Vital Signs Series

Interest only loans are an economic debacle that could bust the property market

Apr 27, 2018 07:40 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy Real Estate

This week: This risks of interest only loans that the RBA is ignoring and more revenue for the government ahead of the budget. Australian taxpayers wont face a rise in taxes now that Treasurer Scott Morrison...

Millennials' home ownership hopes dashed by a broken housing market

Feb 20, 2018 07:49 am UTC| Insights & Views Real Estate

Speaking to the Conservative Party conference in September 2017, the UK prime minister, Theresa May, gave a stark assessment of the UK housing market which made for depressing listening for many young people: For many the...

Jakarta: social and housing justice should not be a gamble on global market's table

Jan 30, 2018 13:24 pm UTC| Insights & Views Real Estate Economy

As a sociologist and media scholar with an interest in emerging forms of civic engagement, I initially came to Jakarta - the worlds Twitter capital - to research innovative social media uses. Instead, my first visits to...

Parliament may not have what it takes to fix its crumbling house

Jan 30, 2018 12:36 pm UTC| Insights & Views Real Estate Economy

Back in 2015, a detailed analysis of the Palace of Westminster concluded that the risk of catastrophic failure is increasing … a major failing of the existing service infrastructure is inevitable. As the subsequent...

New housing can be affordable and homely if builders learn lessons from the car industry – and IKEA

Jan 09, 2018 14:50 pm UTC| Insights & Views Real Estate

For many people, the housing market is not a welcoming place. The rungs of the property ladder seem to get further and further out of reach. There are loud calls to build hundreds of thousands of new homes (and equally...

Like it or loathe it, here's why Apple doesn't need a planning permit for its Fed Square store

Dec 28, 2017 13:30 pm UTC| Insights & Views Law Real Estate

Despite the prominent public role played by Melbournes Federation Square, Apples new flagship store to be built within it wont even require a planning permit. This is thanks to an obscure planning process that planning...

Vital Signs Series

The spooky mortgage risk signs our bankers are ignoring

Oct 13, 2017 09:35 am UTC| Insights & Views Real Estate

Vital Signs is a weekly economic wrap from UNSW economics professor and Harvard PhD Richard Holden (@profholden). Vital Signs aims to contextualise weekly economic events and cut through the noise of the data affecting...