I'm a bear for Australian property but even I have to admit that the article is seriously grasping at straws. I saw those exact same plots a few years ago when Aus prices were "trending" with the U.S prices post GFC and saying how we were also  heading for "the cliff".

Hindsight shows us that didn't happen, we didn't follow the U.S down so now that has been debunked,  they're saying we're following Japan? Look at the gradient differential at the intersect, its an even bigger stretch now.

One thing I believe is that once people start resorting to real graphs rather than nominal to get their point across they are employing a kind of scare tactic to make the numbers look worse and influence people. Unless you have your capital locked away in gold, your money is subject to inflation too, so presenting "real" graphs just distorts the picture to the downside.

That said, I believe capital gains in Australia will be limited for the next few years but we don't have 100 year mortgages like Japan had pre-pop. Not to mention their sharemarket crash…