses, Older people.