Australia desperately needs an alibi – a Black Swan event – to nominate as the tipping point that ended the land bubble. Government is rigid with fear about the political consequences of being blamed for the turn. Whoever presides over the shift will earn a page in...
BLOG: boom-bust
Luke Foley offers the bubble party fresh drinks
In the second leaders debate of the NSW election campaign televised tonight, ALP opposition leader Luke Foley proposed buyers be allowed to defer Stamp Duty, allegedly to 'help improve housing affordability'. This idea must be condemned. Either Mr Foley is taking NSW...
Event: Property Boom or Bust – with Phillip Anderson
Property Boom or Bust - where are we in the cycle? With Phillip J Anderson, author of The Secret Life of Real Estate & Banking Tuesday March 17th, 6pm. Level 2, 22 Punch Lane, Melbourne. Strictly limited seats, $25 per person (includes light catering)....
Unstable land needs firm foundations
Prosper usually looks at macro economics yet a micro example of what can go wrong in the property market - very, very wrong – might aid your concentration. Andrew, a Sydney ‘investor’ bought properties in Mackay and Blackwater Queensland, “when rents were crazy and...
The property holdings of members of the Queensland Parliament
The Queensland election this Saturday has the nation holding its breath. Will the Liberal/National Party government of Campbell Newman with 78 of the 89 seats in the parliament be displaced by a very angry electorate, or merely have their huge majority...
Soos and Egan – Australian Property Chart Pack
By Philip Soos and Paul D. Egan This chart pack presents the latest statistics for 2014, updating the dataset provided earlier last year. When adjusted for inflation and quality, housing prices have boomed nationwide since 1996, hitting a peak in 2010, before...
Sydney Swans and Melbourne Demons
What passes for analysis or commentary on property matters in Australia's media is bloody woeful. Robert Gottliebsen is out this morning on Business Spectator Why Sydney won't mirror Melbourne's apartment glut supposedly comparing Sydney and Melbourne apartment...
Sydney brick-maker says “It’s all in the land.”
The AFR today reports Brickworks Ltd calling for steep increases in Sydney land supply to assist affordability for homemakers. Developers on the outskirts of all the major Australian cities are dribbling out lots piecemeal - stifling supply, household formation and...
Australia’s twin economic diseases
Australia has two infections that compromise our economic health. Their remarkably similar symptoms – fever, delirium, impaired judgement - muddy diagnosis and hamper effective treatment. Most are familiar with ‘Dutch disease’, where a resource bounty – in Holland’s...