Year: 2014

The negative gearing debate is back in the media. On Monday, the ABC’s Michael Janda warned everyone will lose in the long run when our investor lead property bubble bursts. (‘Few positives to be found in negative gearing‘) Today, The Business Spectator’s Callam Pickering is singing the same tunes (‘Why …

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has warned record low interest rates could fuel a new global financial crisis, one much more severe and prolonged than experienced in 2008. In the bank’s 84th Annual report, released on Saturday, it raises the phenomenon it calls the debt trap. When debt bubbles …

On Thursday night, Moody‘s Investors Service warned Australia’s real estate market may be overheating and it “appears to be increasingly likely to get caught up in a positive price-feedback loop and eventually could face a correction.” Echoing warnings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week, Moody’s indicate “both price-to-income …

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned another devastating global housing crash, reminiscent of 2008, is on the cards if governments around the world fail to take decisive action. Global house prices are now at a level that could pose significant systemic risk to economies around the world. In a …

Paul D. Egan and Philip Soos has just had their new book published – Bubble Economics: Australian Land Speculation 1830 – 2013. It is available for download from the World Economics Association. Egan and Soos looks back over Australia’s three Depressions showing how land bubbles attributed predominately to their creation …

Last night at a gala dinner held at The Rocks in Sydney, Nobel prize winning economist Sir James Mirrlees voiced his professional opinion that Australia’s high wages cannot be sustained and must move closer to countries such as China, otherwise unemployment will continue to steadily grow as capital leaves the …

According to figures released by SQM Research, Australia’s national rental vacancy rate has increased by 0.3 percent in April and now sits at a record high of 2.3 percent, the highest since the index commenced in 2005. The high vacancy rate is putting downward pressure on asking rents as Landlords …

As Australians argue about the level of government debt and if we need a debt tax ahead of next Tuesday’s Federal Budget, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has today released data showing where Australia’s real debt crisis is. According to the ABS, Australian household debt at the end of …

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week warned Australia’s budget position over the past 6 months is deteriorating at the fastest pace of any of the world’s 29 most advanced economies. “Australia will need massive budget savings of about $90 billion if it is to stabilise its government debt by …

As widely feared, Chinese appetite for Sydney and Melbourne real estate has caused house prices to surge in Australia at the fastest pace since records started 18 years ago. According to data released today from RP Data, Sydney house prices have increased at an unsustainable 15.6 per cent year on …

In what is likely result in more job losses and business failures, the ACTU plans to lodge a submission to the Fair Work Commission on Friday calling for a rise in the minimum wage because of Australia’s unprecedented housing bubble. The Sydney Morning Herald reports: While the minimum wage was …

Earlier this week, it was announced Treasurer Joe Hockey had asked the House Standing Committee on Economics to investigate foreign investment in residential real estate. Today, the Terms of Reference was announced. Chaired by Ms Kelly O’Dwyer MP, the house committee will examine: the economic benefits of foreign investment in residential property; whether …