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
How ‘FOMOA’ is driving up house prices – and driving us all crazy
Stephen Corby Domain (No paywall)s there any pursuit that causes you to become so completely unhinged, as insanely competitive and as financially irresponsible as buying a house?
https://www.domain.com.au/living/how-fomoa-is-driving-up-house-p…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Booming property market stokes household debt concerns
Colin Kruger and Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A ferocious boom in housing that is overwhelming banks and mortgage brokers is stoking fresh concerns about consumer debt levels, amid signs some buyers are becoming more cautious about overpaying for properties.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/booming-property-marke…
# Australia, Housing market.Liberals face real test on aged care this budget
Ged Kearney The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)On Tuesday the Liberals will hand down their eighth federal budget. Already we are hearing the usual noises about how they will ‘fix’ aged care. They’ll throw some money at it, based on years of underspending to make it look ‘big’. Photo ops will follow. But I’m convinced the Liberals have no idea how to actually fix aged care.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/liberals-face-real-test-on-aged-…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Older people.New research project: regulation of residential tenancies and impacts on investment
Chris Martin City Futures (No paywall)Residential tenancies laws across Australia are on a broadly common ‘consumer protection’ model, but with many differences in the details, including coverage of marginal tenures, notice periods, termination grounds and processes. States’ and territories’ reform processes have mostly been unco-ordinated, and significant divergences and gaps have opened up in the law, particularly for interstate landlords. Reform processes have also had to contend with claims that reforms negatively impact rental investment. The available evidence suggests, on the contrary, that tenancy law reform does not strongly affect investment, but the evidence base needs to be updated to consider changes in the market (e.g. the rise of short-term letting) and expanded to consider how other policy factors (e.g. in financial regulation and taxation) affect the profile and scale of rental investors.
https://blogs.unsw.edu.au/cityfutures/blog/2021/05/new-research-…
# Research alert Australia, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents, No-grounds evictions, Tax.Rental crisis is putting older women at greatest risk of homelessness
John Kidman The New Daily (No paywall)Australia is facing a homelessness crisis and those at greatest risk are among the nearest and dearest: mums and grandmas. ... According to South Australian academics Debbie Faulkner and Laurence Lester, there are about 240,000 women across the nation aged 55 or older at risk of finding themselves without a place to call home. A further 165,000 between the ages of 45 and 64 fall into the same category.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/welfare/2021/05/02/older-wome…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Housing market, Welfare, Women.With rising energy costs, a growing need to measure energy stress: Supporting lower income households experiencing energy stress
AHURI Brief AHURI (No paywall)When extremes of weather sweep in, either colder or hotter, the impacts of energy poverty for lower income households become severe, with more than 6 per cent of deaths in Australia each year due to living in cold environments and one per cent of deaths heat related. ... The Australian Housing Conditions Dataset 2016 (AHCD) survey of both public and private renters revealed that 18 per cent of public renters, and 14 per cent of private renters, were unable to keep sufficiently warm in winter.
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/ahuri-briefs/with-rising-energ…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Utilities water energy internet, Coronavirus COVID-19.We’ve got way too many “glorified tents” and our death rate from cold is worse than Sweden’s
Duncan Murray The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Poorly insulated rental homes have a major impact in Australia in terms of energy usage, and on the health of tenants, prompting a new campaign for minimum energy efficiency standards on rental properties. Every year 10,000 people die in Australia of causes attributable to the cold, according to the organisers of the Healthy Homes for Renters campaign.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/housing-2/weve-got-way-too-many-gl…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Utilities water energy internet, Campaigns and law reform, Health, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, Planning and development.Time to get serious: Australia is missing opportunities to alleviate its spiralling housing crisis
Poppy Johnston The Fifth Estate (No paywall)HOUSING AFFORDABILITY SERIES: Australia is in the grips of a housing affordability crisis but are we doing everything we can to fix it? When the Covid moratorium on evictions ended many people saw housing stress worsen with rising rents and increased homelessness.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/time-to-g…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Housing market.