housing affordability & the political circus, page-3

Yep, housing affordability is harder than ever now. I cant beleive my mate is buying a home for $500k on 15% deposit.He is very exposed to interest rate movements. Im taking this opprtunity to sell some property and reduce my exposure to debt.Im forgoing the rest of the boom over the next year or two, in favour of peace of mind.

While interest rates remain low, the repayments are a big % of the gross income because house prices are so high.
Yes, liberal caused it all with FHBG and GST.

Yes the bubble could burst in the next 6-18 mths, it is possible.

But dont wait for prices to come down. My experience with bubble bursts (I was in real estate after the 82 boom and 87-89 boom) is that the majority of people will not drop prices. Ive seen prices drop by 5-10%, but thats about it. After rises of 30-50% pa recently in some areas like SE Qld, a small drop is possible.

Most sellers in the post boom eras will say "we heard our neighbors got a valualtion of $450,000. Our home is like thiers. Yes we heard a similar home sold for $425,000 but they are desperados. In a few months, all the desperaodos will be out of the market, and we would prefer to take 3-6 mths to sell, rather than drop 25k. We are not deseperate." This logic is fairly common in post booms.