The ACCC received more than 658 reports about rental and accommodation scams last year, with a reported loss of $544,846
Like many, Aven was desperately looking for a house.
Last October, the 21-year-old was frantically applying for dozens of rental properties – attending inspections, putting in applications and becoming increasingly stressed by the string of rejections.
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Continue reading...Latest statistics show migration from metro areas is still higher than pre-pandemic levels
Australia’s shift towards the regions is continuing, with new figures showing an increase in the number of city dwellers moving out and a lift in the number of regional residents moving to smaller centres.
According to the latest Regional Movers Index, a quarterly report by the Regional Australia Institute and Commonwealth Bank, net “capital to regional” migration was up 16% on pre-Covid levels despite a small uptick in regional Australians returning to cities.
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Continue reading...Apartments surveyed found to be above safe level on average nine hours a day as tenants cut back on cooling to save on energy bills
Despite the cooler summer, renters are sweltering through temperatures as hot as 40C in their homes, new research has revealed, with advocates saying the cost-of-living crisis is forcing people to live in unhealthy conditions.
Tenant advocacy organisation Better Renting tracked the temperatures in 77 rentals across Australia between December 2022 and February this year and found that for nine hours a day they were above a safe level on average. Four jurisdictions recorded indoor temperatures above 40C.
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Continue reading...Home Builders Federation warns planning policy changes will result in government meeting less than half its annual target
Housebuilding in England is due to fall to its lowest level since the second world war, according to an analysis by the Home Builders Federation (HBF), owing to a range of government policies that threaten to dramatically slow development.
The study says the supply of new housing is likely to fall below 120,000 homes annually over the coming years, less than half of the government’s target, as a result of changes to planning policy and what developers say is over-strict enforcement of environmental regulations.
Continue reading...Fast-tracking development in the Macarthur region will give Sydney a massive new infrastructure challenge
It’s a simple and seductive solution: rezone more land on the fringes of Sydney for housing and real estate prices will fall, thanks to greater supply.
But the reality is more complex.
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Continue reading...Actor and ‘cultural icon’ honoured in state memorial service at Hamer Hall. This blog is now closed
Independent MP Zali Steggall suggests Labor’s take on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is “greenwashing,” following the appearance of Chris Bowen, minister for industry, energy and emissions reduction, on ABC Insiders this morning.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers defended potential alterations to tax breaks on multimillion-dollar superannuation balances on Sky News this morning.
The fundamentals won’t change. The tax concessionality will still be there, but we do need to consider whether we can afford the degree of tax concessionality for people who’ve got very big balances.
I’m not interested in a war of words with John Howard. John Howard is someone who I respect and he deserves better than to be wheeled out to prop up Angus Taylor’s dodgy arguments or to shore up Peter Dutton’s failing leadership.
Continue reading...Independent Commission Against Corruption warned ‘a favourable rezoning’ of large swathes on Sydney’s fringes could deliver windfall to developers
The New South Wales corruption watchdog advised the state’s department of planning that its decision to fast-track large areas of land for rezoning for new housing carried with it a number of risks, Guardian Australia can reveal.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption warned that “a favourable rezoning” under the plan to rezone large swathes of land on Sydney’s fringes “could deliver a significant windfall to an applicant” and that this could prompt applicants to attempt “various lobbying techniques”, including “direct approaches to the minister”, and “using or cultivating personal contacts” within the department.
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Continue reading...The thriving tourism industry is ‘undermining the fabric of our society’, one local tells public hearing into proposed cap
Byron Bay residents have voiced their outrage at the impact short-term rentals have had on the region, with some claiming the area has been invaded.
The New South Wales Independent Planning Commission held its first day of a public hearing into a proposal by the local council to drop the number of days available for short-term rentals from 180 to 90 a year.
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Continue reading...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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Continue reading...Domain chief Jason Pellegrino says decline is worse than during Covid lockdowns and banking royal commission
A collapse in the number of new homes on the market, especially in Sydney and Melbourne, is outpacing even the shaky listing rates recorded during pandemic lockdowns, weighing on the profits of real estate companies.
The chief executive of property portal company Domain Group, Jason Pellegrino, said on Thursday that the scale of listings declines during the last three months of 2022 also eclipsed pullbacks recorded during the banking royal commission, which scrutinised lending practices in public hearings in 2018.
