Category Archives: Renting

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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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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Queensland tenants and social groups welcome proposal to limit rent increases to once a year

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But expert says limiting frequency of rent hikes without a cap is unlikely to make a difference amid rising rate of homelessness

A proposal by the Queensland government to limit rent increases to once a year has been applauded by the tenants’ union and social organisations who say the measure would ease cost-of-living pressures.

In Queensland, landlords can currently increase rents every six months. Limiting rent increases to once a year would bring the state in line with other Australian jurisdictions like Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales.

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Share of affordable properties in Australian capital cities has more than halved, analysis shows

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The proportion of dwellings listed for under $400 a week has more than halved to an average of just 15% across the country

The share of rental properties listed for under $400 a week has more than halved to 15% across most Australian capital cities over the past year, accounting for just 7.8% of Sydney listings in February.

Research from data provider PropTrack, based on analysis of realestate.com.au found renters seeking a standalone house faced an even tighter market, with less than 5% of Sydney homes listed at under $400 a week.

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‘It’s worrying’: Victoria’s affordable rental housing to be allocated by ballot rather than need

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Homes Victoria says ballot helps create ‘fair and transparent’ process but advocate fears those most in need may miss out

The Victorian government’s new affordable rental housing will be allocated to tenants by random ballot rather than need, with applications to be processed by a company already under scrutiny for what advocates have called a “troubling” use of renters’ data.

The first tranche of 34 houses from the 2,400 promised in the affordable housing rental scheme – part of the Andrews government’s “big build” construction blitz – were advertised in January.

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Can you predict which parts of Sydney will be next to gentrify?

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Researchers have developed a model which uses changes in the socioeconomic status of an area to anticipate gentrification

One consequence of rising rent and house prices in Sydney is the further gentrification of inner suburbs, with wealthier people displacing poorer households in certain desirable areas.

These shifts in neighbourhood composition in Australia’s largest city can have negative effects on the people displaced – people losing access to their community networks and familiar surroundings, as well as more practical concerns like access to transport and health infrastructure.

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Greens vow action as huge rent hikes see adults forced to move back in with parents

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Exclusive: Party seeking rent freezes, new body to set controls on prices and end to no-grounds evictions

Jeremy Bryant wasn’t expecting to be moving back in with his parents just a few weeks after turning 30.

But that’s where the successful musician and university student now finds himself, along with his little brother, after the rent on their Redfern home was raised by $110 a week.

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Not cool: push for insulation in all Australian rental homes as study shows dangerous heat levels

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People in social housing often face hottest conditions and struggle to pay for air conditioning, advocates say

Advocates are calling for insulation to be regulated in all Australian rental properties as research shows some people swelter through temperatures above 30C in their homes for extended periods in summer.

Many of the hottest homes are those of people living in social housing, with some residents forced to go into debt to buy air conditioners, or hose down their houses to stay cool.

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In Australia’s severe rental crisis, asylum seekers are increasingly desperate for a place to live

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Each week about 150 people are coming to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in housing distress, but only 40 can be accommodated

Asylum seekers in Australia are increasingly at risk of homelessness as the rental crisis continues to bite, with more than 70% of people who turn up to a leading asylum seeker support charity in housing distress unable to be placed in accommodation.

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) has shifted resources since the pandemic to provide emergency accommodation for asylum seekers who are sleeping rough or at immediate risk of homelessness.

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NSW Labor counters Perrottet’s land tax with vow to scrap stamp duty for some first home buyers

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Properties worth up to $800,000 will incur no tax and a concession rate will apply to those up to $1m if opposition wins election, Chris Minns says

New South Wales Labor has pledged to eliminate stamp duty for first home buyers purchasing properties worth up to $800,000 if it wins the March state election, in a bid to counter the Perrottet government’s recent tax reforms.

Labor’s proposal, announced on Monday, would also apply a concession rate to homebuyers paying between $800,000 and $1m for their first property.

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NSW brings in controls on how renters’ data can be stored and used

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Victor Dominello says renters are at risk since there are ‘essentially no rules’, and enforceable guidelines will be in place early in the new year

New South Wales will introduce new guidelines on the personal data security of renters in a bid to crack down on cyber-attacks and identity fraud.

The rule change, announced by the state government on Saturday, will come into effect early next year and replace the need to give copies of documents in rental applications from passports to birth certificates.

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