No Australian housing bubble, but negative gearing-induced affordability issues: Former RBA governor Ian Macfarlane

Ian Macfarlane, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia from 1996 to 2006, doesn’t think there's an Australian housing bubble.

"We do have an affordability problem, it makes it tough for young people to acquire a house in a desirable area.

"This is characteristic of every major city in the world that has desirable job opportunities. London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore," he told the recent Morningstar Investment Conference where he was asked his views on a potential residential property bubble in Australia.

"I think we faced a risk in 2003, not 2014. In 2003, we had lending for housing and prices rising at 20%, half of it speculative lending, negatively geared.

"There were seven prime time television programmes on how to get rich in property. 

Since then, on average, house prices have risen at the same rate as household income.

"For that reason, I don’t think we have a bubble," he said as reported by the cufflinks website. 
 
He said the affordability problem was partly due to negative gearing making it tough for young people to acquire a house in a desirable area.

"Some of our policies make that worse, such as the extreme leniency we show towards negative gearing, but I don't think there is a bubble."