Housing Industry Association, Real Estate Institute, mortgage providers and mortgage brokers all get used as "experts" when it comes to reporting on house prices. Problem is that they all have vested interests.
Surely house prices in Australia could fall in the event of any of the following:
1. Buyers expecting house prices to be lower in future and staying out of the market as a result.
2. Property holders selling in anticipation of falls (probably an issue for property investors, rather than home owners), or to enter other investment markets.
3. Mortgagors losing the income that they need to meet repayments.
4. Repayments/debt increasing in real terms (ie. deflation sets in).
Instead of discussing any of these, they usual suspects give their rubbishy analysis about housing supply and population growth.
I'll accept that house-prices are driven by many factors - I would like to see an analyst actually look at more than a little bit of spin.
