Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge sums it up well." You have to freaking insane to buy property in Australia now." http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-08/time-panic-australia

What many people dont understand is that any move that devalues housing, has an adverse effect on the economy, so while on the one hand the house prices may be lower, but the flip side is banks will be much tighter with their lending. Throw in the abolishment of negative gearing and the problem becomes even worse.

The ony answer to affordable housing is to buy where and what one can afford.

Many of you have missed a few obvious facts:

According to Bloomberg-

"‘Homeowners, consumers and property investors around Australia are making more calls to financial helplines as three warning signs back up the spike in demand: mortgage arrears are creeping up, lenders’ bad debt provisions have increased and personal insolvencies are near an all-time high.

‘Australia’s households are among the world’s most indebted after bingeing on more than A$1 trillion ($766 billion) of mortgages amid a housing boom that’s fizzled out in parts of the country, but still roaring in Sydney and Melbourne.’

Households have binged on debt. The price of a property is 12.2 times household income.

Little wonder more households are feeling the pinch and are seeking some form of debt relief."

And,

"Household debt has soared to over 180% of GDP, making Australia one of the most indebted private sectors in the world.

The RBA has played its role in ‘facilitating’ this debt binge by lowering interest rates to historic lows.

According to research from McKell Institute:

"Australian wage growth is slowing and is expected to stall in the coming years. Currently, the average weekly wage for an Australian is AUD$1145.70. However, this is expected to only grow in real terms to AUD$1243 per week by 2020.This growth is incredibly slow by Australian and international standards alike, and highlights the threat to the continuation of Australia’s middle class standard of living. At the same time as Australian income growth is slowing, cost-of-living pressures continue to grow, and disposable income is decreasing."

If this is the case any potential upside seems to me to be a pipe dream. Austerity is coming to a place near you and it's going to be ugly.

Absolute crap rechub!

Simply put, need to replace deliberately rationed scarcity and massively over valued/over leveraged real estate, with volume. And, fire up a building boom lead recovery.

Need affordable energy, rapid rail, fibre to the home NBN and quite massive decentralisation. Volume will fire up our steel mills and countless other industries, none of which serves the nation's interests, if located in already overcrowded capital cities.

Jobs? Literally thousands of new regional occupations connected to an algae based oil industry, nuclear power as already tried and proven molten salt thorium, which can be commissioned as projects with a 100 year life and used to SAFELY recycle and recycle nuclear waste, for centuries of free energy! To eventually reduce the half life to 300 years and remove for all time the threat of nuclear conflagration.

We need our own national fleet which ideally, will be nuclear powered fast submersible (roll on roll off) ferries taking whole trains. Along with the world's cheapest, cleanest, safest energy, place us and our MANUFACTURED exports in a position where everyone else competes with us!

Most important is new space age desalination that no longer needs the massive pressure of membrane filtration. But desalinates with the flow, utilizing an electric shock wave, deionisation dialysis.

Meaning, one can desalinate flows in pipes big enough to drive a truck through without ever impeding the flow or upping the pressure, more than than needed to accommodate the topology. And as tried and tested technology, provides 90%+ potable water for quarter of the cost of current, reverse osmosis desalination.

Seriously, we can with the right policies and far less timorous vacillating leadership, not only put the entire country back to work, but create so much of it, we'll have no choice but to import massive temporary contractual guest labor.

And that means we must have leaders and policy proponents who genuinely believe the country and the people are vastly more important than the pampered, the privileged, parliamentary salaries, pensions and unearned entitlements, or their positions or roles!

And all that's really and self evidently missing!
Alan B.

Foxy, you need a two bathroom apartment if you want a dog, with one bathroom her exclusive toiletry, provence and bedsit sleeping quarters.

You'll need a cupboard evacuation fan and synthetic grass carpet for her shower enclosure and out on the balcony. A wet and dry vac will take care of her droppings and the occasional (gasp, shock horror) flea, which after hands free collection may be flushed.

Don't bother with those back of the neck applications of flea treatments, they're a waste of time. See your vet for something to be taken internally that keeps working long enough to take out all the eggs as well! Ditto worms, particularly heartworms.

The synthetic grass mats ought to be able to fit comfortably inside her shower recess and hosed down in there. Alternation from pet bathroom to balcony, will ensure sunlight aided disinfection.

From time to time a little raw bleach can be spayed but only outside or while the extraction fan is rumbling. And counterbalanced by a follow up spray with white vinegar, and if indoors, only with the (fume cupboard) extractor fan operating. A treadmill may provide a substitute walk, but requires familiarity training!

A balcony is essential as is a pet friendly body corp.

Anyone would think I used to train dogs and run a dog obedience school. Remember a dog isn't a little human, but may be toilet training more speedily.

The first command word should only ever be NO, by then she will already know her name, which if shrilled loudly, may lead her to believe you approve the behavior and want it continued.

No and a rolled newspaper thwacked against thigh, yours. Is the only corporal punishment needed. Anything else is fraught with behavioral problems. As is allowing errant puppy behavior that you wouldn't want or tolerate in a grown dog!

If you can't afford to properly look after, obedience train and properly socialize her, don't have one!
Happy Apartment hunting.
Alan B.

Alan, by all meas keep dreaming because after all, dreams are one thing no one can take away from us.

As for rebuilding Oz, another pipe dream because the floor sweeper wants $25 per hour.

High speed rail, another dream. We can't even get people to pay a toll to use a tunnel. One that created hundeds of jobs and cost billions, how do you think they would feel parting with mega bucks to catch a HS train.

Enjoy your dreams my freind. Because thats all they are.