CONCRETE DETAILby Christopher JoyeKeen concedes defeat Well...

CONCRETE DETAIL

by Christopher Joye

Keen concedes defeat

Well folks, it’s over. After predicting 40 per cent falls in Australian house prices – he was off by an order of magnitude as prices slipped just 3.8 per cent – and a domestic depression with unemployment rising to 15 per cent plus, the infamous Steve Keen of the University of Western Sydney has finally conceded defeat to his staunch adversary, Rory Robertson of Macquarie Bank (he should have done so months ago on the much more timely RP Data-Rismark numbers).

Bloomberg flashed the news “Macquarie’s Robertson Wins Mountain Bet on Australian Houses” across traders’ screens yesterday evening with raucous cheers heard echoing across Martin Place. It was even reported that interest rate futures had increased the probability of a 25 basis point hike today given that this was further vindication that the pig-hunting and barra-catchin’ man from Far North Queensland, otherwise known as “rate cut Rory”, very rarely gets his big calls wrong.

Bloomberg summarised the situation:

“The concession follows a report published earlier today…shattering Keen’s forecast…Robertson, 43, challenged Keen to hike Mount Kosciuszko if values fell by less than 20 per cent.

“Keen could scarcely have been more wrong,” Macquarie’s Robertson said today in Sydney. “I wish Dr. Keen well on his long walk. The Sydney academic will do the walk wearing a tee-shirt saying: 'I was hopelessly wrong on home prices! Ask me how'.”