State urged to mandate affordable housing

THE Brumby Government should force builders constructing developments with 10 or more units to reserve 10 per cent of dwellings for affordable housing.

Shortages Will Prop Up Rentals

THE chief executive of Dexus, Victor Hoog Antink, has warned that the industrial property market will feel the pressure of the weakening economy next year, although the lack of supply will keep a base under rents and demand.

Go Back To The 1930s

Manor house If you're looking for your own private manor house, there's one waiting in leafy Mangerton.

State Control Urged As Rent Surges 12.7% In Past Year

MELBOURNE landlords have been accused of price gouging after a State Government report showed rents had soared by 12.7% over the 12-months to March 2008, as vacancy rates plummeted to a record low 1%.

Shelters Turn Away Teens

THOUSANDS of homeless young people are being turned away from shelters every night because of a shortage of beds, a new report says.

Even Rentals Doubtful For Low Earners

HOME ownership is moving out of the reach of lower-income Australians, and on current trends, even renting will become increasingly difficult for many to afford, a new study warns.

Strategies For Success

It is easy to overlook things in the rush to enrol. Here is everything you need to know about starting uni but forgot to ask.

Small Talk

FOOTBALL superstar David Beckham has attended a private meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The LA Galaxy midfielder chatted for almost an hour with Mr Brown at the Prime Minister's Number 10 Downing Street residence. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid star reportedly arrived at Downing Street in his trademark shiny black Bentley. The pair enjoyed informal discussions before Beckham, affectionately known as "Goldenballs", left on Tuesday. A Downing Street spokesman said ...

Labor Govt Will Freeze Telstra Line Rentals

LABOR yesterday reiterated its vow to freeze Telstra line rental charges if it won government. Telstra last week announced it would increase line rental fees for private homes by up to $3.45 per month from June 1.

Buyers Force Renters To Live On The Edge

Private renters are being sucked out of inner and middle Sydney and into the city's outermost suburbs, with significant numbers moving to the Central Coast, a housing and population researcher said yesterday.

Futile Hunt Haunts Families

The urban search for shelter bordered on the impossible, welfare workers said yesterday. An outreach worker with Merri Housing, Ms Janet Walker, said in eight months of working with families in Collingwood, Fitzroy and Richmond she had not succeeded in placing anyone in private rental accommodati

Poor Caught In Rent Trap

Homeless people who are most in need of rental accommodation are at the mercy of a shrinking private home rental pool, figures from a leading housing welfare agency show. In the past four years, the vacancy rate for private houses and flats available for rent has fallen from 5 per cent to less