Cookie, it was just a month or two ago where say, you had an expected price range of 490-500k only to have the auction ending with a $595 figure, but now it's gone negative - that's about $150 below what normally would have been the result! If this is true, that buyers are thinking the same thing, then the outcome could startle even the most bullish. Where I am going is that if buyers were buying purely for the capital gains, then one could safely assume that buyers were speculating over any other reason. If that is the case, then no one now in their right mind would ever consider buying a home on the presumption that the house value will rise rapidly to negate their high mortgage. What is worse, is that the speculative market has driven the price range far higher than what it would have gone to had we seen normal market forces run their course unhindered by artificially low rates, by rampant immigration, by First Home Buyers' Grants, and by foreign investments.
America had its subprime, but Australia has its own flaws. What it has now is an economy that is so pent up with debt that it's only supported by the lucky few who are in the mining game. The 97% rest of us need to find a better way of living the dream. At least we can continue selling cheap foreign goods to the stupid locals who don't mind being ripped off 1000% on their goods an apparel - oops, well that was the plan, but those poor gen Ys and Xs, you know - the ones that are locked out of the housing market and should take the plunge and stop complaining, are no longer willing to play the system that has, until now, ripped them off in every way possible. Their 'buying online' spending habits are killing the retail industry which, in turn, will have a negative impact on the broader community, including me. I hope they have the last laugh for once!