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Continue reading...Court of appeal ruled homeowner could recover loss of value even if knotweed has been treated
A significant legal victory in a case brought by a householder affected by Japanese knotweed has raised the prospect of an increase in claims from people stricken by the hazardous plant.
The court of appeal ruled that a homeowner could recover damages for a loss of value of their property from having had Japanese knotweed, even if it had been treated.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Tenants’ Union says some form of rent control is needed to alleviate pressure during a ‘nasty’ time in the market
Millie Bannister was already anxious about how much the rental market had skyrocketed in Sydney when she received a letter from her landlord saying they wanted to increase her rent by 35%.
“Last time, it only increased by $60, but now it’s going to increase by $270 a week, which is a 35% increase, and around $12,000 per year. For me and my roommate, two people in their mid-20s, it is not [easy] to wrangle with.”
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Continue reading...This blog is now closed
The deputy prime minister and defence minister, Richard Marles, spoke to ABC AM Radio from London following a meeting with the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak.
Marles would not be drawn into whether he discussed with Sunak the possibility of Australia acquiring British built nuclear submarines under the Aukus deal but said when the announcement is made it will be a “genuinely trilateral effort.”
Prime Minister Sunak commented on just how full the agenda is between our two countries and how much that is making – perhaps our oldest and most historic relationship – one which is deeply relevant in in the contemporary moment and certainly Aukus is central to that.
And we’re close to announcement and I’m not about to preempt that now. But I think what you’ll see is when we ultimately do announce the optimal pathway that we’ve been working on with both the United States and United Kingdom, that what it really is, is a genuinely trilateral effort to see by the UK and the US provide Australia with a nuclear powered submarine capability.
We’re confident that what we will be announcing in the coming weeks is a pathway that will be able to be delivered by all partners on time.
Continue reading...Campaigners in Oxfordshire, Cotwolds and Cumbria say houses should not be occupied until system can cope
Campaigners are intervening to prevent new houses being occupied in several areas of the country until sewage treatment works are upgraded to cope.
In Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds and in Cumbria, the failure of water companies to invest in sewage infrastructure means new homes would just add more sewage into treatment works that are at or beyond capacity, and increase pollution into rivers, they say.
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The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, also spoke to ABC Radio this morning about how the government is balancing the budget with record high inflation, and all signs pointing to another rate hike from the RBA next week.
Gallagher says there will be mortgage pain for over a fifth of mortgage holders:
We’re expecting about 20% of mortgage holders to come off fixed rate loans this year.
We always said 2023 was going to be challenging year … Dealing with the inflation challenge is a key economic priority for the government.
What you’ll see is a continued focus on cost-of-living relief, funding those priority areas like health and aged care and making sure we’re getting the balance right in terms of spending restraint, banking upgrades and looking for sensible savings where we can.
There’s no doubt that migrants have been key to the formation of modern Australia.
I think [migrants] should be recognised for their contribution to this country. And I think that’s fair enough, but that’s not minimising the Indigenous.
Continue reading...Minister says he wants to abolish ‘outdated, feudal’ system of home ownership by end of this parliament
Michael Gove has admitted that “faulty and ambiguous” government guidance was partly responsible for the Grenfell Tower tragedy. The UK housing secretary said lax regulation allowed cladding firms to “put people in danger in order to make a profit”.
Gove’s remarks come more than five years after the tower block fire that killed 72 people.
Continue reading...A government agreement with developers was meant to solve the fire safety crisis in affected buildings – but the wrangling goes on
In June 2021, Charlotte Meehan received a safety inspection report for her block of flats as part of the nationwide checks after the Grenfell Tower fire. It made for grim reading, warning that the block had been built with combustible cladding and insulation.
Last April, the government announced a “wide-ranging” agreement with developers to fix the crisis of unsafe tall buildings, but Meehan, 34, and her fellow residents in the four-storey block in east London, are among tens of thousands still waiting for their homes to be made safe.
Continue reading...New government register shows how offshore jurisdictions used for ownership of nearly 200 properties including hotels and country estates
The royal families of Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar own more than £1bn of UK property via offshore jurisdictions, such as Jersey and the British Virgin Islands, the Guardian can reveal.
Nearly 200 properties, including hotels, London mansions and country estates, belong to a few small but super-rich dynasties, according to analysis of a new government register that reveals who is behind offshore companies that own UK property.
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