Australian Housing Bubble - Change in Debt

Here is a link to Steve Keen's recent presentation to a debate re the Australian Property Market

Some essential points from the video (with data to back them up):

• It's not population growth or sluggish construction that drives house prices.
• Money pressure and booming credit drives house prices.
• Stagnant credit causes house prices to go down.
• Accelerating mortgage debt leads house prices by 2-4 months.
• Australia has a bigger housing bubble than the US had.
• Australian banks are not responsible lenders than the American banks, nor are they more financially sound.

Some cool quotes:

• "It's not people that buy houses, it's people with mortgages that buy houses."
• "Rising house prices require accelerating debt."
• "The first home vendor's boost, when the government gave $7,000 to first home buyers, who then leveraged it up at the bank, and bid $100,000 extra dollars more, and handed it over to the vendors."
• "We are in the biggest, debt financed, asset bubble in human history, and I'm afraid, I think you'll ignore it at your peril."