So what, and who cares! It's always been about greed, clammering for low interest rates to raise prices and create a false sense of prosperity. The alarming comment about one bedroom units being not much for living in, but good for investment says it all. Housing is no longer about people having somewhere to live: it's all about greedy people making money out of developments thrown together to hastily, with the conivance of government, using taxpayer money and calling it investment. A really good deal for Chinese.

eh ttbn something we agree on. Love to see a government with enough stones to kill off negative gearing. A lazy 4 billion in savings and cheaper housing for all.

There has been quite a campaign of 'Negging' and speculative gossip aimed at white-anting and hopefully destroying private investment market in housing.

Some of it is driven by jealousy and for political capital out of negatively stereotyping landlords as wealthy entrepreneurs. - The Class War of leftists and the lunar Greens 'Protest' Party.

However, there is an investment industry and big investment houses that have been regularly shaken by corruption and have a record over decades for diminishing, not increasing, the 'nest eggs' that small investors have entrusted with them. These interests would prefer that the money was directed their way and they have the ear of editors (of course, money talks as they say).

Government, both sides, has no appetite for providing welfare housing. Government has found welfare tenants impossibly demanding, impossible to manage and impossible to keep up with the continuous new records set in immigration (for a 'Big Australia the electorate doesn't want and is not consulted on).

Welfare housing is impossible to fund through lack of tenant care, malicious damage and sheer growth in demand (immigration and single person households). No-one wants welfare tenants in their street or 'burb'. Unfortunately for the decent persons, many 'guvvy' tenants stink as tenants and maybe as people too.

Go to a meeting of property owners and you will be struck by the number of ordinary low-income people there and the age of the ordinary cars outside. They invest because government is also sidestepping support of the aged and hopefully to provide education for their children.

The truth is that there is very little profit if ever, but always losses in providing rental property. The investors are ordinary mums and dads who sacrifice their own lifestyle for years - not something many tenants are inclined to do.

Money can flee from investment in rental property. Maybe a Marxist would want that. Once the move away from rental property is started, does anyone, government?, really believe the resulting stampede will be easily turned, or ever?

Be careful what you wish for.

Real Estate salespeople our our benefactors.

We need many more Chinese, and perhaps Indians in time, to buy our real estate, farmland and coal mines.

Then with all the loot we can go off and live in Bali or Thailand.

ttbn

"So what, and who cares!"

I wouldn't give a rat's either if the fallout were confined to all those real estate "investors", unfortunately we'll all pay the price when (1) the taxpayers have to bail out the banks and there's a recession and (2) when those middle class upwardly mobile homeowners realise that their Mc Mansions are worth less than their mortgages.

Good! I own my house and am hardly affected if the bottom drops out of the market leaving a few lazy or "ASPIRATIONAL" investors looking for relief? I will still have a place to live, although I might have to fork out a little less on rates and insurance? Goody!

I have no sympathy whatsoever for money hungry foreign investors, who would if they could. make us tenants in our own land?

Ditto those money faced agents that waxed fat on this activity!

In any event a proper correction would return affordability to the housing market and if that means the usual medley of negatively geared rent seekers need better long term and safe investment vehicles? Alternative energy project come to mind! And a far better place to invest scarce taxpayer funds!
Rhrosty.