Category Archives: Renting

Greens renew push for rent freeze as housing bodies say ‘time is of the essence’ to pass Labor bill

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Nick McKim to introduce private member’s bill in Senate to promote market intervention

The Greens will continue to push for a national freeze on rents and interest rate rises, declaring there is more the Albanese government can do to address Australia’s housing cost crisis.

Their call comes as the country’s peak housing bodies call for the debate deadlock to be broken and for Labor’s Housing Australia future fund to be passed this week.

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No pets allowed: NSW pushed to act on ‘urgent’ need to make rentals more animal-friendly

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Animal Justice party will put forward an amendment to the government’s bill that further strengthens laws allowing renters to own pets

The New South Wales government is being pushed to make rentals animal-friendly sooner as pet owners find it increasingly hard to find a home and pounds see an influx of renters giving up their pets.

Labor promised in the lead-up to the election that it would make it easier for renters to own pets, with plans to give landlords 21 days to respond to a renter’s request to own a pet. If the landlord refuses within the timeframe, they must put their reason to the yet to be established rental commissioner for a final decision.

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Australian renters facing ‘pre-application’ for properties before inspecting

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Applicants asked for proof of identity, rental and financial history, and references, with some listings being snapped up before first showing

Renters looking for new homes are being forced to “pre-apply” before inspecting properties, a process that can take hours and involves providing personal details, financial information and references.

Cassandra, who did not want her last name published, is looking for a place to rent in Melbourne after getting a job in the city. She said several listings she has come across during her search asked for pre-applications.

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How gentrified is your postcode? Search our map of Australia’s capital cities

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Exclusive: A third of suburbs in Sydney and Adelaide are already highly gentrified, and other capitals are on a similar trajectory

More than a third of Sydney and Adelaide suburbs and a quarter in Brisbane are affordable only to the most wealthy, and Hobart and Melbourne are following a similar path, analysis of census data on income and housing costs has found. Almost half of Darwin suburbs are either at risk or already well on the way to being “gentrified”, with a similar figure in Perth.

Researchers at the Australian Urban Observatory, who created a gentrification index from the data, say many of the areas most at risk of being gentrified are relatively recent greenfield areas in what were once outer suburbs, where many lower income families were able to find affordable housing. These families now run the risk of being displaced even farther afield.

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Political point scoring over latest RBA rate rise won’t help those feeling the ‘painful squeeze’

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How high must rates go to choke inflation? Blaming Labor’s budget, price-gouging businesses or the national wage increase isn’t an answer

The Reserve Bank is all about “seeking to keep the economy on an even keel” as it cranks up interest rates to crush inflation – but the effect of multiple rate rises is anything but even.

The central bank again surprised most economists and investors on Tuesday by hiking its cash rate another 25 basis points to 4.1%.

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Can your suburb help fix Australia’s housing crisis? It all comes down to density

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Despite adding millions of people and dwellings over the past decade, our cities are well behind globally in terms of population density

Skyrocketing rents and a projected home shortage have sparked fierce debate on the most effective ways to address Australia’s housing crisis.

Experts say one of the most effective fixes is to increase the supply of housing, specifically infilling urban areas to increase the density of areas where people actually want to live.

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Rental units only $39 cheaper than houses per week as demand soars for affordable options

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CoreLogic says units are now the only option for many tenants but supply is limited, forcing up rents

Renting a house in Australia costs just $39 more a week than renting a unit, compared to a difference of $64 a year ago, new research shows.

Kaytlin Ezzy, an economist at property data firm CoreLogic, said Australians have been increasingly turning to units amid sky-rocketing rents. This has caused the rental price gap between houses and units to shrink as demand for units outstrips supply.

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Australia’s rental affordability drops to worst levels in nearly a decade

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New report shows average households are spending a third of income on rent while lower income families pay more than half their earnings

Australian rental affordability has dropped to its worst levels in nearly a decade, with the average household spending a third of its income on rent, as the impacts of the Covid pandemic continue to be felt on the market.

Lower income households pay even more, with more than half of their income going towards their rent, according to new research from ANZ and CoreLogic.

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‘Doesn’t make any sense’: call for Queensland home park rent caps to apply to all tenants

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Advocates for renters say state shouldn’t play favourites with proposed limits on rent increases

It’s “unfair” that a proposed rent cap for Queensland manufactured home park residents will not be considered for tenants in the wider private housing market, advocates say.

Manufactured home parks are marketed as retirement villages for those over 50, where residents lease the land from the park owner, with rent going towards shared facilities and utilities.

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Affordable rental properties in Australian capital cities at ‘record low’

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Just 16.2% of all rentals listed for $400 or less in April 2023, down from 30.2% in 2022

The number of properties listed for under $400 per week has halved in the last year, new data from PropTrack shows.

The report, which analysed data from listings on realestate.com, found the rental crisis had worsened in the past 12 months. In 2022, it said, 30.2% of all rental listings were under $400 a week. That number has now dropped to 16.2%.

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MP questions referendum wording – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Quad still a priority, White House says

Despite the postponement of Joe Biden’s visit, the White House says that partnerships like the Quad remain a priority.

