Hotton

With today news on Unemployment and with home approvals down .property prices down First home buyers as rare as hens teeth ,will the government bring back the first home buyers grant open the borders to overseas property ivestment again and generally give tax payers cash away to prop up the economy
Could Australia cope wih a full blown double dip recession on the scale of the UK and US.??

ABCDiamond

The unemployment rate in general though is still heading back down. These are the last 6 month figures for Male Full time:

5.19% Feb-2010
5.10% Mar-2010
5.08% Apr-2010
5.01% May-2010
4.81% Jun-2010
4.98% Jul-2010

ABCDiamond

The number of First Home Buyers isn't really changing that much:

First Home Buyer Finances:
Jan-2010 8,316
Feb-2010 8,503
Mar-2010 8,716
Apr-2010 7,532
May-2010 8,085
Jun-2010 7,858

Average of 8,168 per month.
This is however about 20% lower than the normal average for the first 6 months of each year; 2006-2008.

ABS 5609.0 Housing Finance, Australia Table 9a.

ABCDiamond

And house prices ? Up or Down ?

Seems like some confusion.

• Median prices say up. (ABS: 6416.0 - House Price Indexes)
• Real prices seem to be only slight changes. (Comparisons of individual houses)

Weebie

house prices will drop but I doubt they'll drop that much or to a point where people on this site are hoping they will drop too.

Centurion

It wont suffer in a similar way to the US or UK because our primary industry is digging stuff out of the ground and we actually have a physical item to sell.

However, yes the fundamentals which support the economy are looking interesting; home prices overall have dropped, unemployment is up. Despite ABC's best efforts at some spin

The markets did not react well to this and the AUD/USD has tanked 3c in 2 days just as a starter.

Add in some Chinese growth slowing and some US quantitive easing expansion the gloss which is the AU economy is starting to come off. That said it still does remain one of the strongest comparatively speaking.

House prices will continue to lower overall and I think we are going to see more unemployment as well. But I agree with Weebie, prices are not going to dive to the point that some would like, at present the house price situation is largely manufactured by the RBA.

DownUnderPaddy

Yes, just like the UK and US have coped. Recessions are not the end of the world you know, just part of the natural order of things.

Weebie

Prices here will always be expensive as long as most of the migration is in the 5 major centres which it is, always has been and alwasy will be!

Centurion

Don't forget negative gearing as well. When people who can't really afford it own multiple properties in a housing shortage en mass.

Weebie

Huge amounts of people own Multiple properties here. Difference is that they own them when they bought tem for 20 grand 20 years ago.

People can't hide their spite for the fact that migrants who came here 10 years have done so well and now its so hard. Prices will hardly drop. You can't compare what happened in the US and UK to Australia.

ABCDiamond

And they don't get negative gearing as they are positive geared

Kalenge

How can Australia have a double dip recession if they didn't even enter into recession the first time around?

Vash the Stampede

Firstly, unemployment has hardly moved and home approvals aren't much changed eitheer. Secondly, first home buyers are not "rare as hens' teeth." Thirdly, I don't recall any prohibition on overseas property investment. Fourthly, we didn't have a recession in the first place, which means any recession would not be a "double dip recession." Fifthly, we probably wouldn't cope with a full blown double dip recession on the scale of the UK and US if we'd been screwing up our economy as badly as the Brits and Yanks had been screwing up theirs - but since we haven't been screwing up our economy and we haven't had a recession, the question is irrelevant.

Hotton

wow, steady up slow down cowboy try preparation H
your comments are noted After all you are entitled to you view of things
as we all are ,lol mr Vash Stampede

Hotton

unemployment has moved,home approvals have changed,first home buyers are
less ,the rules have changed on overseas investment,correct we dont have a recesion but we could have,the question is not irreleveant