Unfortunately, I sense property prices may be on their (silent and sneaky) march upwards despite media reporting to the contrary and despite house prices still being ludicrous.

The real issue I have with inflated house prices is that it’s makes everyone’s lives difficult and apart from the issues faced with aspiring first home buyers (essentially whom we’ve failed to maintain the social contract with). It also presents issues elsewhere including

• For existing homeowners who may want to move to another property more suited to their current living arrangement, this includes (but limited to) when up sizing for a growing family, downsizing for when the kids have left home, when a marriage dissolution occurs, or moving to a place closer to their work. These costs include (again not limited to). Bridging finance, agents fees based off a percentage of the value of the property

• Takes money away from the productive economy. People will more likely end up prioritizing their spending towards keeping a roof over their heads.

Unfortunately, I can’t see this changing anytime soon. There’s still too much money flowing around that is looking for a home (pun not intended) born out from people who missed out last time, to investors trying to front run the market with the expectation of further rate falls, to increasing cost of compliance red tape surrounding corporates trying to engage in regulatory capture, Health and Safety, Anti Money Laundering and increasing provision to guard gainst all manner of increasing exposure to liablity events while we are trying to build new housing (everyone is mobilizing to arse cover).