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
Hundreds of thousands face eviction as ban comes to an end
Dominic Brady Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Hundreds of thousands of private renters in England face eviction as the government’s ban on bailiff-led evictions officially ends, charities have warned. ... Homelessness charity Shelter released research showing that 1.8 million private renting adults in England (22%) are worried they will lose or be asked to leave their current home at short notice. It follows previous analysis by the charity in November which showed that 445,000 private renters were in arrears or had been threatened with eviction. Similar analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) estimated that 400,000 renting households – 5% of all renters – have either been served an eviction notice or have been told they will be evicted. A further one million renting households are worried about being evicted in the next three months, half of which are families with children. JRF’s research found that renters from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) (18%) backgrounds are almost twice as likely to be worried about being evicted compared with white renters (10%).
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/hundreds-of-thousands-…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.House prices reach yet another record level due to ‘perfect storm’ of low interest rates, improving economy
Shane Wright and Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Housing prices across the country re-accelerated through May as a combination of ultra-low interest rates, strong consumer confidence and low supply drove prices to their highest levels in every capital city.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/house-prices-reach-yet-a…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Paying off a home loan used to be easier than it looked. It’s now harder. Here’s why
Peter Martin The Conversation (No paywall)So you think it's the right time to dive in and buy a home. I can't tell you you're wrong. I can tell you it would have been better to do it before prices began soaring, and that if they keep soaring it will get worse still. ... For our parents, buying a home was an exceptionally good deal, not only because homes were cheaper — until the end of the 1990s homes typically cost between two and three times household after-tax income, they now cost closer to five times after-tax income — but also because over time the loan became easier to pay off. That isn't because mortgage rates were coming down — at times they were going up — it's because during our parents' times wages (and prices) were climbing.
https://theconversation.com/paying-off-a-home-loan-used-to-be-ea…
# Australia, Home ownership.‘Release the hounds!’: Buying a house in Sydney is a game of ruthless psychological warfare
Penny Flanagan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)If you are trying to buy a home in Sydney, get ready for a ruthless game of psychological warfare. And I’m not talking about the game you’ll have to play with the real estate agent; the time-honoured game called “What’s the price guide? No, really, what’s the price guide?′ I’m talking about the passive aggressive game of “It’s already ours suckers, so don’t even bother” that happens at the Saturday open for inspection. It’s a shrewd psyche-out contest, much like poker and the aim is to put everyone else off their buying game.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/release-the-hounds-buying-a-…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing market.Labour’s new housing chief wants to work with Tories to scrap S21
Graham Norwood (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Labour’s Lucy Powell, the party’s new housing spokesperson, says she wants to work with the Conservatives to scrap Section 21 eviction powers. Abolishing S21, as part of what the government calls the Renters Reform Act, has been a pledge since the 2019 General Election, which the Conservatives won by a landslide. Powell, appointed shadow housing minister in Labour’s recent reshuffle, now says in a statement on Twitter: “Labour has warned time and again that ending the evictions ban ... is gambling with people’s livelihoods and life chances. The Housing Secretary must keep his promise that nobody will lose their home because of Coronavirus. “Ministers should work with us on emergency legislation to end Section 21 ‘no fault evictions’ now. Instead the government has kicked its pledge to protect renters into the long grass. Now, they’re stripping away emergency protections without any plan to prevent a crisis.”
https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2021/6/labours…
# International, Eviction, Coronavirus COVID-19, No-grounds evictions.Thousands to receive extra housing support as eviction ban ends
Katy Scott (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Thousands of vulnerable young people could receive extra help to pay their rent under fast-tracked changes to housing benefits announced by the government, as charities warn of a “tsunami” of renters being thrown out of their homes with the end of the eviction ban. (The Big Issue)
https://www.bigissue.com/latest/thousands-to-receive-extra-housi…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Young people.First-home buyer stamp duty concessions are about to change in the Northern Territory
Felicity James ABC (No paywall)Leah Brown and her partner Darren are feeling the pressure to buy a house after a significant rent hike. They are searching in Darwin, where rental vacancy rates are among the tightest in the country – their rent has jumped by $150 a week. ... But they are trying to enter the market and buy their first property at a time when the NT Government is preparing to scrap its stamp duty exemption for first-home buyers. The decision to scrap a stamp duty exemption worth almost $20,000 at the end June – the Territory Home Owner Discount – means Ms Brown and her family will need more money for a deposit.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-31/nt-first-home-buyers-conc…
# Australia, Home ownership, Tax.Australian house prices to rise by 15 per cent this year but slow in 2022
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)House prices across Australia will rise by 15 per cent by the end of the year before slowing to just 5 per cent in 2022, a new Westpac Housing Pulse has revealed.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/australian-house-prices-to-rise-b…
# Australia, Housing market.