Analysis of online listings on common online platforms shows even modest reductions in Airbnb listings increased supply of longer-term rentals. The result was lower local rents.
Vanlifers enjoy the freedom of living in their vans.
(Alex Guillaume/Unsplash)
Understanding the experiences of van dwellers is important not just for those looking to cut their ties to rents and mortgages, but also for community planners and employers.
The fallout from COVID-19 for housing and homelessness just adds to the urgency of fixing the long-standing ills of the housing market. The well-being of Australia’s economy and people depends on it.
High rents and insecurity are constant sources of financial and emotional stress for low-income women. They describe what it’s like struggling to survive and being one step away from being homeless.
Ilan Wiesel, The University of Melbourne; Liss Ralston, Swinburne University of Technology, and Wendy Stone, Swinburne University of Technology
You’d think falling housing prices might help people on low incomes, but history shows downturns often increase inequality. And many buyers who took out big loans during the housing boom are at risk.
People in Atlantic Canada cities, including Charlottetown, are nervous about rising house prices as young people return and immigration fuels economic growth.
(Shutterstock)
Millions of Australians are struggling with unaffordable housing. It’s a systemic problem that’s been decades in the making, and only concerted system-wide reforms will fix it.
Campaigning for a third term in government in 2014, NZ Nationals leader John Key visits a new housing development, consistent with the government’s framing of affordability as a supply problem.
Sarah Robson/AAP
Tracing politicians’ use of the term ‘housing crisis’ reveals it came into common use only in recent years, and then only by opposition MPs. Governments prefer to frame the issues differently.
Rental stress leaves hundreds of thousands of Australians struggling for years to cover all the other costs of living.
Tero Vesalainen/Shutterstock
After paying rent, more than half of low-income tenants don’t have enough left over for other essentials. And the latest evidence shows nearly half of them are stuck in this situation for years.
Interest rate cuts often lead to a boost in construction jobs as developers anticipate better conditions for selling properties.
Stefan Postles/AAP
Labor’s rental affordability scheme had its problems, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
With more than 80% of Singaporeans living in state-provided housing, the city rates well for affordability compared to Sydney, where the figure is just 5.5%.
Bill Roque/Shutterstock
A coordinated mix of policies does more to keep housing affordable for a significant proportion of a city’s residents than the unbalanced approach we see in Sydney.
Digital communications technology means many high-skill workers don’t need to be in the office to do their jobs.
MJTH/Shutterstock
E-changers are the latest group to move from the big cities to escape high living costs and congestion. But because they remain very productive remote workers some employers are embracing the trend.
Shared houses work well for 82% of people living in them in their early 20s, but only 25% see this as a long-term option.
Earlyspatz/Wikimedia
The housing aspirations of young Australians change as they enter their late 20s and early 30s. But having somewhere safe and secure to call home is the top priority for all young adults.
Older Australians aspire to the security of owning their own home, but prefer smaller houses in their later years.
yopinco/Shutterstock
Most older Australians want to live in a home they own, preferably in the middle and outer suburbs of a city. But increasing numbers look unlikely to realise their housing aspirations.
Governments have been more focused on managing waiting lists than heeding calls to invest in increasing the stock of social housing.
Josh Dye/AAP
The need to manage long waiting lists for social housing, rather than serving the best interests of tenants and prospective tenants, is a major driver of policymakers’ approach.
Professor; School of Economics, Finance and Property, and Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Curtin Research Centre, Curtin University