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
Killer heatwave in the US is a dire warning for Australian housing
Tory Maguire The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Last week, Furnace Creek in the Mojave Desert in the US may have experienced the highest temperature ever recorded on earth: 54.4 degrees. North America’s recent heatwave has pushed the limits of its infrastructure and shelter in disturbing ways. It prompted climate and environment editor Nick O’Malley and environment reporter Miki Perkins to take a look at how Australia’s suburbs are likely to cope with increasing temperatures. (See Housing News Digest 19 July 2021) Nick joins Tory Maguire on this episode of Please Explain to discuss.
https://www.smh.com.au/please-explain/killer-heatwave-in-the-us-…
# Audio Australia, Climate change, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.NSW North Coast rent prices 'off the charts' as they surpass capital cities
Leah White ABC (No paywall)Rental prices on the Far North Coast of New South Wales have climbed almost 20 per cent in the past 12 months, surpassing those in all of Australia's capital cities. Figures from CoreLogic's latest quarterly review show the median rent for houses in the Richmond/Tweed region is now $699 per week. In comparison, Sydney houses are $646pw, and the national median for house rentals is just under $500pw. The head of Northern Rivers advocacy group Social Futures, Tony Davies, said skyrocketing rents were damaging the "social fabric" of the region by pricing out long-term locals and modestly-paid workers in industries like retail, hospitality, social services, and the creative arts.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-20/north-coast-rent-prices-o…
# NSW, Rent, Housing market, Regional NSW.Rents Are Out Of Reach For Most Americans Earning Minimum Wage, A Study Says
Vanessa Romo (No paywall)American renters are well aware of the dire housing market situation and a new report confirms that it's only likely to worsen unless hourly wages are drastically increased. From the United States ... Workers simply don't earn enough money to keep up with skyrocketing rental rates across the country, the National Low Income Housing Coalition found in its latest Out of Reach report. ... Meanwhile, affordable units are increasingly rare. An analysis shows that only in 218 of more than 3,000 counties nationwide can a full-time minimum wage worker afford a one-bedroom rental home at fair market rent without dipping into income that should be used for all other living expenses and savings. ... [The report] states affordable rents are most elusive for renters of color who are most likely to have low-wage earning jobs and are, therefore, at greater risk of eviction. (NPR)
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/14/1016230724/rents-are-out-of-reach…
# International, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing affordability, Housing market.Push the Optimism Forward: Destigmatizing Homelessness and What We Can Do About it
Ahmad Bonakdar and Stephen Gaetz (No paywall)From Canada, For too long, policymakers have not treated the issue of homelessness with enough weight. It is often pushed aside in favour of more pro-growth agendas. For the most part, what we see today as “modern” mass homelessness has come from the rise of neoliberal policies that have led to a social housing crisis. Historically, before the millennium, efforts to bring the public’s attention to the issue of homelessness have not been a priority. Also, policies in the 1990s were not prevention focused and therefore allowed homelessness to become a social issue. What made the problem worse was the myths spread through the media about what causes someone to become homelessness. (Homeless Hub)
https://www.homelesshub.ca/blog/push-optimism-forward-destigmati…
# International, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Homelessness, Young people.Australian renters facing biggest rent hikes in 12 years, amid surging house prices
David Chau ABC (No paywall)Australian tenants are experiencing their biggest annual rent increases since January 2009, during the global financial crisis. he median rent of houses and units jumped to $476 per week in June, a 6.6 per cent increase compared to the same time last year, according to the latest CoreLogic data. Regional tenants were hit with their biggest yearly rent hike ever, with the median figure up 11.3 per cent to $441. It was driven largely by sea changers (or tree changers) wanting a better lifestyle and no longer needing to commute to the CBD every day as they did in pre-COVID times.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-19/rent-corelogic-property-h…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.The Sydney suburbs where rents are cheaper than they were five years ago
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)House rents across Greater Sydney are holding at a record high, but rents in a string of suburbs are still more than $100 a week cheaper than they were five years ago. Inner-city Millers Point and Ultimo, and Clovelly in the eastern suburbs, are among 11 suburbs where the median weekly asking rent has dropped more than 10 per cent below what it was back in 2016.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/the-sydney-suburbs-where-rents-ar…
# NSW, Rent, Housing market.Sydney lockdown: The real effect of unaffordable and insecure housing in a pandemic
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)A person’s living situation is one of the biggest factors in controlling the virus, and the pandemic highlights the haves and have-nots in Sydney once again, leaving south-west Sydneysiders at higher risk. The NSW government at the weekend locked down three entire local government areas – Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury-Bankstown — in a serious escalation of the health order in a bid to stop the virus from spreading in two main settings: the workplace and the home. Doing so laid bare the housing inequalities residents face in these communities where the virus has taken hold and is spreading through entire families. That’s because households in south-west Sydney look a little bit different: multigenerational homes have been on the rise for many decades and have almost become the norm. Sometimes by cultural choice, sometimes by economic necessity. But the rates of overcrowding – a form of homelessness – are much higher too. This is a living situation when three additional rooms are needed to house a family comfortably, according to international standards.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/sydney-lockdown-the-real-effect-o…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Families, Housing market.Scrapping stamp duty would help home buyers and state economies, report finds
Jennifer Duke and Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Scrapping stamp duty in favour of annual land taxes would encourage upsizers and downsizers to move house, benefitting both home buyers and state economies, new research from the federal government’s affordable housing arm [National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation] has found. ... The NSW government is planning to phase out the one-off large stamp duty in favour of a smaller but annual land tax. The proposal in its current form does not affect existing property owners, to avoid double taxation, and gives households the option of paying an upfront stamp duty or an ongoing annual land tax when they buy. The ACT government is in the process of switching away from a transfer duty.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/scrapping-stamp-duty-wou…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market, State Government, Tax.