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
Isn’t it time the federal government stepped up on social housing and its implications
Alan Morris The Fifth Estate (No paywall)In a recent speech at a property developer forum, Jason Falinski, a Sydney Liberal Party MP and chair of the Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue’s Inquiry into housing affordability and supply in Australia, commented that “Since World War Two, housing commission has had a lot of negative impact on vulnerable communities and I query whether building it actually helps people in challenged communities.” ... Judging by the federal government’s abysmal lack of support for social housing since regaining power in 2013, it would appear that Mr Falinski’s views are generally shared by his colleagues. Unfortunately, this perspective translates into a desperately poor performance nationally with respect to expanding the number of social housing dwellings.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/columns/spinifex/isnt-it-time-the-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Federal Government.Berlin’s vote to take properties from big landlords could be a watershed moment
Alexander Vasudevan The Guardian (No paywall)With coalition talks that could last months under way to form Germany’s next government, the reverberations of Sunday’s election will be felt for quite a while. But one of the most significant developments in voters’ weekend trip to the polls was a local referendum in Berlin, which strongly endorsed a campaign to expropriate properties owned by large corporate landlords. More than a million Berliners supported the campaign Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co, which targeted companies holding 3,000 or more apartments (Deutsche Wohnen is one of the largest investment trusts in the city). In total, 240,000 properties, or 11% of all apartments in Berlin, would come under the terms of the initiative, which was backed by a majority of 56.4% in the referendum. The vote isn’t legally binding ...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/29/berlin-vot…
# Legal significance International, Public and community housing, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Apartment building residents considering banning unvaccinated residents
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)Apartment residents across Australia are considering banning unvaccinated residents from their facilities. Strata committees are debating restricting access to gyms, pools, spas, saunas, barbecue areas, recreation rooms and gardens to the double-vaccinated only, in a highly contentious move that could pit neighbour against neighbour. A number are now even drafting bylaws in order to limit those who can use their common property amenities, despite unvaccinated owners also paying towards their upkeep, or unvaccinated tenants paying higher rents for the privilege.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/apartment-owners-considering-bann…
# Australia, Strata, Coronavirus COVID-19.Data shows why Berliners just voted to socialise over 240,000 rental properties from private real estate firms in a referendum.
(No paywall)Berliners have just voted to socialise 240,000 properties owned by private firms in the ‘Deutsche Wohnen & Co enteignen’ Referendum. This is the latest attempt to combat rising rental prices. The signs that people were struggling with accommodation costs became newsworthy when a price cap was recently deemed unconstitutional, nevertheless Berliners still felt the need to force the government to intervene. Homeday.de, the next generation real estate agent, has recently published a study that shows the affordability of rental properties in Berlin and gives insight into why Berliners voted for this groundbreaking mandate. (Homeday)
https://sweetspotpr.com/wp-content/uploads/Homeday/GHPI/BerlinRe…
# Legal significance, Research alert International, Public and community housing, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Berliners vote 'yes' on property expropriation, but what happens now?
(No paywall)A referendum proposing that authorities in Berlin seize and take into public ownership more than 200,000 homes has passed resoundingly. But political and legal hurdles mean it may never become reality. Regardless of the strength of the vote, the referendum is not legally binding and the proposal will only become law if the ruling parties in the Berlin Senate choose to make it so. That casts the spotlight on the next Berlin government. Sunday's Berlin election results mean the left-leaning coalition of the SPD, the Greens and the Left party is likely to continue in power. However, the referendum vote will feature very prominently in coalition negotiations and the parties are sharply divided on the proposal. The far-left Left party strongly supports it while the Greens have given mixed signals. The SPD, which is likely to remain the biggest party in Berlin after the election, is opposed, as are all major opposition parties.(DW.COM)
https://www.dw.com/en/berliners-vote-yes-on-property-expropriati…
# Legal significance International, Public and community housing, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.COVID provided a real-life experiment on house price theory and what makes owning a home unaffordable
Tom Lowrey ABC (No paywall)There are undoubtedly a whole range of things that influence property prices, and rents too. The question for economists and policy-makers has always been around which have the strongest influence, and which can be adjusted if prices need to be reined in. Brendan Coates from the Grattan Institute suggests one key influence has won the day. "I said at the start of COVID, we're about to find out what matters more for house prices: interest rates, or underlying demand or supply," he said. "And I think we've been proven that interest rates matter more." [But urban planner Nicole Gurran from the University of Sydney says:] "We need to wean ourselves away from that private sector housing market drivers towards looking at a sector of the housing system that responds to housing need, and that is social and affordable housing." ... Two federal elections have been fought with housing affordability as a central issue. Twice Labor has argued to scrap negative gearing for existing homes, and tweak capital gains tax rules, in an effort to assist first-home buyers. And twice it's fallen short - leading to it now abandoning the policy. Economist Saul Eslake thinks that's a problem, as both are part of any solution. ... Mr Eslake, though, questions whether politics is really steering the conversation on housing affordability. "There are 11 million Australians who own at least one property, and within that there are at least two million who own more than one property," he said. "And the last thing those 11 million Australians want any government to do is anything that slows down the rate of growth of property prices."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-28/housing-affordability-bor…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Landlords and agents.‘Arbitrary metrics’: Government and developers face off over green space
Angus Thompson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Green space has emerged as a key battleground between the NSW government and property developers over reforms to boost the design standards of apartment blocks as the industry fights for larger buildings and fewer trees.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/arbitrary-metrics-government…
# NSW, Planning and development, State Government.Retiree home ownership is about to plummet. Soon little more than half will own where they live
Brendan Coates and Tony Chen The Conversation (No paywall)This article was published two years ago, but it is worth revisiting ... Australia’s retirement incomes system has been built on the assumption that most retirees would own their home outright. But new Grattan Institute modelling shows the share of over 65s who own their home will fall from 76% today to 57% by 2056 – and it’s likely that less than half of low-income retirees will own their homes in future, down from more than 70% today. ... Our 2018 report Money in Retirement showed that while Australia’s retirement income system is working well for the vast majority of retirees, it’s at risk of failing those who rent. They are more than twice as likely as homeowners to suffer financial stress ...
https://theconversation.com/retiree-home-ownership-is-about-to-p…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Older people.