I get you. But I like the seasons, but I was COLD today, I think is only about 20 now...

I would look at buying a house as a place and time which reflects how you feel as people and what you wish from life. Then it is a genuine and settled decision.

Yes, there is so much hype from real estate agents and other people ramping on and on and on, about how there has never been a better time to buy than when they say it! Then they say it again 6 months later! Waoh, that is interesting!... lol!. IGNORE the anxiety merchants, focus on what it right for you.

I agree wholly with the point about the first home owners grant though, and when it is gone in July 2009, that is when the greed of Australians in the last few years will come back to haunt them. It will hit, and hit hard!. Prices will drop. They are still artificially high at the moment, and this cannot be sustained!. Don't believe a word real estate agents tell you! They are out to fleece you in my experience; their learchy, sweaty handshake will tell you that!. It's just the same in all the nice new glitzy show homes for example. I simply see these people as the same as car sales people - they have taken the whole 'major life decision' for people and made it tacky and belittle it. They are dreadful in my own experience and will avoid them. I did find though the rural building company in WA not to be like this or pushy, but indeed they were very professional and treated you well, and not like you were on a trip to Kmart!

Good luck, and as they say, patience is a virtue and the best things come to those who wait their turn in the cue. I think you holding out will be good for you. Don't buy now when things are so artificially high in Australia.

I've been felling really down about renting recently too... our original plan was to stay here for about 5 years and then when the kids are in school and I can get back to work then we'd look at buying. I've been watching the market for a few months now and when I worked out that in 5 years we'd pay over $100,000 in rent I sat down with DH and suggested we look at buying now while interest rates are low and while there are so many incentives to do so.

It's going to mean selling one of the cars to raise the deposit so life will be a bit tricky for a few months taxi-ing around and stuff but I reckon a little inconveninece is got to be cheaper than $100,000 in somebody elses pocket. Hopefully the $21k first time buyers bonus will help to replace the car before too long anyway - plus we're just about to have a $5k baby bonus trickled into our account so that will help out in the overlap between renting and paying the mortgage on the new build. I can't ever see a better time for us to do this really. The place will be small compared to what we are renting now but it will be big enough for us until the kids hit their teens so we plan to be there for a good 10 years or so.

We're off to discuss financing this weekend and look at our options for house and land packages. We can afford the repayments on a mortgage but I'm not sure if we'll get one on a single income - even though all the online calculators say we will.

I think on balance having read all the comments we will just hold out til a decision is made on our PR and then see if prices are still dropping by middle of the year. If we see something we really love in the interim then we just buy it. I probably just need to stop worrying so much - this should be a long term investment so we only really stand to lose out if we were intending on buying and selling again in a short space of time.
We put in our application for PR Thursday last week and were assigned a case officer by Friday. OH's employer nomination was approved yesterday so now its just down to whether they think we are nice enough to be allowed to stay in the country!! Hopefully it won't take too long but how long is a piece of string...

Good luck fluffiefairie - i hope you find something nice. It probably makes more sense for you to get in there quick with having a family too and because you know you are definitely staying. I think it is a nesting instinct too.
On the payments in the overlap time topic - check it out becasue I think there are a few different ways of getting round it on new builds. Some builders in Vic were offering a 'build now pay later' option last time we looked around (national builders were doing this - I dont know if they still are) so you don't have to make progress payments whilst it is under construction. Could be helpful.