I watched an interview on ABC between Kerry Brien and Steven Keen around 18 months ago. Since I am in a retail business I was particularly interested in his comments with regard to housing affordability and its affect on retail spending. I have commented on this issue previously and would like to reinforce my view that his remark of a 20% reduction in retail spending is reasonably accurate. As interest rates have increased we have seen a reduction in our sales. Most businesses I speak to our down between 15-20%. The majors, particularly Coles, have been discounting in an effort to regain market share from Woolworths. Coles sales figures may look ok on the surface but their reurn on capital last year was somewhere around an appaling 6%. From my perspective, house prices are heading in one direction,down and possibly sideways for a number of years
