Bazza, you might call it an embarrassing bedtime story and think that I have a sad imagination, but I can assure you my friend, negative equity and loan foreclosure is a very real scenario that will play out for many a first home buyer/property investor in the next one or two years.
The stupidity switch was well and truly flicked on in early 2021, after all the rate cuts and billions of dollars in fiscal stimulus gave people a false sense of security and saw them throw a lot of money at risky investment assets. But what many are oblivious to is that leverage is a very sharp, double-edged sword. In the last couple of years, borrowing big to invest in a property anywhere in Australia was one of the riskiest investments you could make, in terms of potential for capital loss. If you can't see that, you're either really, really stupid... or just not very good at maths.
