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
Real estate agent called out for ‘disrespectful’ routine inspection act
Ally Foster news.com.au (No paywall)A South Australian real estate agent has been called out by a frustrated renter over a repeated routine inspection act, and it’s something that appears to be an all too common experience among tenants. Throughout her 10 years of renting, Eliza Andersen-Ponton has encountered her fair share of difficult property managers and landlords. The 28-year-old lives about 30 minutes outside of Adelaide and has been living in her current rental property since May 2024, for which she pays $550 a week.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/real-estate-…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Housing Hostages: The blame game
ABC (No paywall)How did Australia go from a place where most middle-class people could own their own house, to one where even a small apartment is out of reach for so many? You can pick your villain. Is it immigrants, investors, Howard and Costello, the big banks, or something else? In this episode, ABC business editor Michael Janda identifies the key moments and policies that cemented property as a lucrative investment, creating a mismatch in supply and demand and sending house prices to extraordinarily high levels.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/abc-news-daily/housing-ho…
# Audio Australia, Rent.For rent? Or room-only? Vacancy rate data questioned as WA rental crisis shows signs of easing
Sarah Brookes The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)The latest rental data released by a popular Western Australian-based real estate portal has been called into question by advocates who say it paints an unrealistic and inaccurate picture of the current state of the Perth market. Last week, the Real Estate Institute of WA reported Perth’s vacancy rate reached 2 per cent in January for the first time since June 2020, with predictions the rental crisis could be over by mid-2025.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/for-rent-or-room-only-vacan…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Could 'medium density housing with small gardens' help solve the housing crisis? Experts think so
Selina Ross ABC (No paywall)Isobella Mitchell, her housemate, and Meredith Grey the cat live in an apartment above shops. It's in Launceston in northern Tasmania where, as in most Australian regional cities, housing options are dominated by separate dwellings. For Ms Mitchell, the smaller, more central option suits her lifestyle as a young shift worker. "I can walk to work, which means I don't have to rely on my car, which is nice, and I find everything's here that I need as well," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-27/medium-density-housing-in…
# Hot topic Australia, .Older women like me are the ‘missing middle’ in Australia’s housing crisis
Maggie Shambrook The Guardian (No paywall)For many older women in Australia, secure housing remains an elusive dream. My own journey, shaped by decades of renting, highlights the stark realities of a market that prioritises wealth generation over tenant security and affordability. Born in the mid-1950s, my first home was a small van beside Myall Creek in Queensland. When I was still a baby, my parents secured public housing through sheer determination. My mother, pregnant and desperate, refused to leave her local MP’s office without keys to a government-owned house. That act of defiance granted my family 17 years in stable, affordable housing. This was part of a postwar commitment to providing homes for working-class Australians – in an era when public housing was considered an essential service.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/27/older-wome…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Rent.Broken lift leaves woman stuck in flat for six days
Dan Moffat BBC (No paywall)A woman said she has been driven "stir crazy" after being left stuck in her flat for almost a week because of an out of order lift in her building. Sonia James is one of a number of residents at the Ty Derw retirement housing complex in Sketty, Swansea, that have been impacted. The 63-year-old has arthritis, fibromyalgia, high blood pressure and asthma, and cannot use the stairs in her building. The housing association in charge of the building, Caredig, said it was conscious of the impact on residents, and was working to resolve the fault as quickly as possible.
# Must read International, Rent.Singapore’s World Famous Public Housing System Is Strained by an Overheated Market
Low De Wei Bloomberg (Soft Paywall)Singapore is one of the three most expensive cities for real estate, according to Julius Baer. It is also one of the world’s most affordable cities for housing — better than Tulsa, Oklahoma — consultancy Demographia says. How is this possible? The paradox of the tiny nation’s property market has fascinated urban planners for decades. Born in 1960 from a dire overcrowding crisis, the government’s wildly successful Housing & Development Board has produced one of the world’s highest home-ownership rates: over 90%. Effectively, it lowered the bottom rung on the property ladder for young citizens, offering subsidized, well-maintained public housing that are in stark contrast to the dilapidated, crime-tainted public projects in many other cities.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-03/singapore-hdb…
# Hot topic International, Public and community housing, Rent.Man fined for housing 18 people in three-bed home
BBC (No paywall)A landlord has been ordered by a court to pay £37,000 after 18 people were found living in a terraced house in north London. Charles Egbiremolen, 57, was operating eight bedsits without a licence in a converted three-bedroom terraced house in Fairmead Crescent, Edgware. Egbiremolen was found guilty of nine offences at Willesden Magistrates' Court on 25 November and sentenced at the same court on 5 February. A spokesperson for Barnet Council said they would "not tolerate landlords who flout the rules".
# Must read International, Rent, Share houses.