IMF sees potential for imminent ‘sizeable’ bust in Australia’s housing market

Report warns homes keep getting less affordable, and Australia has one of the highest rates of people spending more than 40% of their income on housing

Australia could soon see a “sizeable” crash in the housing market, according to a new report from the International Monetary Fund which warns that housing affordability is declining rapidly.

Rising interest rates and inflation have so far neutralised the benefit of falling property values, the IMF said in its Housing Market Stability and Affordability in Asia-Pacific report this month, and property prices are as much as 50% above what a median household can afford.