no worries passive. Anyway it looks like the clearance rate (in Melbourne anyway) is 65% which is AOK.
fwiw I am good at stockpicking but my real estate decision making has often been lousy in the past, partly because I bought and sold at the wrong times for personal reasons. So if I am negative on property (a) it is probably a good thing for real estate and (b) past experience has biased me which is human nature.
I think the problem is I expect real estate to behave rationally when in actual fact, it is like no other asset class because
- perceived as safe (self fulfilling? I don't know) - emotional attachment to the asset as an owner-occupier - most like their own patch and dislike renting - tax breaks in favour of real estate - high transaction costs mean it won't behave the way other assets would to adverse circumstances (if it were cheap and easy to buy and sell property you'd see a lot more volatility)
Anyway I just have to hope my stocks continue to flourish so that I can get a property next year whether real estate market be good, bad or indifferent. I reckon it will be the latter.
