Labor’s signature climate change legislation will pass the Senate with some minor changes
Delayed rate pain
While the interest rate increases are hitting those already on variable rates, those who are on fixed rates which are about to expire are going to feel a lot of pain, when their repayments jump to include the cumulative increase all at once.
Continue reading...Fairfield mayor says ‘people are suffering’ due to lack of affordable housing in migrant communities as PM pledges $575m investment
Increasing Australia’s migration intake without improving key services will increase the strain on housing, hospitals and schools as well as inflation, councils in migrant communities have said.
The Albanese government on Friday announced at its jobs and skills summit it would lifting the migrant intake to 195,000 in 2022-23, from the current 160,000 cap, addressing calls from businesses for more skilled workers to be brought in to Australia to meet shortages. A review planned for next February would set intake levels for coming years.
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Continue reading...CoreLogic says every capital city except Darwin fell in August, with Sydney dropping 2.2%
Every capital city in Australia except Darwin is now in a housing downturn, according to a new report, with values falling at a trajectory not seen since the 1980s.
CoreLogic’s home value index shows national housing values are falling rapidly, after rising about 29% during a period of sharp growth.
Continue reading...Renovations valued at more than $50,000 will be subject to the new NSW government planning policy
Tougher energy standards for new homes will be introduced in New South Wales, but small residential blocks and shopping centres won’t have to adhere to them because of developers’ concerns about added complexity and costs.
Under a new policy announced on Monday, new houses and high-rise towers will need to have a seven-star energy rating, while large office buildings must show the ability to become all-electric-powered.
Continue reading...Governments urged to plan for emerging technologies that will allow bidirectional charging so vehicle batteries can power homes
Australia’s first mandate to make new apartment buildings “electric vehicle-ready” should be extended to all new housing, potentially turning entire suburbs into virtual batteries supporting the power grid, the federal science minister said.
Ed Husic helped helm Friday’s gathering of federal, state and territory building ministers in Sydney, where it was agreed to amend the national construction code to require new apartment blocks to be capable of charging cars in all their parking spots.
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Continue reading...Qantas engineers begin industrial action today
Qantas engineers will delay their shifts by one minute as an industrial action strategy, according to the ABC.
The one-minute strike is to protest Qantas’s inaction over negotiations for a 12% pay rise over four years, equivalent to 3% a year, and is designed to send a message to management: patience has run out.
The engineers’ strike over wages comes on the same day Qantas releases its annual profit results and in the same week management attempted to win back customers disgruntled over delays and lost baggage with $50 travel vouchers.
Continue reading...State and territory building ministers will meet on Friday amid fierce debate about when and how new regime should begin
New Australian homes could have to comply with tougher energy performance standards within a year, with ministers set to agree to boost the required rating from six to seven stars.
That could cut the thermal energy use of homes by about 25%, experts say. But there’s fierce debate about when and how the new regime should begin.
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Continue reading...Greens plea comes as research finds skyrocketing regional rents are contributing to unfilled job vacancies
The Greens are urging the Albanese government to impose a nationwide rent freeze for two years, saying the issue of rental affordability should be elevated to national cabinet ahead of next week’s jobs and skills summit.
New research from the Everybody’s Home advocacy group has found increased rents in regional areas are contributing to unfilled job vacancies, with some areas recording rental rises of more than 40% in the past two years.
Continue reading...Lawsuit was brought by owners after Pitt’s supposedly sustainable, flood-proof homes were plagued by mold, leaks and rot
It sounded like a dream come true, complete with a handsome prince riding to the rescue: the construction of 109 new, sustainable, flood-proof and affordable homes in New Orleans’s Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Lower Ninth Ward, all thanks to movie star Brad Pitt.
But the homes that were eventually built fell far short of Pitt’s 2006 promises: they were plagued by mold, electrical fires and unclean water.
Continue reading...Families who fled Taliban rule say they are grateful for the help they have received but long for a home where they can settle
The west London hotel where Fawzia Amini, a senior Afghan judge, her husband and their four daughters have lived for the last nine months has comfortable sofas in the foyer, a restaurant serving tasty meals on the first floor, and friendly reception staff – but it isn’t home.
