Property professor: Lower prices don’t make housing more affordable

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By Leith van Onselen

I’ve seen some stupid arguments in my time. But the below drivel from Chris Leishman – Professor of Housing Economics, University of Adelaide – is right up there. According to the good professor, “declining house prices are no better for housing affordability than rising prices”. Let’s examine his key arguments:

…falling house prices are bad for home owners and good for aspiring home owners, right? In practice, things don’t work out quite like this, for several reasons.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.