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
Court to decide on plans for 350 units at Sydney Park as locals seek green space
Andrew Taylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Inner west residents have called for an apartment development next to Sydney Park to be scrapped and the building site incorporated into the park, as the developer takes legal action against a local council after its plans were refused.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/court-to-decide-on-plans-for…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development.From brandy to housing ... tax reform beholden to vested interests
Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)In tax, everyone has a vested interest. ... Keating was forced to abandon reform to negative gearing in the face of a concerted campaign by the NSW property industry in the 1980s.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/from-brandy-to-housing-t…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Tax.House prices to surge by 22 per cent this year, says Westpac
Swati Pandey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Australian home prices will surge 22 per cent this year, economists at Westpac said, upgrading their forecast from a previous 18 per cent and warning it could force regulators to try to further rein in credit growth.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/house-prices…
# Australia, Housing market.House prices to rise 22 per cent this year, and grow further next: Westpac
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Westpac has tipped property prices to rise by more than 20 per cent this year, increasing its price forecast yet again as the market continues to boom despite extended lockdowns. Also, ckeck the story in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/15/australian-house-prices-to-rise-22-this-year-and-then-ease-off-economists-say]
https://www.domain.com.au/news/house-prices-to-rise-22-per-cent-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Sydney renters pay rent up to a year in advance to live near the beach
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Locked-down Sydneysiders have been paying record rents to live within walking distance of beaches, with coastal suburbs jumping up to 34 per cent in the past year and some tenants offering up to a year’s rent in advance.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/beach-rentals-record-increases-of…
# NSW, Rent, Housing market.Melbourne City council urges young buyers to snap up a bargain
Noel Towell and Vanessa Di Natale The Age (Paywall)The City of Melbourne is planning an ambitious pitch to use the CBD’s struggling property market to tempt more young people to make their homes there. ... the council believes the corresponding plunge in property prices - and state government tax breaks worth tens of thousands of dollars to buyers - can be leveraged in its efforts to breathe life back into the precincts.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-city-counc…
# Australia, Home ownership, Human rights, Tax.North Queensland's property market booming as interstate buyers take advantage of lower prices
Zilla Gordon and Adam Stephen ABC (No paywall)Chelsea Stevens has 100 buyers ready to find their next home, but there are no houses for them to buy. The real estate agent in Townsville, North Queensland, said some were so desperate to secure a property, they were making an offer despite not setting foot in the state.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-16/interstate-buyers-causing…
# Australia, Housing market.4 Lessons From Berlin Organizers’ Campaign to Re-Nationalize 250,000 Apartments
Oksana Mironova (No paywall)From the United States ... At the end of September, Berliners went to the polls to vote for a new city and federal government. Their ballots included a controversial measure, Deutsche Wohnen Enteignen (Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen), calling for the socialization of the city’s largest landlords, who control about 10 percent (or 240,000 units) of the city’s housing stock. In a non-binding referendum, voters were asked if the city government should purchase the portfolios of landlords who own 3,000 or more apartments in Berlin. While the two most popular parties, the Social Democrats and the Greens, received 21.4 percent and 18.9 percent of the vote, respectively, most voters–56 percent–voted in favor of the referendum. Berliners are in much greater agreement over socialization than what the city’s next government should look like. ... Here’s what U.S. [and Australian] activists can learn from the socialization campaign. (Next City)
https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/entry/4-lessons-from-berlin-o…
# Must read International, Public and community housing, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Housing market.