good point. in the far reaches of watso's brain, he recalls that home loan interest rates were regulated - but he could not recall at what level they were regulated. if watso's memory serves him correctly, it was also very difficult to get a home loan - as of course, the money was lent on the commercial market for a higher return ( that was the time of the "cash managment trusts or funds or whatever")
so there was the quandary - regulated interest rates, for mortgages - but lmited supply. - and that was under howard - was it???????? - what a shame, that howard was the treasurer, when australians, who wnated to buy a house, could not borrow the money - SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME
from memory, this was all part of the regulated system - where the reserve bank stood behind the deposits of the savings banks (but keep in mind that the "big 4 banks" had trading divisions - which were not regulated).
from memory, it was the hawke/keating government which dereguted all of this , and opened up the opportunity of more players in the home lending market. the problem for watso is that he cannot recall what he had for breakfast, let alone what hawke/ keating did
