Housing in Australia in the 2000s: On the Agenda Too Late?

During the 2000s, however, housing put itself on the agenda. Increased interest in housing was reflected in academic literature, in media commentary and in government and industry concerns. At the macroeconomic level, the start of the decade brought the chicken and egg problem of rising house prices and increasing housing debt. This raised concerns about the impact of increasing housing debt on macroeconomic stability and generated considerable analysis of wealth effects. Debates over whether policy in general, and monetary policy in particular, should respond to significant changes in asset prices followed. By the middle of the decade, the key macroeconomic debate turned to the issue of whether the unprecedented worldwide increase in house prices constituted a housing bubble. By the end of the decade, for much of the developed world the ‘bubble question’ had been answered (although not necessarily for Australia). Debates over central bank intervention, however, remained and the focus shifted to the role of housing and