Build-to-rent surge will change apartment living for Australians, but for better or worse?

12 March 2021

Australia’s emerging build-to-rent sector is growing — “booming” by some accounts with a 70% jump in value in the past year.

Report shows our homes must change for better health and living

25 November 2020

A new study examining Victorians’ lived experience during COVID-19 points to the design and quality of homes and neighbourhoods as a key mitigating factor in people’s capacity to cope with disasters.

Stimulus that retrofits housing can reduce energy bills and inequity too

03 June 2020

Stay-at-home orders and the economic crisis have increased the burden of energy costs on lower-income Australians. Poor housing quality and unequal access to home energy efficiency are hurting our most vulnerable households.

New project investigates how COVID-19 impacts housing stress

28 May 2020

RMIT urban researchers have received funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute to investigate COVID-19’s impact on housing stress in Melbourne.

Australia had rent control in wartime. War on coronavirus demands the same response

15 April 2020

In this coronavirus “war”, governments should take inspiration from the past and again implement rent control.

How 1 bright light in a bleak social housing policy landscape could shine more brightly

22 November 2019

In the year since the Australian government created the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), its bond aggregator, AHBA, has raised funds for affordable housing providers, allowing them to refinance loans under better conditions.

Labor’s housing pledge is welcome, but direct investment in social housing would improve it

18 December 2018

Despite recent falls in the housing market, housing costs and indebtedness bite deeply into household budgets, especially at Christmas time.

Australia needs to triple its social housing by 2036. This is the best way to do it

18 November 2018

Australia needs to triple its small stock of social housing over the next 20 years to cover both the existing backlog and newly emerging need.

Why Australia’s homelessness problem is getting worse, despite a rise in housing stock

18 July 2018

New housing supply is simply not expanding affordable housing opportunities for the poor in a way that reduces the homelessness count.

The mark of the covenant on housing and planning

18 May 2018

The recent Reserve Bank of Australia report The Effect of Zoning on Housing Prices put forward the argument that restrictive zoning is driving Australian house prices up - particularly in Melbourne and Sydney - arguing that that planning policy reform is necessary in order to meet projected population increases.

Who’s responsible? Housing policy mismatched to our $6 trillion asset

22 June 2017

Does the Australian government have the policy, organisational and conceptual capacity to handle the country’s A$6 trillion housing stock?

New study urges for housing to be better recognised in economic policy

21 June 2017

A new study led by RMIT researchers calls for stronger coordination between governments on housing policy to better understand the $6 trillion sector’s contributions to national economic productivity.

Get used to your commute: data confirms houses near jobs are too expensive

26 May 2017

Australia’s capital cities are getting more and more units, that are largely concentrated and come with a hefty price tag, a new report shows.

Poor lending reforms may deprive most vulnerable of home basics: study

13 March 2017

Changing lending rules to restrict access to financial services could deprive low-income people of home basics like white goods, furniture and internet access, a new RMIT study suggests.

‘Bank of Mum and Dad’ key to get kids ahead in education, start-ups: study

08 March 2017

Adult children inheriting or being gifted wealth from their parents are more likely to have completed university degrees, be self-employed and have higher bank account balances, a new study finds.

How does relationship dissolution influence the housing careers of mothers with kids?

13 February 2017

The breakdown of a marriage or partnership can mean housing career adjustments for one or both parties, but how does it affect mothers with dependent children and their housing circumstances?

Housing deprivation or financial debt: betwixt the devil and the deep blue sea?

Houses are not merely homes, says AHRC speaker Ashton De Silva, and the level of wellbeing of a household unit depends on more than just access to a safe and affordable physical structure.

The Geopolitics of Real Estate: Q&A with Dr Dallas Rogers

31 January 2017

Keynote speaker at the 10th Australasian Housing Researchers Conference 2017, Western Sydney University's Dr Dallas Rogers discusses his recent book The Geopolitics of Real Estate: Reconfiguring Property, Capital and Rights.

How is family housing property reshaping welfare regimes?

23 January 2017

While intergenerational inequalities have become more pronounced in recent years, they also appear to have reinforced intergenerational cooperation and the revival of the family as a provider of welfare and economic security. 

Federal relations – millstone or keystone in housing policy?

19 January 2017

The Australian government is reshaping federal-state relations that govern many areas of social infrastructure funding and delivery, including public housing. But what type of transformation do we want and how can this best be achieved?