Category Archives: Housing

Albanese says Russia should withdraw from Ukraine; Australia sanctions three MH17 culprits – as it happened

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Australian prime minister says ‘it is Russia and its involvement that keeps this war going’. This blog is now closed

Forced property sales on the rise in outer Sydney as interest rate hikes start to bite

My colleagues, Peter Hannam and Nick Evershed have this report on the rise in forced property sales as interest rate rises begin to bite.

Sydney’s outer suburbs are showing signs of rising numbers of distressed property sales with higher interest rates the likely cause, a trend that can be expected to spread to other capitals, according to property data group Domain.

Distressed listings as a share of the national market remain low, at about 2.8% across the capital cities, compared with a record 5.1% in late 2018.

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Forced property sales on the rise in outer Sydney as interest rate hikes start to bite

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Domain data shows distressed listings as a share of the national market remain low but there’s been an uptick in outer suburban pockets

Sydney’s outer suburbs are showing signs of rising numbers of distressed property sales with higher interest rates the likely cause, a trend that can be expected to spread to other capitals, according to property data group Domain.

Distressed listings as a share of the national market remain low, at about 2.8% across the capital cities, compared with a record 5.1% in late 2018.

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Australia news live: NSW premier refutes cover-up allegations over police Tasering of 95-year-old woman

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PwC should not be banned from government work but should face ‘significant sanction’, Dutton says

Following the damning interim Senate report into PwC, Dutton says he does not believe the consultancy firm should be cut from all government work, but says a penalty needs to be incurred for the breach of trust:

I think where people have breached a contract, they’ve breached trust, there’s a penalty and the price that should be paid. I don’t know whether that’s the company or whether there’s a solution that the government can provide to it but there’s there’s a significant sanction that’s that’s required – no doubt the government will be looking into that right now.

All of the pollsters at the moment, and credible commentators, believe that it’s either going to fail in October or, best case scenario for the yes case, that gets up 51-49. And in that scenario, our nation is split down the middle.

I think there’s an opportunity to unite our country here instead of divide, and that is that we should proceed with constitutional recognition.

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Labor under pressure to freeze rents as Greens and Coalition back inquiry into housing crisis

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Greens urged to back government’s fund as advocates say housing is needed now and politicians need to ‘start taking action’

The Senate has set up an inquiry into the rental crisis, a process designed by the Greens to pressure the Albanese government to agree to freeze or cap rising rents.

On Monday the Greens voted with the Coalition to delay consideration of Labor’s $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund (Haff) until 16 October, despite pressure from housing groups to pass the bill after the government pledged $2bn of direct funding for social and affordable housing.

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Greens and Coalition unite to refer bill to its own inquiry

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This blog is now closed.

Albanese takes swipes at the Greens

The Midwinter Ball was held overnight. It seems to have been a fairly staid affair but I am still ferreting out info.

Consulting firm PwC engaged in a “calculated” breach of trust by using confidential information to help its clients avoid tax and engaged in a “deliberate cover-up” over many years, a Senate committee has found.

PwC should be “open and honest” by promptly publishing the names and details of its partners and staff involved, the finance and public administration committee has recommended.

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House prices will keep rising into next year, says Domain, as immigration boosts demand

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Sydney to lead recovery with 6%-9% increase by next June while Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane will surpass or come close to record highs

The recovery of real estate prices will extend across Australia and well into 2024 as a swelling population overwhelms the headwinds of higher interest rates and reduced borrowing limits for some prospective buyers, according to data group Domain.

Sydney, which led the fall in home prices last year as the Reserve Bank began lifting its cash rate, will also power the rebound. By the end of June next year, the city’s houses are forecast to be 6% to 9% higher than at the end of last month, lifting the median price to a record of just over $1.6m.

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Who’s unhoused in California? Largest study in decades upends myths

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Most unhoused people are from in state and desire to find housing, while Black and older people are disproportionately affected

Nearly half of all unhoused adults in California are over the age of 50, with Black residents dramatically overrepresented, according to the largest study of the state’s homeless population in decades.

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) research released on Tuesday also revealed that 90% of the population lost their housing in California, with 75% of them now living in the same county where they were last housed. The study further found that nearly nine out of 10 people reported that the cost of housing was the main barrier to leaving homelessness.

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Australia politics live: Don Farrell warns delaying housing bill could lead to double dissolution election

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Chalmers to herald record job growth

Treasurer Jim Chalmers will no doubt take a dixer on this today – the Albanese government has “had the strongest job growth in the first year of any new government on record”.

The number of Australians with a job is now more than 14 million for the very first time.

Australia’s participation rate is 66.9% – the highest on record, primarily driven by record high participation for women (62.7%).

The share of women in work is at a record high – with the employment to population ration for women at 60.5%.

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Greens and Coalition put Labor’s housing fund in a deep freeze as bill stalls in Senate

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Labor’s Don Farrell warns the government will regard the delay until October as a ‘failure to pass’ the bill

The $10bn Housing Australia future fund will not pass parliament this week, after the Greens and Coalition teamed up in the Senate to delay the bill until October.

