This report on the housing market and the dangers now being experienced by having had the previous restrictions in this market by overseas buyers lifted by the government, is just another example of the government over-supporting the bulding / housing industry.
The incentives that were hastily put in place called "stimulus" were for insulation in the roof and by association the repairs to the ones that have burnt, school buildings, wanted or unwanted, and other forms of infrastructure but which all supported almost exclusively the building industry.
Then the shortage of homes due to excessive migration, planned or unplanned, the lifting of restrictions on overseas, that is Chinese buyers, have all subsidised just one group.
Why? Has this been a fop to the builders and therefore the unions prior to an election? Now that's a cynical thought but probably has more truth to it than one imagines. And, of course, it is highly visible, warrants substantial media cover, ad nauseum and is seldom out of the news.
It is difficult to see the excessive conerage on auctions on TV with the large numbers of hopeful buyers trying to make a bid. There have been occasions during such coverage that the only bidders were Chinese. As this article says, no one wants a falling housing market on their watch.
So if you want to sheet home the blame for the inability to be able to buy a home and to now spend the rst of your life paying rent (as houses do not come down in price, ever) then it is just another example of poor policy, again with serious ramifications for Australians, the losers in all this.

The current government is lucky that they have such a knave in Tony Abbott who could never ever be considered as a serious bet for PM. The mistakes that have been made in this case affecting generations to come as they never ever realise their dreams of owning a home, the reason for which few people had made the government's connection.
This article by daily reckoning clearly makes that point.

Looks like Rudd is trying to pass on the hot potato that Howard passed to him. The US has shown that unsustainable low rates coupled with fractional reserve lending can extend bubbled beyond a decade, clearly they are giving it a red hot try.
Both the major parties seem content with obscene financial industry profiteering and the mantra: Inflation is Bad, but house inflation is Good. They are also understating real inflation and real unemployment.

Wouldn't any home purchase by a Chinese company or a Chinese national have to be approved by the Foreign Investment Review Borad? And if FIRB has approved the purchase then we've deemed it legitimate etc. I can see the point he's making but it cuts both ways. If we can buy properties overseas then I don't see the harm in allowing foreign investment here.

Rudd has 'made no apologies' for supporting a big Australia that just keeps growing. That shows the extreme shallowness in his strategic thinking. This is alarming from our Prime Minister.

For healthy, vibrant and sustainable communities we require a completely different policy setting: no further population growth beyond our current 22 million.

Sadly our PM and Opposition Leader are both beholden to the big developers who need unrestricted foreign property investors to fuel their business models of growth to 36 million and ever more growth pushing to 50 million.

Bubble property prices will continue unless continued high population and foreign investment growth is seen for what it truely is - more like a cancer, manifesting itself as outbreaks of crime hotspots over the vast urban sprawls, so common in other parts of the world.

The decaying slums that have been previously limited to neglected aboriginal communities will pop up in the cities, becoming reminders of policy failures to cater to our social, economic, sporting, cultural, educational and environmental well being comes at an awful long term human cost.

It seems that only the Greens would end these misguided policies and change course before it's too late. Perhaps they will become a major party before long.

The decades long migration formula of high levels of skilled migration needs to be put on hold for at least a decade. A pause would allow us to catch up on the backlog of our nations failing infrastucture. We also need time out to up-date our broken federation system of governance and to reflect upon and plan for the impacts of climate change. Is that asking too much, Messers Rudd and Abbott?

Interest rates are still lower than when I bought my first home over 40 years ago.

While I am not personally affected by interest rates, foreign investment and foolish immigration numbers jacking up the price of houses, I do sympathise with those Australians trying to buy their own homes.

However, as long as those same would-be home buyers do not exercise their democratic right to object to population increases and foreign ownership of residential property (foreign investment to the detriment of ordinary Australians) nothing will change

Quick response and Leigh

Well said, thank you.

Quick response,
I would like to think the Greens could grasp the nettle on population and sustainability where they would get a windfall of support. However I reckon they are acting like a deer caught in the headlights and are doing nothing (a suggested inquiry counts as nothing) through a needless fear that a firm policy might lose some of their supporters.