The House of Representatives economic committee inquiry into Home Ownership was opened with fanfare and encouraging comments by chair John Alexander (Liberal, Bennelong): "Some have said we are on track to becoming a Kingdom where the Lords own all the land and the...
BLOG: boom-bust
Find me a true prophet!
The Barnett government in WA is advertising for someone to forecast what its tax and royalty revenues will be. Earlier official predictions, notably on iron ore royalty revenue, have proven wildly inaccurate. The advertisement specifically calls for macro-economic and...
The housing crash we had to have: A Gen Y perspective on the bubble
by Matt Ellis So bubble mania has finally hit the mainstream. The housing bubble question has landed squarely at the feet of the Prime Minister and his treasurer, and only 10 to 15 years late… What a relief it is then to hear our fearless leaders assure us that there...
Greybeard and the Hipsters
It has been so long since the last recession 1990-91 that anyone who experienced it in business or the workforce is an old white guy – they are at best in their late 40’s and the beard sprouts grey. Let me give you some human insights, hipsters. Recession is like...
The great land banking scam exposed
by Cameron Murray Property development can be a dirty business, particularly when it comes to land-banking, which is the speciality of Australia’s largest developers. Land-banking involves the speculative buying of large parcels of land that are currently unsuitable...
Australia’s land price conundrum
by Bryan Kavanagh reposted from On-Line Opinion Whilst in Newgate Prison (1827-1830) for the abduction of heiress Ellen Turner, Edward Gibbon Wakefield had a great idea. If you kept land prices high in the new British colonies, people could be forced to work like...
WA budget wins Golden Banana Award
West Australia's Barnett government has just handed down its budget. It is the ugliest baby I have ever seen. The AFR reports: All key financial measures have been blown apart in the state budget, with net debt (above $30 billion) cash deficits (above $5 billion) and...
Swing that Cat!
New Sydney flats will have to be bigger, the NSW Land and Environment Court ruled last week, overturning long accepted common practice allowing minimum one-bedroom unit sizes at 50m2. Dual-aspect flats must be a minimum 58m2 and more common single-aspect flats 73.4m2....
Prosper is Moving!
Having trouble reading this newsletter? View it online. The enews of Prosper & Earthsharing Australia MARCH 2015 Fre Sonneveld We are moving! Prosper is excited to inform our Evolving Economics readers that we are moving to the Lennox Street Exchange (LSX),...
Oh look! A baby swan!
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...