Category Archives: Housing

The RBA’s interest rate-rising looks done – and a soft landing for the economy could be on

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Australia’s economy might be just where Philip Lowe wants it – barring any nasty surprise – as he hands over to Michele Bullock

As two of Australia’s more contentious figures Philip Lowe and Alan Joyce head towards their gilded departure lounges, the economy seems set in a holding pattern with improving prospects of a desired soft landing.

To be sure, a happy outcome of a jobless rate remaining within cooee of 4%, wages finally catching if not outpacing inflation, and even the federal budget staying in the black a bit longer is far from assured.

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Residents of south London housing estate demand urgent repairs

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Damp and mould so bad one cancer patient had to sleep on floor after ceiling collapsed, say residents

Hundreds of residents on a south London housing estate are demanding action from their council landlord, which they claim is ignoring urgent repairs needed on their homes.

Residents of the Tulse Hill estate say they have been left dealing with widespread issues of damp and mould that are so bad that in one case a cancer patient had to sleep on the floor for months after his ceiling collapsed twice.

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NSW premier open to ‘pattern-book’ housing across Sydney as solution for crisis

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Unlikely alliance pushes for more medium-density housing of the sort typically found in inner-city suburbs

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, says he is open to a proposal to pre-approve “pattern-book” housing designs that can be rolled out in Sydney suburbs – an idea being championed by an unlikely alliance of unions, big business and universities.

The Housing Now group, launched on Monday, argues that 30 suburbs need to be, in effect, transformed into inner-city Surry Hills by adding higher density houses and medium-rise apartment buildings.

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Byron’s proposed 60-day Airbnb cap unlikely to come into effect until next year despite housing crisis

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If approved by NSW government, it will apply only to Byron and not other councils struggling amid the state-wide housing shortage

Byron council’s planned 60-day cap on short-term rentals like Airbnbs to ease pressure on the housing market would not come into effect until the middle of next year if the government decides to allow it, the holiday hotspot’s mayor says.

And if the tightened rules are approved by the New South Wales government, they will just apply to Byron and not other councils also struggling with housing amid a state-wide shortage.

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‘Disastrous’: low-income tenants priced out of newly renovated boarding houses

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Professionals seeking affordable housing are displacing those at risk of homelessness as rents soar

When a boarding house in Sydney’s inner-west was razed by arson last year, taking with it the lives of three residents and leaving eight without homes, the hope was that it would be replaced with a newer, safer version of the same low-cost community housing.

But 12 months is a long time in Sydney’s rampant rental market.

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Australian households on six-figure incomes can now only afford 13% of homes

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New report shows housing affordability has reached its lowest levels in decades as market continues to rebound

Rising interest rates and surging home prices have seen Australian housing affordability crash to its lowest levels in decades, according to a new report.

A household earning the median income of $105,000 can now only comfortably afford 13% of homes on the market, the lowest share since the relevant data was first collected in 1995, according to property data company PropTrack.

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‘Whole housing system in crisis’: report finds Australia’s emergency accommodation is often unsafe

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Study finds lack of available social housing and unaffordable private rentals mean people entering crisis accommodation have no pathways out

Emergency accommodation is often unsafe, inappropriate, of poor quality and compounds the trauma of people experiencing housing crisis, a new report has found.

The lack of available social and affordable housing coupled with inaccessible and unaffordable private rentals meant that most people who entered crisis accommodation had no meaningful pathways out.

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Rishi Sunak defends government’s green credentials after housebuilding water pollution rules scrapped – UK politics live

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Government claims ripping up EU-era protections on nutrient neutrality will allow for an additional 100,000 homes

Chronic under-investment, exploitation and low pay is leading to widespread poverty among workers in the care sector, according to damning research from the Trades Union Congress.

As it publishes its first workforce blueprint for the care economy, the TUC argues that the “Cinderella sectors” of social care and childcare need urgent investment to head off a demographic timebomb.

If the government is willing to strip away vital protection to save money for developers in polluted catchments, then where will it draw the line? This could be the most serious blow for environmental law in decades.

What the government is proposing here is to remove legal protections for nature, throw away requirements for polluters to pay, and instead use taxpayers’ money to try to fill the gap.

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Scrapping housebuilder water pollution rules in England to cost taxpayer £140m

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Under Lords amendment, developers will no longer have to offset nutrient pollution from new homes’ sewage

Taxpayers will pick up the bill for pollution by housebuilders, government officials have admitted, as rules on chemical releases into waterways are scrapped.

If an amendment in the House of Lords tabled on Tuesday passes, developers will no longer have to offset the nutrient pollution caused by sewage from new homes. The government has said it will double Natural England’s wetland funding to £280m in order to show it is trying to meet the requirements of its legally binding Environment Act.

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England’s rivers at risk as Michael Gove rips up rules on new housing

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Exclusive: Announcement set to anger environmentalists, but builders say nutrient neutrality laws are exacerbating housing crisis

Michael Gove is planning to rip up water pollution rules that builders have blamed for exacerbating England’s housing crisis but which environmental groups say are essential for protecting the country’s rivers.

The housing secretary, alongside Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, will announce the move on Tuesday, according to several people briefed on the plans, alongside hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of extra funding to mitigate the potential impact on England’s waterways.

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English councils moving homeless families out of areas at almost three times official rate

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Exclusive: Data shows more than 34,000 households placed out of area last year, with some moved more than 200 miles away

Councils are moving homeless families out of their neighbourhoods at almost three times the rate that has been officially recognised, and some have been uprooted hundreds of miles from their support networks, according to research.

