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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
We face peril because the UK economy relies on house prices. Here are three ways to fix that
Fran Boait The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... House prices are predicted to drop next year due to a mixture of financial instability caused by the misjudged mini-budget and the Bank of England accelerating interest rate hikes. This will be disastrous for many households struggling to afford increased mortgage repayments. At the same time there are many struggling to buy their first home. In 2021, UK house prices grew at their fastest pace in over a decade, despite the economy still recovering from one of the worst contractions in 300 years. This disconnect between the housing market and the rest of the economy only benefits those who use housing as an asset for accumulating wealth.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/24/uk-economy…
# International, Housing market.Sydney’s property prices dropped 10% this year, with $450 a day lost from average home
Peter Hannam The Guardian (No paywall)Sydney’s property prices have fallen by more than 10% since their mid-February peak, shedding almost $450 a day in value on an average home, and leading other major markets lower, CoreLogic said. The 10.1% decline for home values in the harbour city so far comes as documents from the Reserve Bank of Australia indicate average property values may sink as much as 20% nationally from their recent highs by the end of 2024. That decline would be the steepest since the 1980s if realised. Other cities reporting falling home values include Melbourne, where prices are down about 6.4% after beginning their retreat in mid-January. Brisbane’s falls are 6.1% from their mid-June zenith, while Adelaide and Perth have begun edging lower, easing about 1% from their August highs, CoreLogic said. Also, read Kate Burke's article entitled: '"Sinking all the boats": house price downturn hits double digits' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/sinking-all-the-boats-house-price-downturn-hits-double-digits-20221024-p5bse9.html]. Read Catherine Hanrahan's article entitled: 'Sydney house prices have dropped by 10 per cent this year, according to latest data' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-25/sydney-house-prices-drop-by-10-per-cent-this-year/101573718]
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/24/sydneys-p…
# Australia, Housing market, Sydney.The telling truth about the ‘bank of mum and dad’
Jessica Irvine The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Economic researchers have long taken an interest in the subject of “intergenerational earnings mobility”. That is, to what degree does a parent’s income determine their child’s future income? ... Using data from the longest running longitudinal survey of Australian households, the Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, researches [Rachel Ong ViforJ and Christopher Phelps] were able to isolate just over 8000 instances of survey respondents moving from non-home ownership to home ownership in any year. They then looked at the parental assistance received by these home buyers and the role it played in increasing their chances of making the transition, compared to someone else with the same characteristics (such as income and gender) who did not make the same leap on to the property ladder. Interestingly, they found only a small proportion, 4.5 per cent, of successful first home buyers received an outright cash transfer of more than $5000 from their parent around the time of their home purchase. A further 2.6 per cent did, however, benefit from an inheritance around that time.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/the-telling-truth-ab…
# Australia, Families, Home ownership.Builders warn of long wait as labour shortages and supply chain disruptions plague industry
Pat Heagney ABC (No paywall)[Master Builders regional manager Dean Phillips] says a shortage of labour and supply chain issues are contributing to building delays across the industry. "The material and supply chain shortages that we've seen as a result of COVID haven't gone away," he says. "And there just hasn't been trade availability to get on top of jobs as quickly as we'd like. "There's a skill shortage in general and a major labour shortage."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-24/builder-backlog-labour-sh…
# Australia, Housing market.Housing association’s women-only affordable housing scheme in west London rejected by councillors
Ella Jessel Inside Housing (Paywall)Hammersmith and Fulham’s planning committee turned down a proposal by the suffragette-founded Women’s Pioneer Housing (WPH) to replace 36 flats and its run-down offices in White City with 60 new homes. The scheme, a joint venture with developer HUB and designed by architects AHMM, would also have seen an 18-storey co-living tower with 209 studios built on the 227 Wood Lane site. However despite planning officers recommending approval, WPH’s scheme was rejected after a debate at Hammersmith and Fulham’s planning committee earlier this month.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/housing-associations-w…
# International, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Planning and development, Women.Home Truths: Realities of the housing market in a public service town
Chris Johnson (No paywall)Australian Public Service employees have always had an impact on the Canberra housing market – both sales and rentals – because so many of them live and work in the capital. Depending on individual contracts and employment status, durations in the ACT vary from fleeting short-stays to lengthy permanency. And then there are the hordes of people working for industries that service the sector. They need homes too. (Riotact)
https://the-riotact.com/home-truths-realities-of-the-housing-mar…
# Australia, Housing market.Single housing ombudsman should cover social and private tenants, current watchdog says
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... In response to a report by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) Committee, published in July, the Housing Ombudsman said there should be a single body with “universal powers to ensure consistent and fair redress across the housing market, regardless of tenure or provider”. The comments were in response to the committee’s recommendation in the report, which followed its inquiry into the regulation of social housing in England, that all tenants should receive the same level of compensation for landlord failings, regardless of tenure. In June, rental reforms in a white paper proposed that a new private rented sector ombudsman could order rogue landlords to pay up to £25,000 in compensation to tenants.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/home/home/single-housing-ombudsm…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent, Tribunal NCAT, Landlords and agents.Why Akshay was shocked to be evicted from share house
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)University student Akshay Gonpot never expected to be evicted from his Chippendale home just weeks after agreeing to a rent rise. He knew Sydney’s rental market was becoming increasingly expensive, but thought paying an additional $45 per week would be enough to satisfy his landlord. It was not. Within three weeks the 27-year-old international student and other tenants at his boarding house were given two weeks’ notice to vacate. And within three days, another tenant had put a deposit on his room that had gone from $295 per week to $430. ... Antona Bursa, international students officer for the UTS Students Association, said finding any apartment to rent close to universities, let alone an affordable one, was an increasing challenge, and called on universities to provide more support. ... Tenants’ Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross said international students face more tenancy disputes than locals. “Sometimes we even hear that landlords might take passports as a form of security which is completely unlawful, or people are told their visa will be put at risk if they don’t pay their rent,” he said. While some came from affluent homes, many worked to support themselves, and about a quarter were in a precarious financial situation, said professor Alan Morris, from the Institute for Public Policy and Governance at UTS.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/why-akshay-was-shocked-to-b…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Boarders and lodgers, Eviction, Rent, Students.