Property in Australia will not fall as far as it did in the US because they had massive over supply and we have a shortage.
It has been reported that there is approximately 1.5 million surplus residences in the US. People were building as an investment - not as a place to stay. These will need to be filled before prices rise.
There was a big building boom in the US before the bust. Sydney had a bit of a building boom in 2001 but the bust from that has already happened.
People like to complicated things but all other factors lie as a thematic over basic supply and demand. In Australia there is large (and rising) demand and stagnent supply (rental returns still don't justify more building in most places).
Also there are non-recourse loans in the US where you can just leave the keys at the bank. We don't have that so people are forced to battle with their mortgage rather than give the property back to the bank to sell.
Unless everyone ups and moves overseas (demand) or we get another building boom (supply), property prices are staying where they are +/- 10% max.
Other than that - people just want another headline.
