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Housing affordability

This Month

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks with resident Lucie Brown and her daughter Sofia at the opening of a social and affordable housing development on Addison road in Marrickville, Sydney.

Gen Z aren’t voting left or right, they want to smash the system

Young constituents are not primarily animated by “wokeism” or culture wars. Their grievances are material – housing, jobs, and living standards.

March

We have restrictive zoning laws that, combined with our national preference for detached housing, have led to low housing density in major capital cities.

Productivity problem empowers populist right

We had better get our act together in Australia or we may court the kind of poisonous politics wreaking havoc in the United States and across Europe.

To get a toehold on the housing ladder in apex cities around the world, it greatly helps to inherit money.

Baby boomers are adding to the ‘inheritocracy’. And that’s a problem

Inheriting is becoming nearly as important as working. That is dangerous for capitalism and society.

Delve into details before voting for Dutton’s nuclear vision

Readers’ letters on the true costs of atomic energy, gender pay gaps, the green light for ConocoPhillips’ gas plan, leadership qualities, and housing affordability.

February

The owners say they can’t knock down the dilapidated building at 1 Rathdowne Street without a demolition permit.

Melbourne’s ‘biggest eyesore’ could be targeted in housing blitz

Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny says a disused former Cancer Council building in the heart of Melbourne could be cleared for development into new homes.

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Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny and Premier Jacinta Allan have warned councils they will seize planning powers if they fail to create more housing supply.

Victoria must give up ‘ideological attachment’ to apartments: Metricon

Victoria will continue to miss housing targets until it realises Millennials and migrants want detached homes, not inner-city apartments, Metricon chief executive Brad Duggan says.

Both Labor and the Coalition are focused on building entry-level homes in emerging areas.

Major parties’ housing policies will trap young buyers in lemons

A glut of entry-level housing could deny first home buyers the sort capital gains that made their parents wealthy.

Property Council chief Mike Zorbas with Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler Mather.

The Property Council’s vampire mortgage controls

The housing lobby’s bizarre new idea suggests a profound identity crisis.

Demand for apartments in Perth is hotting up.

Home in ‘last affordable frontier’ goes for $760,000

Price growth may be slowing in this city, but some market niches are booming – precisely because other levels have priced buyers out.

Pascal Butler, a Melbourne investor who is finalising his mortgage to buy his second investment property, with wife Georgia and toddler Mimi.

Home loan demand rises as buyers ready for rate cut

Hopeful home buyers are preparing for lower interest rates as early as next week by arranging financing in larger numbers.

The CBA boss’ call was echoed by HECS architect Bruce Chapman, who said Jim Chalmers’ changes made sense, but fixing housing affordability required more supply.

CBA’s Comyn says student debt tweak helps but housing supply is key

The bank CEO was echoed by HECS architect Bruce Chapman, who said Jim Chalmers’ changes made sense but fixing home affordability required more residences.

Sydney auction clearances jump, defying slowdown expectations

There’s pent-up demand for housing, but even sales agents are cautious about the year to come.

January

Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock.

Housing market will welcome RBA rate cuts

The beleaguered residential property market will be one key transmission mechanism through which the RBA’s interest rate relief will affect the wider economy.

Andrew Charlton and Anthony Albanese were keen to spruik Labor’s plans to improve housing in Parramatta last week.

NIMBY or YIMBY? Andrew Charlton’s identity crisis

The federal MP, who owns several properties, is petitioning to stop development of 2500 new homes.

The Sydney suburb of Caddens.

Home lot sales are increasing – in the cheaper cities

Soaring land prices are prompting a structural shift in housing away from the country’s largest cities.

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Apartments are going up, but not enough of them: home-building activity is undershooting what the country needs.

Why interest rates will keep rents high

The latest housing approval figures show Australian home-building is undershooting what the country needs – even with a pick-up forecast this year.

Business leaders say high house prices and skyrocketing rents are affecting where people choose to work and making it harder to find talent, according to KPMG.

Why housing affordability is now a top problem for CEOs

Business leaders say high house prices and skyrocketing rents are affecting where people choose to work and making it harder to find talent.

December 2024

Buyers of apartments on sites such as this 22-storey, 111 Castlereagh by Cbus project in Sydney have an easier path to make claims in case of defects.

How it just became even better to buy an apartment in NSW

A High Court ruling has made it easier for off-the-plan buyers to sue developers and builders for defects – but only if they live in the largest state.

Plans to turn Rosehill Racecourse into a mini-city may never go ahead following a scathing report by a parliamentary committee.

Inquiry refers Rosehill housing plan to ICAC, seeks racing probe

Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys has slammed a committee in charge of the report, claiming it had become ‘personal’.

November 2024

Victoria now has the highest rate of home-loan arrears across all Australian states, taking over from Western Australia.

Victorian mortgage arrears top other states

Fresh data from ratings agency S&P shows Victoria has the highest rate of home-loan arrears of any Australian states, overtaking Western Australia.

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