Capped the unions power?.   

Imcrook, I am a working class lad from a working class family.

So I know how tough it is in the lower incomes.

The Unions stopped representing us the people many years ago.

Now they are just a buraeaucracy feathering their own bed and they care little for us the ordinary people./

Homeowners face tougher times ahead

TEN per cent of first-home owners who bought their property in the past two years have now either sold their homes, or are considering selling, because the financial stress has become too great.

A survey of homeowners has confirmed rising interest rates and utility bills have squeezed household budgets to breaking point.

The Mortgage Choice survey of 1000 first-home buyers found 10 per cent were selling up and 6 per cent said they would sell if mortgage rates increased by up to 1 per cent from current levels.

Another 14 per cent said they would sell if rates rose by 1.50 per cent.

The findings bear out the concerns of critics of the First Home Owner Grants, who claim thousands of buyers - persuaded to stretch to buy a property at a time of record low interest rates - would struggle to maintain their repayments once interest rates returned to normal.

Now, with mortgage rates at their long-term average and heading higher, the cracks in the Government's big stimulus strategy are beginning to show.

Federal Opposition finance spokesman Andrew Robb said young homeowners had been betrayed by the Government.

"They got totally suckered," he said.

"The Government propped up the market by luring in young people but there were no warnings about what might happen within a year or two - with interest rates in particular.

"Now young people have had a double whammy because not only have interest rates added $6000 a year to typical repayments, the cost of living is soaring, with electricity prices up nearly 40 per cent in three years, water up 27 per cent and rates up 15 per cent."

Steve Keen, professor of economics at the University of Western Sydney, says the numbers were shocking.

"It is a huge proportion of people looking to sell - that simply doesn't happen in a normal market," he said.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/property/homeowners-face-tougher-times-ahead/story-e6freztr-1226008703929

Worst ever' property dive after disasters

HOMEBUYERS are deserting the property market in the wake of recent natural disasters with latest figures showing the biggest monthly slide on record.

The weather crises in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria in December and January have kept home buyers sidelined, with property values slipping across the nation.

The RP Data-Rismark Home Value Index for capital city dwellings dropped 1.6 per cent (seasonally adjusted) in January, while regional residences lost 1.2 per cent of their value.

It's the biggest monthly slide in Australian property sales ever, according to RP Data.

Canberra was hardest hit  with prices slipping 3.8 per cent, followed by Perth at 2.6 per cent and Brisbane 2.3 per cent.

RP Data's information will be used by the Reserve Bank of Australia when it meets tomorrow to discuss the possibility of raising the nation's official cash rate.

The index previously reported a 0.4 per cent capital gain for the month of December, which has been revised slightly to 0.3 per cent with the addition of further sales data.

RP Data research analyst Cameron Kusher said market conditions are typically flat in January because of the holiday period but the natural disasters had made it even worse.

"It’s the biggest fall in values that we’ve ever seen on a monthly basis so while we’re not pressing the alarm bells yet we will wait and see what the February results actually tell us," Mr Kusher said.

"We expect it will be revised up slightly,  we don’t expect the February result to be nearly as bad as January as clearance rates are improving and there are other indicators suggesting a better outlook."

While the natural disasters occurred in three states, its impact on the property market had spread across the nation, Mr Kusher said.

"The disasters kept people out of the market,  particularly in Brisbane," Mr Kusher said.

"But it also impacted on potential buyers in other states because they holiday in Queensland or they have family and friends there."

More broadly, over the 12 months to the end of January, the index reported that home values in Perth had fallen 3.8 per cent, the biggest drop nationwide, followed by Brisbane (-3.7 per cent) and Canberra (-0.6 per cent).

At the other end of the spectrum Darwin has regained the title of the best performing city, recording a capital gain of 4.7 per cent over the year to end January.

This was followed by Melbourne (3.6 per cent), Sydney (2.5 per cent), Hobart (2.2 per cent), and Adelaide (2.0 per cent).

Meanwhile, housing affordability slumped 10 per cent during 2010 as a result of four interest rate rises, compounding an already dwindling supply of new homes, a housing lobby group says.

The Housing Industry Association (HIA)/Commonwealth Bank housing affordability index released today fell by a further 1.8 per cent in the December quarter.

Housing affordability dropped 5.5 per cent in Sydney in the December quarter, followed by a 3.4 per cent decline in Canberra and a 3.4 per cent fall in Adelaide.

Affordability improved modestly in Brisbane and Perth, rising 0.5 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively.
Outside the capital cities, in the non-metropolitan regions of NSW affordability rose 2.8 per cent, followed by a 1.3 per cent increase in Victoria.

But affordability deteriorated in Tasmania (down 3.8 per cent) and Western Australia (down 2 per cent).

HIA chief economist Harley Dale said housing affordability took a big hit during 2010, with interest rate increases in March, April, May and November behind the decline.

Economists are unanimous in excepting no change in rates tomorrow but Dr Dale said governments needed to "up the ante'' on delivering policy reform to tackle a range of supply-side constraints, including the lack of affordable land and the dire shortage of available credit for commercially viable residential projects.

A down trend in residential construction over nearly a decade is obviously tied to a downward trajectory in housing affordability, he said.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/money/property/disasters-knock-property-market/story-e6frfmd0-1226013426709#ixzz1FEOoyzh3

I can't see the connection of the disasters in some states affecting house prices in Canberra. I don't think it has anything to do with the 'disasters'. More like the end of the FHOG and the end of the housing boom.