With fuel, food, costs of living getting out of control, also our house not selling and neighbours knocking 50 grand off the price of theirs. are these high taxes and problems only in the uk? or are the ozzies starting to feel the pinch also? i suppose if oz house prices fall in line with uk ones, surley its all ok? right? the only thing on the news and in the daily rags is the same...doom doom doom. is it the same over there?

Yes I'd say it's pretty much the same here fuel, food going up. House prices starting to come down a bit. Interest rates are high.........doom and gloom pretty much everywhere at the moment.

I wouldn't say its doom and gloom everywhere, yet anyway. Businesses and families that have overextended themselves are certainly getting flushed out, but the general population is holding up quite ok so far. Fundamentally the australian economy is much stronger than the US and UK, we just need to trim some of the recent excesses.

It seemed so easy to borrow money in the UK. With interest rates here being higher I am not that people have borrowed to the extent they have in the UK. Maybe the fact interest rates are higher in Oz it might deter the large amounts sometimes stuck on credit cards in the UK.

I am sure someone with more knowledge than me will chip in but I don't think we spend like we did in the UK and certainly wouldn't dream of letting things go on credit card then consolidating into the mortgage.

That being said the price rises are still hurting.

Similar situation banks have tightened there purse strings, wish Aussie
interest rates were as low as the uk Thay aint half hurting in aus, if your honest i think its on a downward trend

Although they are still happy to give out 100% home loans, unlike the UK.

Yes___________________

There is a lot of the old Australia cant possibly have credit problems fib,
but the old demon rose colored glass thing, cant hide that Australia
is not imune to it, however you cant hide your head in the sand there is
no shame ,this is a global thing
And to have a 1oo% home loan is a road to trouble anyway

Everything seems to be going up and nothing coming down so I'd say watching the news about same as UK at present.

Some people say that Australia is not so exposed to the credit crunch in the way people understand it elsewhere.

Might be true, but inflation is No.1 issue over here and surely the FX rate is too high. Seems to me the economy is overheating. I can see the mining industry going on but surely there has to be a slowdown somewhere. I think houses prices are crazy.

Nightmare scenario is stagflation. That would be the end of the boom for some.

Australians are much more gamblers than Brits, and this has made the housing inflation worse over the years - together with tax incentives on "investment" property.

There are very many folk here just hanging on, very overextended and with several properties rented out and not paying their way.

As the inevitable consequences of over-borrowing bite, expect a lot of trauma here. Despite the resources boom in part of the continent.

A misguided ATO release on the removal of negative gearing tax schemes would cause major heart attacks throughout the country



.... what a damn good idea on the eve of the 30th

Try selling your home in parts of Western Sydney at this time ,the vultures
are out ,offering stupid prices to cash strapped sellers :curse:

And not just Western Sydney... Here on the Northern Beaches there's a repossessed property in Newport overlooking the beach that the agents are trying to get low $3m's for and can't get anyone to budge over $2m...

Yes the Nothern beaches are suffering Even at the high end.. Auctions
sales have dropped off

Or realistic ones, not the vastly overpriced figures people seem to have got used to and are expecting?