Data released under freedom of information (FoI) revealed that 34,418 households were placed out of area last year, based on responses from 80% of English councils. This incomplete figure suggests a total 172% above what was officially recorded for the previous year.

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Homeowners left out of pocket after two-year delays at UK Land Registry

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Administrative hold-ups leave buyers missing best mortgage deals and some owners unable to sell

Long delays in registering properties with the Land Registry across Great Britain are causing frustration among homeowners and buyers with some being left out of pocket as a result.

Latest figures from His Majesty’s Land Registry show that it is taking almost two years for some applications to make changes to the register to be completed.

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Third of working tenants in England ‘lack savings to pay rent if they lose job’

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Half have maximum of a month’s worth of rent put by as costs rise, Shelter survey finds

A third of working tenants in England do not have enough savings to pay rent if they lose their job, putting them at risk of losing their home, according to research by the housing charity Shelter.

Record rents and the rising cost of other household bills are putting tenants’ finances under pressure and mean many are unable to set money aside for emergencies.

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Essential poll: three in four Australians say rents should be capped to inflation or frozen until economy improves

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Housing tussle between Labor and the Greens does not impact PM’s popularity with 37% feeling positive about Anthony Albanese

Three in four Australians believe rents should either be capped to inflation or frozen until economic conditions improve, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.

Presented with choices about rental policies, 44% of the 1,151 respondents supported an annual increase to rents by no more than inflation, while 34% believed rents should be frozen until the economy turns around.

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NSW splits planning and environment mega department – as it happened

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Labor Against War convener: PM ‘running scared’ from rank and file on Aukus

The Labor Against War national convener, Marcus Strom, says the prime minister is “running scared” from the rank and file members of Labor, who he says don’t want the Aukus deal.

Many of us hoped it would be put in the pile of bad Scott Morrison ideas but it was embraced.

And it’s been doubled down on and this has been done without a proper conversation with the Australian people and today delegates won’t even get a chance to remove Aukus from the national platform.

Imagine the jobs we could be creating in housing, in health, in the transition to a green economy. It’s a lost opportunity for a Labor government and it could lead us to a war no Australian has an interest in.

We don’t need to go to war with our biggest trading partner. It would be an act of craziness. We have a motion ready to go from the floor to strike Aukus. They are running scared from the rank and file.

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Australia news live: Federation Square axed as Women’s World Cup live site after fan misbehaviour

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Follow today’s live news updates

Melbourne lord mayor threatens to cancel Federation Square viewing site due to rowdy behaviour of small group of ‘idiots’

And sticking with the flares, Melbourne’s lord mayor, Sally Capp, has threatened to cancel the live viewing site at Federation square due to the rowdy behaviour of a small group of supporters.

If we could find those idiots and make sure they don’t attend, then Fed Square will be going off again, but unfortunately sometimes the few ruin it for the rest of us.

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‘Out of reach’: median home price in Los Angeles nears $1m

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House prices have increased more than 30% in five years in the state’s largest city, which has at least 50,000 people living outside

The median price for a home in Los Angeles, California’s largest city, will soon hit $1m, as skyrocketing housing costs fuel a humanitarian crisis that has left at least 50,000 people living in the streets.

In the past five years, the median listed home price in the Los Angeles area has increased more than 30%, according to estimates from the real estate company Zillow. As of late July, the median price for homes in the Los Angeles metropolitan area was estimated at $992,300.

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Chief of NSW’s largest council wants developer tax to build swimming pools and libraries

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Blacktown’s Kerry Robinson warns rates would need to rise by 40% to pay for community facilities for more than 250,000 expected new residents

The chief executive of New South Wales’ largest council is calling for a new tax on developers to pay for social infrastructure such as swimming pools, warning the alternative would be to raise rates in urban fringe communities by 40%.

The Blacktown city council chief executive officer, Kerry Robinson, said his council had “no funding source” for libraries or community meeting places to accommodate the more than 250,000 people who are expected to move into the sprawling local government area in western Sydney over the next two decades.

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Australia news live: authorities given stop and search powers near Qld border in bid to stop fire ants; Matildas public holiday not on national cabinet agenda, PM says

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Agricultural officers given power to stop and search cars and trucks near the Queensland-NSW border. Follow the latest news live

Search efforts continue for third Indonesian crew member

Search efforts are continuing today for the third Indonesian crew member who remains missing after a boat capsized off the coast of Indonesia.

The search continues for a crew member who is still missing.

Our thoughts are with them and their loved ones.

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Opposition refers minister to Ibac – as it happened

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Warren Mundine said he has kicked two people off his no campaign group Recognise a Better Way, one of which for allegedly making an antisemitic comment.

I’ve actually kicked several people off our campaign in regard to their comments and I intend to keep on doing that.

That’s just between us and the couple of people we had sent off. I don’t appreciate racist comments … All they know is I got rid of them and I don’t accept any racial comments from anyone in regard to these issues.

… It wasn’t particularly about Aboriginals, one was a very antisemitic comment and I’m not gonna wear that crap.

When I talk about treaties, when I talk about constitutional recognition, it is in regard to treaties that are signed between the commonwealth government and First Nations peoples.

… I believe in treaties between the First Nations and the commonwealth and at that, and I put it in that context.

I was involved in the beginning … and then after it got further down the track in regard to [what] it was looking at, [then I said] I don’t support that.

It has to be the First Nations, it has to be the traditional owners who make those agreements. I can’t speak for other people’s country, and they can’t speak for my country.

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