Revitalizing and reinvigorating our alliances and advancing partnerships like the Quad remains a key priority for the President. This is vital to our ability to advance our foreign policy goals and better promote global stability and prosperity. We look forward to finding other ways to engage with Australia, the Quad, Papua New Guinea and the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum in the coming year.

I think he will obviously be working very hard for this not to happen. We’ve danced this dance before, as the phrase goes …

I think we’ll get to a good place and I think that’s why he’s wanting to stay there, to focus on just that.

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Regional Australia property market dips as prestige areas give up pandemic gains

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Big beneficiaries of regional migration during Covid such as Byron Bay have been hit hardest by increasing interest rates, experts say

Regional Australia’s housing market has taken another hit with prestige areas such as Byron Bay continuing to reverse pandemic gains.

Richmond-Tweed (-24.2%), the southern highlands and Shoalhaven (-16.0%) and Illawarra (-13.7%) in New South Wales recorded the largest annual declines in house values.

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Commonwealth rent assistance has no effect on Australia’s housing affordability, Anglicare says

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Report finds that not only is CRA inadequate in alleviating rental stress, but that the way it’s calculated neglects those most in need

An increase in commonwealth rent assistance has been mooted as a budget measure to ease the housing crisis for those on lower incomes, but Anglicare Australia has warned the payment is not “fit for purpose” and has no effect on affordability.

As a result of the way the payment is designed, rental assistance payments for nearly 300,000 people may have fallen this year as a direct consequence of the cost of living going up.

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Short-term rental properties in NSW surge by 13,000 since December 2021

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Exclusive: 45,209 rentals now registered as minister prepares to review proposed annual limits

The number of properties listed as short-term rentals across New South Wales has surged by 42% since 2021 to exceed 45,000, with the state’s planning minister to review proposed annual caps later this year.

Paul Scully said his department would interrogate the calls for 60-day caps, amid pressure from mayors to allow councils to set their own limits to deal with the rise in listings that they say is adding to the statewide housing crisis.

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Rent in Australian capital cities climbs record 11.7% in 12 months

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Increase equivalent to $3,200 a year for tenants, with relief ‘unlikely’ in the short term as demand continues to outstrip supply

Renters in Australian capital cities have suffered the highest increase for a 12-month period since records began in 2007 as the nation’s housing crisis shows no sign of slowing down.

The combined capitals’ rental rate increased 11.7% over the past year, far above the average increase of 3.5%.

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Major $2.2bn Medicare overhaul welcomed but medical association warns budget will be ‘real test’

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National cabinet also plans to work on strengthening renters’ rights, boosting housing supply and affordability, and improving NDIS

Medical groups have praised the $2.2bn Medicare overhaul announced by national cabinet but warned there is more to do to fix the nation’s ailing general practice and hospital systems.

National cabinet committed nearly $1.5bn in new funding to overhaul Medicare, as part of a $2.2bn health plan to boost the number of nurses, increase after-hours care and expand the roles of pharmacists and paramedics.

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Rental crisis: Airbnb and holiday home owners urged to let properties out to long-term renters

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Thousands of homes across Australia are listed on short-stay websites but councils’ call to action is ‘piecemeal approach’ to housing crisis, experts say

Councils across the country are urging people with empty holiday homes and Airbnbs to move them on to the long-term rental markets in a bid to deal with the housing crisis.

But policy experts say doing callouts to create more rental housing stock is “taking a piecemeal approach” to a crisis that needs urgent intervention.

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Townsville pushes build-to-rent scheme in bid to address rental crisis

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Experts say there’s little evidence that a privately-owned single landlord development would increase housing affordability

Local authorities in Townsville are seeking $40m in government funding to support a 1,000 unit build-to-rent scheme that the local council says could help tackle the rental crisis in the northern Queensland city, where the number of homes available for rent for less than $400 a week has halved in the past three years.

However, critics say there is little evidence to suggest this method, which sees developers act as landlords and let directly to tenants, will increase affordability.

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Australian rental crisis will get worse as construction fails to keep pace with demand, report says

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The national housing report, released on Monday, says rising interest rates have reduced supply of new homes

Australia’s painful rental crisis will get worse in the coming years, a new report says, due to a shortage in supply of new houses and units caused by costs and ongoing constraints in construction.

In its third report on the state of the nation of housing for 2022-2023, released on Monday, the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) said banks increasing their interest rates earlier relative to the Reserve Bank of Australia guidance had reduced the supply of dwellings.

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Early career essential workers unable to afford house prices anywhere in Sydney and Melbourne

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Study shows workers forced to commute huge distances, live in overcrowded housing or suffer rental or mortgage stress

There is no longer a single local government area across metropolitan Sydney or Melbourne where houses are affordable for early career essential workers, with a growing number of police commuting huge distances and nurses living in cramped share homes.

Essential workers are being forced to move further away from their inner city jobs due to ballooning rents and housing costs. Experts are warning that longer commutes are exacerbating stress and fatigue in industries where levels of both are already high.

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