IMHO, the only significance of a presumed 'bubble' is whether it bursts eventually or keeps growing. The price rises are worrying for those trying to get into the market. A short few months has made a lot of money for lucky investors while the poor FHB are forced further out, having to buy in a hole somewhere and driving many, many miles to work, or doomed to rent for an extended period of time.

As my friend once remarked, 'Affordable housing? Yeah, I know of a shack in a slum that's affordable.'

Perhaps in this case, the chance of a market collapsing as a result of bursting of that bubble is probably inversely proportional to the number of people thinking that a bubble exists. The more people talk about a property 'bubble', the hotter the market gets and the gains become greater.

Same goes with interest rates. The number of people deciding to fix is inversely proportional to how high the interest rates are. People seem to fix when they're at a high and then not fix when they are at an all-time low.

Not sure what others think here, but I'd like to be taught why the property market, and even the stock market went from complete doom and gloom early last year and reverse immediately into a boom over what seemed to be just overnight, with no change in global conditions. This is how some seemed to get caught out. People were standing on the sidelines thinking the market would crash further, only to see it reverse and head north for no apparent reason.

It is often cited that low interest rates and high demand are the reason for property prices heading upwards in today's market. I'm pretty sure that demand has been pretty good all along, and the cash rate was already very low (just 25 basis points above that of today) back in Dec 2008. So what exactly changed in Feb/ Mar 2009?

Sometimes I hear of people of my parents' generation talking about having bought a house perhaps 10-15 years ago for $70K in some middle Melbourne suburb that is now worth easily over $1 mil. Personally I think such gains will be unheard of in the future. I cannot imagine a $700K middle suburb house today being worth $10 mil in 10-15 years time! What about those $25 mil mansions in blue-ribbon suburbs? Would they then be worth over $250 million??! If our groceries inflated at a similar rate we'd be looking at boxes of cereal selling at $100 a pack!

It would appear that buying a house is just going to get harder for the average working Aussie.

Agreed. Lofty ambitions can be a problem, especially in a society that 'wants it all' and 'wants it now'. Once at this forum I read a comment about why people preferred to live nearer the CBD even if they didn't actually work there. The comment was that some people need the comfort of lights and activity which is generally associated with the CBD. Of course you're also more likely to be able to eat or shop till later in the CBD, or at least there would be a good reason to be out of the house.

However, livability is a very real issue. People buy/ rent houses to live in, so shouldn't they be comfortable with where they live?

Everyone's definition of 'livability' will be different, but there is a general trend. It defines why people would rather be in St Kilda than Coober Pedy, for example, otherwise the prices might as well be the same and so would the demographics. The presence of shops, transport, restaurants, education, cinemas, or other things that support the 'lifestyle' of today's people. Not to mention that, today's people want these things (and their workplace) to be within easy walking/ commuting distance.

They work longer hours. They start work when it's dark and finish work when it's dark. Time is precious. They want to be able to catch up with friends at a trendy pub or restaurant, or visit a popular shopping center without having to deal with a hour of crazy traffic to get there. They want to spend more quality time with family, or the people that mean the most to them.

Prices are in turn dependent, at least in part, on livability, and/ or proximity to the CBD. People want their house to be in a livable suburb, a place where they actually feel relatively stress-free, rather than a dangerous isolated hole out there where you would be found dead and dismembered within 2 weeks of moving in, or to be living in a place amongst a throng of deros.

When looking at houses or suburbs in which to buy, I sometimes think we should go back to the basics: A house is a roof over your head. It is supposed to give you shelter, comfort, convenience, allow you to relax, hang loose, be with family…good neighbourly spirit. It is supposed to be near where your friends are, and where you work. So, where would you like to live? Just my thought.

Haha, after nearly getting involved in that road rage incident, I've just become a little hypervigilant!

Matt,

Do you think that the increase in "aged care facilities" such as they are building around here, (Think pictures of grey haired, wine sipping, Mercedes driving, gents and ladies) will fill part of the gap and become a new trend? I don't see older people flooding out of this particular area hence the shortage in available stock for rent and for sale.

I was talking about people who want to live in the middle of town who don't really need to be there. If you have small kids and you are squished into an inner city apartment because you want to live in the city……why? I'm talking about older people who still live in crumbling mansions because they want to live in a particular area……….this is a catch 22. They still live there so you cannot develop the land to allow 3 smaller easy care units on the block, which if designed the right way they could happily live in for much longer!

I used to drive 1 hr each way to work and back, then when my car died (through poverty) I caught 2.5 hrs worth of public transport because my parents could afford to buy, and I could afford to rent there. Many people think more than 20 mins is too far.

I get tired of the affordability thing because when people talk about affordable everyone has a picture of the perfect house in the perfect spot. It is never "oh, well I can afford a house, needs a bit of work".