The impasse prompted a blunt crossbench message that the Greens were “hurting people” while Labor’s Dan Farrell called the Greens and Coalition “the axis of evil”.

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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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Greens say PM’s $2bn pledge for social housing is not enough for them to back Labor’s future fund

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Max Chandler-Mather says the Greens will keep pushing for a freeze and caps on rent increases

The Greens have claimed victory in securing an additional $2bn for social housing across Australia, but say it is not yet enough to secure their support for the government’s Housing Australia Future Fund.

Instead, the Greens plan to continue to push for federal action on rent caps and freezes in a bid to deal with the country’s housing crisis.

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Labor announces $2bn for ‘thousands’ of new social rental homes and passes motion to make housing a human right

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Prime minister Anthony Albanese also lambasts Greens over Senate stalemate, saying they are ‘happy to promise the world, while organising a petition against every new apartment building’

The federal government has announced it will give $2bn to state and territory governments within weeks for a social housing accelerator fund as part of a last-ditch effort to convince the Greens to not sink Labor’s signature housing policy in the Senate.

“This is new money – right now – for new social housing,” the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said as he announced the funding at Victorian Labor’s state conference on Saturday.

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Victorian Greens threaten to block planning changes unless housing demands met

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Leader Samantha Ratnam says half of all dwellings in new projects should be public or affordable housing

The Victorian Greens are threatening to block upcoming changes to the state’s planning laws unless they include a requirement for half of all dwellings in new developments to be either public or affordable housing.

In the coming months, the Andrews government will announce a suite of measures to boost housing supply, which could include changes to planning laws to fast-track approvals and limit the powers of councils to object to major developments.

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NSW to allow taller, denser property developments while curtailing power of councils

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Projects worth at least $75m and have 15% of units set aside as affordable housing could be fast-tracked under changes

The New South Wales government will allow developers to build taller and denser buildings – and have approvals fast-tracked – under sweeping changes to planning rules that will also curtail the power of councils to decide on major housing projects.

The proposed will see housing developments, valued over $75m and of which at least 15% is to be used for affordable housing, given access to a “state significant development” pathway that would fast-track approvals.

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‘Morale is very low’: evicted tenant’s three months and counting in a London Travelodge

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Nicole Bent and her daughter are among dozens of homeless families being put up by council in hotel rooms

A hotel getaway should be a time to escape the stresses of everyday life – but for Nicole Bent, life in a hotel has become her everyday. “It’s been demoralising, to be honest. That’s the word I would use to describe this whole experience,” she said of her ongoing three-month stay in a north London Travelodge.

Bent, 28, and her three-year-old daughter have been living in the hotel since the beginning of March, when she was made homeless after her tenancy came to an end and the landlord wanted to sell the property. She is one of dozens of homeless families being housed there by Enfield council while it tries to find her a permanent home.

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Labor guarantees minimum $500m each year for housing in bid to win Greens support

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Housing minister says work for social and affordable homes can begin as soon as future fund is established but Greens say it should begin now

Labor has guaranteed a minimum of $500m will be paid out of the Housing Australia Future Fund every year in a last-ditch bid to win Greens support for the bill to help build social and affordable housing.

The housing minister, Julie Collins, wrote to the crossbench on Monday offering a “guaranteed fixed disbursement” of $500m from 2024-25, with a new power for the treasurer and finance minister to increase the amount by regulation, making it a floor not a ceiling.

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Queensland promises 500 new homes under $320m social housing commitment

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Annastacia Palaszczuk says the government is ‘pulling every lever possible’ amid a housing shortage

The Palaszczuk government will unveil more than $320m for 500 homes under a new social housing pledge when it hands down the Queensland budget on Tuesday.

As the state continues to grapple with a housing shortage the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said the government was “pulling every lever possible” to ensure Queenslanders had a roof over their heads.

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Home affairs asked Labor to extend support for asylum seekers as housing market worsens

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Exclusive: Refugee advocates say nothing yet done to improve supports and they fear for people who end up with none

The home affairs department asked the Albanese government to consider extending supports for asylum seekers and people on bridging visas to respond to a worsening housing market and the complex needs of more people exiting immigration detention.

That revelation is contained in freedom of information documents, which also include a direction from the immigration minister, Andrew Giles, to the department to streamline reviews to increase releases from immigration detention.

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$15,000 more a year: homeowners brace as interest rate hikes bring ‘mortgage cliff’ closer

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Rate rises mean that households with an average $576,985 mortgage will have to find an extra $1250 a month

Jack Lynch and his partner moved out of Sydney to the picturesque but cheaper Blue Mountains to become homeowners in 2021, and promptly locked in a cut-rate, fixed-rate loan.

The couple, in their early 30s, are now bracing for that loan to expire, and for repayments to increase by more than $2,000 a month.

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