Originally Posted by man_called_Horse

Same here, have a good lump in a term deposit account of 6.00% been looking at plenty of houses recently to gauge the current market. Sydney is tough and I can see some of the heat has come out of the market but I am not hedging my bets on a major drop in market price to buy a really good house in a sensible location.

Really if there is a slump it will probably affect the areas that most people who post on these boards would not want to live..

My OH father has lived in Sydney for 30 years and he says that some areas you cant go wrong... but that is balanced out by places that you could lose.

Problem is that I just want to live in the area that you cant lose but so does everybody else... I could hang on for another few years but I don't want to be paying a Mortgage in my 70's

Originally Posted by pomtastic

There's an assumption that people will pay 'anything' because there is an underlying demand for it and therefore price will rise regardless and to infinity and to the sky. This assumption is wrong.

Originally Posted by coolshadows

I'm sure there are bargains like that to be had around Australia (within an hour or so of a city).

Originally Posted by pomtastic

bloody hell, you need to start reading up on the Californian, US, Irish, Spainish, etc, etc property crashes. Everyone who bought there thought 'We can't lose'

Originally Posted by ABCDiamond

Rising to infinity and the sky however, is pretty ridiculous.
It would be interesting to see actual quotes where this has been said.

Originally Posted by ABCDiamond

Thought i'd better do some reading up...

Southern California house and condominium prices rose 13 percent in June 2010 from a year earlier...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-0...x-credits.html

Originally Posted by pomtastic

Just look at this, house up for auction in Hartlepool for £10K. Can't see many people from that area affording Aus thesedays and yet 10 years ago, people were indeed swapping their Hartlepool hovels for 4x2 with pool in good areas of Perth.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...on-10-000.html

Originally Posted by pomtastic

You can get an at call rate of 6.51% at Ubank, better than what you are getting now.

The most desirable and high end areas of Perth have seen the most dramatic house price falls of 20 - 30%, so yes, you can go wrong, regardless of area and location, location.

'Area you can't lose' ...... bloody hell, you need to start reading up on the Californian, US, Irish, Spainish, etc, etc property crashes. Everyone who bought there thought 'We can't lose'

Originally Posted by ABCDiamond

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-0...x-credits.html

Originally Posted by pomtastic

As I said, you need to read up on Californain house prices.

I won't even bother to explain. DYOR

Originally Posted by coolshadows

Hmm, do you think if Australian banks offered 30 year fixed mortgages at 4.57%, it's might push prices up too?

Originally Posted by coolshadows

Hmm, do you think if Australian banks offered 30 year fixed mortgages at 4.57%, it's might push prices up too?

Originally Posted by pomtastic

US had a $8K tax credit going on, a bit like our FHOG to try and stem the rot. Unfortunately it's run out now. Top to bottom, California has dropped something like 40%+, I can't be bothered to locate the charts or stats.

Originally Posted by ABCDiamond

I agree it did. But it has started to climb again.

Originally Posted by ABCDiamond

Oh sorry, I read up on Californian house prices

They dropped from their highs, but are rising again. Having relatives living there I know exactly what happened and why, and the reason that the owners can't do the same here.