Everyone seems to turn their noses up at structurally sound houses that might need a bit of a scrub and a new kitchen. I think the Australian dream has changed to mean, I want to own a fantastic house, with a pool, 2 nice cars, have my kids in the top private schools and wear expensive clothes, oh and have great holidays all the time. Houses are affordable if you put money into your mortgage and don't spend every single dollar on lifestyle as well.

I watched some people I know look for 2 years to find "the house" they ended up with a house and paid 200k more for it as the market had moved in the mean time.

Think about it. And some first home buyers are picky picky picky. My brother and his girlfriend included!

D

Current median where I am is just under 2 mil.

Call me when it plateaus!

D

I laugh at people who are always trying to 'keep up with the jones' and have nothing to fall back on when times get tough. I own three iPS and a small three bedroom home all in larger regional towns.My car is eleven years old. But aside from my mortgages, i have no debts.

When we go on holidays we go camping and stay at some fantastic caravan parks with a powered site, so I can still have my TV hit when the chidlren go to sleep. The place we stayed at in Echuca had fantastic games room, shower block full kitchn facilities, BBQs and two pools, basketball, voleyball, putt putt golf, river walks etc. My self, my three children and my niece stayed for four days and it cost less than $250.00 and this was in January 'Peak Holiday time!! We had an absolute ball yet some friends turn there nose up at staying in a caravan park and would rather have no holiday, or worse, go into debt to pay for one!

Matt, my mum used to make the same comment that you have regarding 'younger people of today' They do wnat what their parent's have, but don't appreciate that it may have taken twenty or thirty years to get to that particular property and the features it has.

Sonya

That is something that could conceivably happen in the future. There might have been some recent articles suggesting that detached houses on land experienced greater % growth compared to units, but I won't be surprised to see this reverse in time to come. It's back to the point of people working longer hours I suppose, and them wanting something that is lower maintenance. On the other hand, a family with young kids will probably still want a backyard for their kids to play in.

If we see an increasing proportion of DINKS in the future, or young professionals who stay single for an extended period of their working life (or perhaps all their life), then maybe even apartments will become the mainstay property. I can't imagine though, how many blocks of apartments will actually be built. Most folk would want to preserve their suburb's heritage and will campaign till doom's day against apartments on their street.

It appears the Gen Y (of which I am one) and Gen Z cop quite a bit of fleck from older generations who blame these kids as being impulsive, lacking in foresight, lacking patience etc. But I'm going to stick my neck out and defend them.

My belief is that society makes the person, not the other way around. I think that society and its expectations are the reason why we're seeing supposed 'flaws' in the Gen Y and Z people. These days the only three words I know are 'Faster, Faster, Faster!!!' Other suggestive connotations aside, I think this is a true representation of today's society. The younger people are getting this lobotomized into their brains from day one.

There's only 24 hours in a day, but people are cramming ever more things into their schedule. Speed is a necessity, not an optional extra. Slow boat is a dead boat. Gone are the days of handmade quality. Gone are the days of relaxed coffee sipping and newspaper reading. In comes human 'robots' working at the fastest possible speed, teeth bared and climbing over each other's shoulders to gain the boss's favour just so that they can keep their job!

Let's consider how most of the spending in our lives actually occurs. *Swipe* And the money is transferred. We can 'rock up' to an Ebay auction mere seconds before it ends, place a bid in a flash and buy it sight unseen. We pay electronically, again a transaction taking only seconds. Facebook and email exists and is popular because people want real-time updates, not snail mail that's days in coming. What about the toll roads? We drive under the gantry point, and *beep*, we've just spend $5.

I work as a veterinarian in a large clinic at RSPCA in Burwood, and we have hundreds of procedures to perform everyday with emergencies coming in all the time that need immediate attention. We have owners that call us literally just a couple of hours after they have dropped an animal off, wondering if the animal is ready for pick up.

Geez, it's surgery mate, not a fast food restaurant!

Personally I think Gen Y and Gen Z people appear to lack patience and want everything quickly because the same is expected of them.

Oops…sorry again, just my thoughts.

Fword,

Sometimes the speed of the world makes me want to say 'stop the world, i want to get off' just so i have time to catch my breath.

In defence of Gen Y and Z ( i think my nieces are genZ) My niece has just turned 17 and wanted to go on a school excursion, her parents said that would be fine if she paid for it. So she worked nights and weekends whilst attending school during the day and saved up the $3,500 to go. She left on Saturday for 14 days and from the text messages she has sent, she is having a great time. She has worked and saved for things that she has wnated since she was 14, as her mum wasn' t prepared to finance her 'brand label lifestyle'. She appreciates what she has so much more because she has worked for it and waited until she could afford it.

there are many people in all age groups and demographics who have positive and negative aspects to their make up, i like that most of the people on this forum genuinely want to support each other on the journey to financial security thru various types of property investing.

Sonya