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Hunter-based charity Samaritans says $400 million dollars worth of residential apartments being built in Newcastle will do very little to ease the affordable housing crisis.
The charity wants the New South Wales Government to spend four billion dollars on the social and affordable housing sector, saying it's "essential infrastructure".
Eight inner-city projects are scheduled for construction this year, but the ABC understands only one has an affordable housing component.
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According tio a News.com.au report on the delays in National Rental Affordability Scheme ( NRAS ) government payments, Social Security minister Scott Morrison would not address the specific allegations. Instead he said: “The previous government looked the other way on compliance on the NRAS. This government is protecting taxpayers by ensuring payments are only made where participants in the scheme are playing by the rules and meeting the requirements of the scheme.”
Read more at News.com.au
Sydney's property price increases seems to be the common reason cited for the Reserve Bank of Australia decision to hold interest rates at 2.25 per cent for the second month in row on Tuesday. Although it looks highly likely to cut them as early as its next policy meeting on May 5.
The vote against another cut for now still leaves the cash rate at the lowest level since at least the 1960s. The Australian dollar, which had been trading down on expectations of further easing, spiked more than 1 per cent on the decision, to just below US77¢ in late local trade.
Amid concerns from the regulators about accelerated price growth, what does that mean for investors? Right now there are great opportunities to secure fixed rates from lenders for up to 5 years at extremely manageable (less than 5%) interest rates.
Read more in the Sydney Morning Herald
Affordable housing projects continue to be touted as something that are making inroads, albeit small, into the housing affordability crisis.
One of the newest additions is The Platform apartments in Eveleigh, Sydney, right on the doorstep of Carriageworks. The 88-unit development was completed last month and is reserved for key workers in low and medium income households. The Platform was built by City West, a developer established to build affordable housing in the City of Sydney local government area.
According to www.news.com.au
A new report by the University of NSW Cities Futures Research Centre puts forward the fact that more should be done to encourage superannuation funds and other large-scale investors to invest directly in affordable housing rental schemes. A validation for NRAS, the recently terminated housing solution. Ironically the recommendations for institutional funds such as super funds to hold domestic proeprty, was exactly the original focus for NRAS as an asset class. It was largely lack of interest and support for the concept from the super funds, that allowed access to the substantial benefits of NRAS for private individual investors.
According to the report published in the Sydney Morning Herald
..... The lack of affordable housing in cities like Sydney is widely considered to be pushing those on lower incomes further into the outer suburbs and away from the job-rich centres of the inner city.