My Bui

But I think on a city level, I don't think it is any concern in any single city at the moment.

So let's look at the price change from the peak of last year in Sydney and Melbourne.

So Sydney prices are down 2% from the peak.

In Melbourne, they are down 3% from the peak.

So essentially, you're only in negative equities if you have a 2% or 3% deposit.

Who has that minimum?

Even if you're a personal buyer, you have to have a 5% deposit and prices haven't fallen by 5% yet.

Yes, it will over the next financial year, but so far, I don't think it is a concern.

And second of all, I think that when you have a 20% deposit, which is the case for the vast majority of people, we don't foresee a 20% house price decline over the cycle in Australia.

So for most people, I don't think this should be a concern even in the next 12 months.

For first-home buyers, which got into the market over the last few months with the 5% deposit scheme that has been expanded recently by the government, I think it is definitely more of a concern.

And I think this has been the focus from the media over the past few weeks or so.

Yes, it definitely is a bit of a concern for me, especially in terms of Sydney and Melbourne.

But...

Again, you know, you, you, you purchase economists.

We always say, but there's always two sides of the story.

Number one, I think if you, you buying that place to live in, I don't think that negative equity over the short term should be a concern to you because again, you're still paying for somewhere for you to live.

It's not an investment.

It's more of a concern if it's an investment property.

And if you're buying to live somewhere, then the support of the housing market is actually the labor market, which remains quite okay in Australia.