pomtastic

Are you sure? Dianne Abbot has been exposed as a racist, yes racist, saying West Indian mothers 'go to the wall' for their children, implying that white mothers don't, when asked about the reasons for sending her son to top London private school. She's an idiot and Andrew Neil exposed her for what she is, a fraud.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...=feeds-newsxml

pomtastic

In a true capitalist society the weak get eliminated and the puss gets washed out of the system, so we can then move forwards. It makes a better and more efficient system coz ultimately the taxpayers pay to keep these unproductive companies going - see the US.

pomtastic

Anyway, back on topic. This little beauty in The West today.

Homeowners 'living on rice' to pay the mortgage.

Too funny,..... stupid greedy home owners.

NedKelly

Exactly, that's why she would be so good at being their leader. She sums up everything the labour party is but unlike Blair the war criminal who lied everytime he opened his mouth, Dianne Abbot is too stupid to fool the public. It is obvious what she is.

renth

F**K, sounds like my family, and I don't even have a mortgage, just a Mrs and 3 kids and 2 cars...

coolshadows

SO it was RICE that saved Australia from the GFC!!!!!!

freebo

Housing market a 'time bomb', says investment legend - Jeremy Grantham

wilf70

The 'pessimists' views exactly--thanks for that Freebo

jimbo_d

Where on earth does he get houses being 7.5 times household income? Maybe certain wealthy suburbs but certainly not across the country. It's more like 4 times at the most.

Difference between Oz & USA is banks are covered against default for risky borrowers and everyone else puts down 20% at least and if the worst happens the super can be tapped to pay off a mortgage. There's no handing back the keys here.

Centurion

Well if you assume that the median Australian household income is $65k, but lets be charitable and call it $70k. Assume that the average house median cost is around $420k then you have seriously more than the 4 times at most you suggest and more toward the 7.5

Clearly I'm talking median terms across all states and there are some variations, but really there is no disguising the fact the situation we have is far removed from the 2.5 - 4 times household income that housing should be priced at.

There are differences between the US and Australian lending and banking systems but this still doesn't detract from the basic sums of where we are headed in the short term.

freebo

You're more than welcome.

spottydog

I thought the median salary was around $65k so the median household income is probably closer to $100k (1.5 workers per house).

Centurion

I thought that ABC had crunched the numbers before and household was 65-70k. I can't find anything that I would love to quote as bible truth on the current position. But even a google seems to show that's the case.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_...nd_New_Zealand

pomtastic

Well, well, well, lookie here!

I'd be concerned if I had a load of debt.

Foreign Investors worried about Australian Debt.

On another note, plenty of talk in the UK press about houses double dipping because of Credit Crunch II which will have a roll effect on our prices, especially in Pommie hotspots.

jimbo_d

No chance, doubt even in Tassie or Adelaide median household income is $65k for a family, maybe for single person households but that's a minority. You couldn't possibly live in any of the major cities on a household income of that and pay for a mortgage.

Median wage is more like $65k.