Property bubbles or not, this increase in property prices seen in Capital cities esp in Sydney and Melbourne is not a good news for future of Australia.
1. Higher Proerty prices means higher interest rate repayment. And unlike rent payments, this money does not readily circulate back into the economy. Higher repayment also decreases amount of money the people are able to spend on other sides of economy which are more productive.
2. Properties - especially residential properties are very low tech type of investment. I remember, we used to have a distant family friend whose family was heavily involved in the textile industry. He for a time, tried to upgrade and improve, he bought the latest machines from Europe, and had be best technicians working for him. But he could not survive and nearly went bankrupt. So, he gave that up, and went and bought up land around the Essendon Airport, and the further Western Suburbs. He got so contruction company to put in roads, lights, and on sold the subdivisions, and made tens of millions without much effort. ---> Originally, he thought he can sell the blocks for 150K, but end up averaging 250K+. But ultimately, he said, he fears for the future of Australia economy, because property trading and development are so low tech. (He ended up moving his operation to Vietnam where he is doing very well).
3. The prices will continue to go up, because of banking practices in Australia. For example, if someone were to walk into a bank, with a commercial idea. Even if its a good idea, and the person have a good earning, they may be able to fund him via commercial interest rates, and at a less amount...(e.g. a person earning 100k, may be able to get 200 to 250k - at commercial rate). However, if the same person is to go in for a loan for a residential home, then the same person could get at least 400k to 500k at much lower interest rate. So in reality, if a person want to get into business, he/she would realistically have to play the real estate game first.
INterest rates are related to risk. Home loans are not considered huge risks as they are secured against generally appreciating assets. A business - especially a new one - is considered a much higher risk as the risk of actual loss of capital is reasonably high while for housing, it is quite low.
4. The government also have policies which are inflationary - e.g. capital gains tax discount, and negative gearing (which does not apply to most other business), which made properties more attractive form of investment. But then, one can not really blame the government, because since the GFC, mining boom have ended, manufactoring is going down the drain, retails and services sectors are not doing well. If we do not prop up the property market, then there will be a real recession. Which is why the one of the first stimulus measures are for properties. The question is: how long can we continue doing this before the cookie crumbles.