Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Month: February 2023

Australia Faces Three Housing Crises — What Are They?

A new whitepaper finds that interest rates are not the primary driver of the movement in house prices.

The ongoing housing challenges in Australia are comprised of related but separate crises, according to the latest whitepaper from PEXA Research and LongView.

Putting into perspective the drivers of house prices based on decades worth of data, the whitepaper identified three related housing crises currently happening in Australia: purchase affordability, rental affordability, and rental experience.

PEXA CEO Glenn King said containing the analysis of the housing crisis to just supply-demand arguments would only yield simple solutions that, he believes, would not be enough to work.

“What we have sought to do to is forensically analyse Australia’s unique demographic and urbanisation profile to help explain Australia’s upward trend in house prices over so many decades,” he said.

Continue reading the findings of the whitepaper at yourmortgage.com.au.

Superb Parrots Caught in “Housing Crisis”

Just 0.005% of available tree hollows in Canberra’s woodlands are suitable nesting sites for superb parrots. This “housing crisis” in the bird world may affect the longevity of the species.

A new study by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) and the ACT Government has found the search for a suitable nesting site can have a big impact on how many offspring the superb parrots are able to produce.

The superb parrot, also known as Barraband’s parrot, is a listed vulnerable species with a small resident population in Canberra.

Previously ANU researchers have shown that these sleek green birds depend on tree hollows for nesting, but that their preferred nest sites are extremely rare.

And if you want to provide a healthy habitat for parrots and other endemic creatures to nest in your own backyard, check out these tips to encourage native species.

 

Boomers, Generation X or Millennials: Who has it worse when it comes to buying a home and paying it off?

When single mum Kerrie Boylett wanted to buy a home in 1995, almost all lenders turned her away.

Ms Boylett is now retired and aged 68, but back then she was 40, and had a nine-year-old daughter.

“It was a lot harder for me to get a loan as a single person and a woman — it was practically impossible,” she tells ABC News.

Ms Boylett eventually convinced one lender to give her a loan. She bought her first home in Coogee, NSW for $150,000, with a deposit of 15 per cent (which she says was based on a decade of her saving).

Her variable interest rate was a massive 19 per cent and her income was low, making it a daily struggle to afford to live.

“It was really hard, really hard — I mean, I remember once I had the electricity cut off for three days,” she recalls.

Read the full article at abc.net.au

More social and affordable housing is the only solution to Australia’s rental crisis

A boost in social housing benefits everyone – people in housing stress get the homes they need and building new homes creates jobs and opportunities

For the first time, Australia is entering the new year with a prime minister who grew up in social housing.

Yet as Australians face a rise in living costs, soaring rents, and crashing vacancy rates, we are also bidding farewell to a key housing affordability measure.

The National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) was designed to help working people who had been priced out of renting, allowing them to create a stable home for themselves and their family.

The scheme wasn’t perfect – it was based on incentives and payments to landlords – but its end will mean thousands of affordable homes will disappear with no plan for the people who were living in them. Renters leaving the scheme will enter a rental market with record low vacancy rates. Data released this week shows a 10% surge in rent prices across capital cities. Many won’t be eligible for social housing, and those who are will find that waiting lists are years long.