Armchair experts
I've raged against the argument that 96 per cent of property investment goes into established property so many times over the years that I'd begun to feel like Don Quixote, and in the end I gave up mentioning it.
It's a bogus statistic, incorrectly implied from incomplete data, and it's pretty obvious in real life that investors add to new housing supply.
Think about it.
We went through a record boom in property investment when interest rates were cut.
And unless you've been living overseas or under a rock you'd have to have seen the supply response and heard the jackhammers.
Go to some of the new apartment developments and you'd find that in some cases close to 100 per cent of the new units are bought by investors, whether domestic or non-resident.
All pretty self-evident, really, and it wouldn't be hard to build that picture by ditching the ABS spreadsheets and speaking to property managers, or mortgage aggregatirs, or chartered surveyors, or property developers, or...well, pretty much anyone in in the industry to be honest.
Election flashpoint
Election flashpoint
What I'd never expected is that this misinformation might form part of Labor's election policies.
Ben Kingsley of Empower and PICA answered Ross Greenwood's questions on Money News so adeptly that there's nothing new to add from me.
Take a listen below.
Also check out the chaps on The Property Couch breaking the story on Episode 227 last week here.
Couch potato
Obliquely related: I was excited to be a repeat guest on the Property Couch at Xmas, where we got the crystal balls out for 2019.
By the way you can subscribe for the Property Couch free podcasts here.
The couchers have generated more than 5 million downloads to date (the last time I checked), which is a remarkable achievement and shows how much people appreciate their selfless approach and integrity.
Bravo, fellas.