After the turmoil and danger of fleeing their spacious home in Kabul when the Taliban seized control of the Afghan capital, the family say that while they are grateful for everything the UK government has done for them, they long to be in a place of their own where they can cook their own food, work, study, and entertain relatives and friends.
Continue reading...Independent calls for $100m debt to be wiped as part of negotiations over Labor’s $10bn housing policy, which also faces Greens resistance
The new independent senator David Pocock will use his balance of power position in the Senate to push for the ACT government’s $100m public housing debt to be waived as part of negotiations over Labor’s new housing policy.
Legislation for the government’s new $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund also faces resistance from the Greens, with the party’s housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather saying the proposal is not “good enough” to secure support in the Senate.
Continue reading...Property managers are being advised to provide notices to leave when issuing fixed-term leases
Queensland’s housing department says “best practice” advice given by the state’s peak real estate body that would see every renter issued with notice to leave at the start of their lease is “disappointing” and “not in the spirit” of rent reforms.
But the tenants’ union is calling for the state government to go further, urging them to restrict the issuing of “Form 12s” and make it harder for renters to be removed without reason.
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Continue reading...Renters express shock as property managers told to provide tenants with notice to leave at same time as new leases
Queensland’s peak real estate body has recommended property managers issue every tenant with a notice to leave at the same time as they are offered a new lease, as a way of circumventing the state’s new no-grounds eviction laws.
Renters who spoke to Guardian Australia criticised the recommendation, which they said has left them shocked and worried about their future.
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Continue reading...The parliament will sit at 9am – once the morning proceedings are done, it will be into the climate bill – people are getting ready to head to the galleries to watch it pass the house.
It has been a very, very long decade. There are a lot of people who need to see this, even if there is still a very, very long way for us to go to actually start acting.
The inclusion of an Objects clause that addresses targets, accountability, expert advice and the need for climate action in line with the science makes it clear that this is the beginning of a new era in Australia,” Chaney said in a statement.
Continue reading...Interest rate rises lead to dwelling values falling for third month in a row with Sydney prices down 5.2% since January
Australia’s property prices are falling at rates comparable to the onset of the global financial crisis or the 1980s downturn as higher interest rates deflate demand. Sydney’s drop, though, is already more precipitous than those earlier eras.
In July alone, dwelling values fell 1.3% on average nationally, marking a third consecutive monthly decline according to CoreLogic, a property data firm. Five of the nation’s eight capitals reported falls, with Sydney down 2.2% and Melbourne retreating 1.5% while prices in Brisbane, Canberra and Hobart were also starting to slide.
Continue reading...Cash: No way the Coalition will support a lower emissions target
The next interview on ABC radio RN is with the shadow employment minister, Michaelia Cash, who has a lot to say about the scrapping of the ABCC. Cash, you may remember, was one of its biggest supporters while in government.
The Coalition won more votes than the Australian Labor party.
Continue reading...Services report 279 ‘actively homeless’ people in SA as ministers meet to address national housing crisis
The body of a woman who died while sleeping rough in the Adelaide parklands was not found for three weeks.
The 48-year-old woman, discovered by a man who knew her, was found in a tent in the eastern end of the parklands along South Terrace at 2pm on 22 May.
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Continue reading...Homeowners can boost property value by average of £10,000, shows research by WWF and ScottishPower
Britons could cut their annual energy bills while slashing their carbon emissions and boosting the price of their home, research has shown.
A study by WWF and ScottishPower has found that installing green technologies could reduce energy bills by up to £1,878 a year and cut home carbon emissions by more than 95% over the lifetime of their installation.
Continue reading...Deputy reserve bank governor, Michele Bullock, says most Australians are ‘well placed’ to absorb impact of rate rises
Up to 30% of mortgage holders could struggle to keep up with their home repayments if interest rates were to increase by 3%, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia, which says first-home owners, late entrants to the market and low-income loan holders are most at risk.
With the bulk of low fixed-rate loans due to expire in the next two years, about half of those coming into the new variable market will face increases in their repayments of at least 40%. For those whose fixed loans expire in the middle of next year, the reserve bank estimates a median increase of about $650 a month in repayments, or a 45% increase.
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Continue reading...NSW has recorded 12,228 new cases and 14 deaths in the past 24 hours.
There are 2,027 people in hospital and of those, 60 are in ICU.
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