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
New stats same story: Lismore & NRs is unaffordable to rent
Simon Mumford The Lismore App (No paywall)This week's release of the annual Rental Affordability Index (RAI) report, proves that nothing has changed in the last twelve months. It is still unaffordable for the average wage earner to rent a house in Lismore and the coastal areas of the Northern Rivers. We all know how expensive Byron Bay real estate is, but now it is one of the most unaffordable locations in the entire country. That mantle normally sits with Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, such as Vaucluse, or Melbourne's inner eastern suburbs, like Toorak.
https://lismoreapp.com.au/NewsStory/new-stats-same-story-lismore…
# NSW, .Changes to rental laws
NSW Government (No paywall)From 1 July 2025, NSW Fair Trading started collecting information about reasons a tenancy has ended through Rental Bonds Online. The mandatory survey helps NSW Fair Trading understand how and why tenancies are ending. The survey asks who ended the tenancy and how. If the landlord ended a tenancy, they must also answer questions about the reason for ending it. Landlords and agents have 14 days from the initial bond claim to complete the survey. NSW Fair Trading can serve a penalty notice for non-compliance. From 2 March 2026, landlords and agents will be required to allow their tenant to pay rent by Centrepay. Only certain tenants are eligible for Centrepay.
https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/fair-trading/new…
# Hot topic NSW, .The UK and Aus ‘inspire’ each other on housing failure. Both need to remember public housing works
Tim Williams The Fifth Estate (No paywall)I have attempted to explain, in these pages and elsewhere, that we need to understand that the housing crisis is international. It is not confined to Australia or New South Wales, though, from the hysteria of NSW property lobbyists, you would assume that the problem is caused by public sector and particularly local government barriers to development in this state. I’ve urged them and the naïve politicians who have been listening to them to get out more. That is, to understand that no G20 country has delivered its housing targets in the past five years, which can hardly be blamed on the NSW planning system or Randwick Council.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/columns/spinifex/the-uk-and-aus-in…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing, Rent.International students desperate for a bed being pushed into informal housing
Miriah Davis ABC (No paywall)When Adriana moved from Brazil to Australia three years ago she was sold: a world-class education, nice weather, good pay and a prosperous life. Adriana is among the more than 315,000 international students living in NSW to undertake vocational or tertiary study. But since arriving she has been unable to secure purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) due to high costs and overwhelming waiting lists, and has also been rejected for more than 50 private rentals. Her situation pushed her towards ShareSorted, one of four major furnished accommodation providers which operate within a housing "grey area" using a head tenant model where renters sign occupancy agreements.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-01/-international-students-t…
# Must read Australia, Rent.Aussie tenants face $10k rent hike as landlords told to raise the price
Nathan Mawby realestate.com.au (No paywall)
Aussie landlords could be in for a $10,000 a year windfall by 2035 amid projections of a 10-year rental hike cycle that would have huge ramifications for tenants. But a battle is looming as the nation’s pre-eminent property investor lobby group calls for landlords to push rents higher where they can to combat governments taxing them more heavily and a nationwide home building scheme aims to put the brakes on rents. SQM Research founder Louis Christopher is forecasting a 2-4 per cent increase in rents across Australia’s capitals in the next year.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/aussie-tenants-face-10k-rent-…
# Hot topic Australia, .Number of empty homes surging in three key areas of Melbourne
Rachael Dexter The Age (Paywall)The number of homes sitting empty across Melbourne surged by 16 per cent last year, despite a housing crisis and the government increasing taxes on unused properties. The biggest increase in unoccupied homes was in the booming Hume, Merri-bek and Boroondara council areas, according to an annual audit of residential water use in all council areas across the city. Independent economic think tank Prosper Australia’s annual Speculative Vacancy report shows the number of empty dwellings across Melbourne rose from 27,408 to nearly 32,000, increasing the proportion of vacant properties from 1.5 per cent in 2023 to 1.7 per cent in 2024.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/number-of-empty-home…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.The great failure of the property industry
Stewart Sweeney John Menadue (No paywall)In every era, certain industries become so large, so politically embedded, and so culturally unexamined that their performance ceases to matter. They are judged instead on the confidence with which they declare themselves indispensable. In contemporary Australia, that industry is property. It has woven around itself a powerful myth: that towers equal progress, population growth equals prosperity, and the private development model is synonymous with the national interest.
https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/12/six-great-failures-and-one-…
# Australia, .Woolworths accused of exploiting affordable housing schemes to push new developments
Pat McGrath ABC (No paywall)Woolworths has been accused of exploiting affordable housing development schemes to ram through new supermarkets and luxury apartment buildings, some of which have previously been blocked by local councils and a state planning tribunal. The retail giant is planning at least 10 new developments around the country that incorporate new supermarkets and apartment complexes as part of its push into the residential property market. In New South Wales and Victoria, the company has been utilising fast-track schemes that allow developers to sidestep councils and apply directly to the state government for approval.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-02/woolworths-accused-of-gam…
# Australia, .