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
Airbnb is “drastically transforming neighbourhoods” in Athens: Here’s how Greece wants to clamp down
Derek Gatopoulos Euro News (No paywall)Hotel owners have complained that holiday rentals now outnumber hotel rooms. Lawmakers in Greece are debating tough new rules for holiday rentals in a bid to crackdown on overtourism. Under the proposed changes renovated warehouses, underground spaces and former industrial properties will be removed from rental websites like Airbnb. “Basements will no longer be allowed for use. Rental spaces must serve as primary residential use areas, with natural light, ventilation and air conditioning,” Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni told state-run television ahead of the debate.
https://www.euronews.com/travel/2025/01/13/airbnb-is-drastically…
# Hot topic International, .Airbnb criticises Spain’s new rental rules: Data shows crackdowns on owners don’t stem overtourism
Joanna Bailey Euro News (No paywall)Amsterdam brought in new rules for Airbnb hosts in 2022 and the results are revealing. Short-term rental booking platform Airbnb has hit back at Spanish restrictions on rental properties, stressing that they will have severe repercussions for both income and jobs. Citing research undertaken by Oxford Economics in late 2024, Airbnb warns of 400,000 jobs being put at risk by the regulations, alongside almost €30 billion of income. The Spanish government implemented new regulations on short-term rentals on 2 January. Any property owner wishing to rent out their house is now required to be registered in a national database and obtain a permit before they can list their property on booking platforms.
https://www.euronews.com/travel/2025/01/22/airbnb-criticises-spa…
# Hot topic International, Rent.U.S. rents on the rise in 2025
CBS News (No paywall)In January the typical asking price for rent in the United States was close to $2,000 up 0.2% from December and 3.5% from a year ago, according to Zillow. Ronda Kaysen, real estate reporter for the New York Times, joined CBS News to talk about the rising price of rent.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/us-rents-on-the-rise-in-2025/?intc…
# Video International, Rent.Calls for $2 billion cash boost to Centrelink rent assistance as pensioners go without meals: 'To get worse'
Stewart Perrie Yahoo News (No paywall)Significant concerns have been raised about the number of retired Australians struggling in their twilight years as they rent. The Grattan Institute has found two in three older renters - like pensioner Debra Basham - are living in poverty, with the crisis "set to get worse" if the issue isn't addressed. The 67-year-old has missed meals as she doesn't have enough money to cover her bills and feels in a constant state of "struggle". The Grattan Institute has called for another increase to Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA), which last went up in September.
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/calls-for-2-billion-cash-boost…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent.Hidden victims of council’s 87pc rates hike
Stephen Nicholls realestate.com.au (No paywall)Tenants in North Sydney may face a rent hike and some older home owners “feeling the pinch” forced to sell because of an 87 per cent rise in council rates. A range of experts have “joined the outrage” following North Sydney Council’s decision at a fiery meeting Monday night to increase rates over two years, largely to fund a cost blowout on redeveloping the heritage-listed North Sydney Olympic Pool. Many said the council rate hike would affect property investors the most, encouraging some to sell and others to try to make renters pay for it.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/north-sydney-rate-hike-tenant…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent.More than 500 homes to be built on old WestConnex site near Sydney CBD, with 200 build-to-rent units
Nick Dole ABC (No paywall)The NSW government has unveiled plans to build more than 500 new homes on an old WestConnex site in Camperdown, dramatically expanding the number of dwellings expected to be built there. Given its proximity to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, at least 200 of the homes will be "build-to-rent" units, offered at a discount to essential workers, including nurses, as part of a $450 million program announced in last year's budget. The remaining 300 will be a mixture of private market and affordable homes, with ratios yet to be determined.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-10/500-new-homes-camperdown-…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Rent.Rents rise faster after disasters, but a federal program can help restrain excesse
Anthony W. Orlando The Conversation (No paywall)The wildfires raging across Los Angeles are setting the scene for a real estate nightmare. Thousands of homes and other structures are destroyed and hundreds of thousands of residents have been evacuated at various times. Many will not return for months, if ever. Homeless in an instant, they are now flooding the housing market, desperately seeking shelter. The Los Angeles housing market is poorly equipped for this crisis. It is already one of the nation’s most expensive markets to buy or rent a place to live, largely due to a significant and growing shortage of affordable housing.
https://theconversation.com/rents-rise-faster-after-disasters-bu…
# Hot topic International, Disasters.“Significantly Overstated”: Housing Supply Proposed For Broadway Plan May Be Hollow
Kerry Gold Storeys (No paywall)Rental housing in Vancouver is becoming increasingly difficult to deliver, with development projects barely pencilling out for those developers who have the necessary capital, and a lot of other sites sitting on hold. Renters can only pay so much, and as rents go up and rates go down, the shift to condominiums will increasingly make more sense, says Daryl Simpson, President of Townline. As part of an industry panel discussion Simpson told the Urban Development Institute (UDI) at their annual luncheon recently that a lot of projects in Vancouver’s 500-block Broadway Plan won’t be realized.
https://storeys.com/vancouver-broadway-plan-supply-overstated/
# International, .