If you read the actual data from the economist, it states Australian houses prices is overvalued by 53 percent on a rent to house price ratio and 38 percent on a income to house price ratio.
The 25% that the tabloids are quoting is "Based on the average of the two measures, home prices are overvalued by about 25% or more in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, New Zealand, Britain, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden"
So its 25 percent or more over the 9 countries as is the bare minimum.
Fairfax would not be able to publish the 38 or 53 percent figure for fear the real estate agents would stop advertising with them. Even then, I was surprised the paper would publish the 25% figure for fear upsetting the property lobby. There might be a retraction next week, followed by free editorial (advertising) saying prices will boom.
