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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See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
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Archive
‘Plea for help’: Sydney residents rally around fugitive turned homeless handyman
Rafqa Touma The Guardian (No paywall)Darko “Dougie” Desic was on the run for three decades after escaping from Grafton correctional centre in New South Wales in 1992. But the fugitive turned local handyman was forced to hand himself in this week due to the Covid pandemic. He had survived off odd jobs around Avalon on Sydney’s northern beaches until the pandemic meant he was no longer able to find work. The 64-year-old became homeless, sleeping on the beach, before eventually walking into Dee Why police station on Sunday.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/17/plea-for-…
# NSW, Homelessness, Personal stories.Property values are at risk in climate change hot spots, RBA warns
Michael Heath The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Property in parts of Australia exposed to climate change and wild weather could experience valuation declines that leave banks with less protection in the event of a default, according to Reserve Bank research. About 3.5 per cent of dwellings in Australia already fall under an international definition of being at “high risk” from climate damage, RBA economists Kellie Bellrose, David Norman and Michelle Royters said in a research paper. ... The problem could be acute in Australia, the world’s driest inhabited continent, as mortgages account for about two-thirds of the big banks’ portfolios, according to the research.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/property-values-are-…
# Australia, Climate change, Housing market.Monopoly behaviour: how a board game upended my life in lockdown
Tim Elloitt The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Monopoly is sold in 103 countries, but it’s hard to imagine a board game better suited to Sydney, where property is a perennial talking point and a licence to print money for those on the make. ... Needless to say, COVID-19 has supercharged sales of Monopoly, along with many other board games. ... Monopoly actually began in 1903, with a woman called Elizabeth Magie, a stenographer and typist in Washington, DC. A left-wing feminist and staunch progressive, Magie set out to design a game that underscored the dangers of runaway capitalism. She called it The Landlord’s Game. ... When I found this out, I tried to explain it to my daughters. I pointed out what a cruel irony it was that a game originally intended as a critique of corporate greed now had as its sole objective sending your fellow players bankrupt. ... I became incensed that I was being financially ruined by Mia [my eldest daughter], screwed for every penny ... My other girls grew equally aggrieved, our resentment festering until, finally, as if on some silent signal, we rose up as one and wrestled her to the ground. “This is for Elizabeth Magie!” I said, giving her a dead leg. “And this is from the Tenants’ Union!” said my 12-year-old, farting in her face.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/monopoly…
# History Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Families, Housing market.Australia’s housing market boom ranked seventh in the world: Knight Frank report
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Australia’s housing boom is one of the fastest growing in the world, a new report has revealed, as the country recorded its highest rate of annual price growth in decades. Australia ranked seventh out of 55 countries for annual price growth, at 16.4 per cent for the year ending June, the fastest annual pace since 2003, Knight Frank’s Global House Price Index for the second quarter of 2021 found. It is up from the previous quarter, when it ranked 18th with 8.3 per cent annual growth, and up from the past year, when it ranked 19th with 6.1 per cent annual growth.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/australias-housing-market-boom-ra…
# Australia, Housing market, International.‘Housing crisis a slogan’: Departing NSW planning boss calls for ceasefire
Angus Thompson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The state’s departing head of planning has called for a ceasefire between the government and developers and a renewed focus on pushing through major housing and urban design reforms before the political appetite is lost. Jim Betts, who is leaving his post as secretary for the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment to head the Department of Premier and Cabinet, asked during a property developer forum that industry members and other stakeholders to “lay down the inflammatory rhetoric” as it was difficult to drive change while under attack.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/housing-crisis-a-slogan-depa…
# NSW, Rent, Federal Government, Housing market, Planning and development.Housing turnover reaches its highest level in nearly 12 years: Core Logic
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)Home sales this year have hit the highest number since 2004 with a buying frenzy fuelled by rock-bottom mortgage rates, a loosening of credit policies, government incentives and record COVID-19 savings. Nearly 598,000 houses and apartments sold across the country over the year to August 2021, the latest report from CoreLogic has revealed. This is 42 per cent up on the previous 12 months, and 31 per cent above the decade average. ... The disruption caused by the lockdowns, however, has made trends harder to discern, with distortions – like Sydney, for instance, allowing in-person home inspections for purchasers, but Melbourne and Canberra both not permitting them – affecting sales and listings.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/housing-turnover-reaches-its-high…
# Australia, Privacy and access, Housing market.Federal government urged to intervene with states on stamp duty
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The federal government should provide incentives for states to scrap lucrative stamp duties, housing industry groups and academics say, amid warnings the coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating wealth inequality. Multiple submissions to a federal inquiry into housing affordability raised the need to replace state government levied transfer duties with broad-based land taxes, suggesting Canberra could use national cabinet meetings to co-ordinate countrywide reform.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/federal-government-urged…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Tax.How to more easily cash in on electricity savings
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Consumers will soon be able to benefit from savings made by switching electricity retailers much faster. ... Changes to speed up the customer transfer process were initially recommended by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s 2018 Retail Electricity Pricing Inquiry and finalised following consultations between the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) and Australian Energy Market Operator.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/how-to-more-…
# Australia, Utilities water energy internet.