I saw on the news the other night some land for sale in Bentleigh East which is about 20km sth east of melbourne, it was an old factory site knocked down and there was 100+ blocks auctioned off in a local scout hall.
All were snapped up and the que was out the door, $800-900k for small housing blocks.
They panned the camera's around the room and i couldn't help notice that not one person in the crowd was anglo saxon or first generation Aussies, going by looks anyway.
Most were Asian and many looked to be Indian/Sri lankan descent. Your typical migrant countries accepted into Australia.
It got me thinking, is the rise in immigration partly to blame for extreme rises in local property prices?
Do new arrival's really care what they have to pay for housing in this country? Considering they're here to make a footprint and create a new start for them and their family's future.
Many in the Asian community will house more than one family under one roof and happily work two jobs to set themselves up.
I cant fault anyone coming to Australia, working hard and taking their opportunities.
What worries me is how much thought goes into the economics of it all. Are these new arrival's interested in historical price charts of housing? Do they read our federal budgets? Do they care if we're in an asset bubble?
Probably not.
On the whole i think most would come from pretty desperate situations and will do and pay anything to make good of their new start.
So for me, the more immigration we see the less chance of a retreat in housing prices.
