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
The hidden stings from a mortgage repayment holiday
Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)As lockdown fatigue sets in – and income is squeezed in households – families are again seeking mortgage repayment holidays. ... However, there is more you need to know about mortgage repayment holidays than the immediate financial relief they provide. Firstly, these repayments are not forgiven. They are rolled into your loan and increase its value. This means that if you do not make extra payments down the track, you will end up paying more interest. Sure, it is good of the banks to provide repayment holidays but they still benefit in the long run. However, there is another, more significant way you could be disadvantaged… this time affecting people who are ahead on their mortgage payments. Any overpayments you have made could be subsumed into your loan balance.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/the-hidden-stings-from-a-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership.Which tree is best for your small garden? It depends on where you live
Robin Powell The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)That old Chinese proverb “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; and the second best is now” is not actually Chinese. But that doesn’t mean it’s not true, both metaphorically and literally. In the era of climate change, the proverb acquires a new urgency: you can’t plant a tree soon enough. And winter is tree-planting season. Deciduous trees are dormant and evergreen trees have slowed their growth, making transplant less risky for both.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/which-tree-…
# NSW, Climate change, Home, Planning and development.Rental vacancy rate: Melbourne weakens in July, bucking a trend of lower vacancies elsewhere
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)[In Sydney] vacancy rate remained unchanged at 2.6 per cent ... [and] the area with the highest number of homes empty was Parramatta in the west at 3.3 per cent, down from 3.5 per cent from June, Ryde in the north-west at 3 per cent, the inner south-west at 2.9 per cent and the inner west at 2.7 per cent.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/rental-vacancy-rate-melbourne-wea…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.Hoarder Queenslander house up for sale deemed unsafe to enter
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)A hoarder house filled to the brim with broken furniture and rubbish has been deemed too dangerous to enter, but, this being Australian real estate, it’s not bothering buyers.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/ramshackle-west-end-house-up-for-…
# Australia, Health, Housing market.REA boss tips NSW property rebound after lockdowns lift; Property gets the COVID blues
Zoe Samios, Colin Kruger The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)[At 11.37am] REA Group chief executive Owen Wilson is anticipating a strong rebound for the NSW property market once Sydney opens up, after delivering unexpectedly strong growth in a financial year riddled with lockdowns in Victoria. [At 2.15pm] REA Group chief executive Owen Wilson may have been reassuring the market that he is anticipating a strong rebound for the NSW property market once Sydney opens up, but the market may be getting the wobbles over the prospect of prolonged lockdowns.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/flat-start-ahead-for-asx…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Brisbane running out of land for new homes, with less than 3 years’ supply
Felicity Caldwell The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Brisbane will run out of available land to build new homes in less than three years – and Noosa has just one year – as a housing crisis grips the state. The startling projection was revealed via documents released as part of Queensland budget estimates hearings ...
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/brisbane-running-out-…
# Australia, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.Renters worried about inspections breaching Sydney COVID restrictions, warns tenants union
David Taylor ABC (No paywall)It is becoming clear the Greater Sydney COVID-19 lockdown, and its effect on the property market, is presenting challenges for renters. But what they fear most, according to the Tenants Union of NSW, is having strangers who are potentially infectious with COVID-19 moving through their home on inspection days if their landlord decides to sell. The tenants union said that under Sydney lockdown restrictions, real estate agents were only allowed to show homes to one person a day and could only do that twice a week. But CEO of the Tenants Union of NSW, Leo Patterson Ross, said he had heard from tenants who said some realtors had been trying to break this limit. You also can listen to the audio of the same story at: [https://www.abc.net.au/radio/sydney/programs/pm/renters-fear-covid-exposure-during-open-house-inspections/13480424] (ABC PM)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-04/renters-worried-about-ins…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media, Audio NSW, Privacy and access, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Regional NSW.The eviction moratorium in the U.S. expired. Here’s how other countries handled such bans.
Miriam Berger (No paywall)A U.S. federal ban on evictions expired Saturday, nearly 11 months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the moratorium in place to keep people from losing their homes during the coronavirus pandemic. ... Other countries — including Britain, Spain and Australia — similarly imposed measures banning evictions and rent increases for individuals and businesses affected by the pandemic. Some of those programs are being rolled back, and housing advocates have warned that millions ... risk losing their homes in the coming months as a result. Here’s where some of these measures stand in comparison with the United States. (The Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/01/eviction-rent-mo…
# TUNSW in the media International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, International.