A new report from the OECD shows that Australia’s falling home ownership rates are at odds with international trends.

The OECD1 researchers assessed home ownership rates in 18 developed countries.

The great Australian dream just got smaller.

Property group Stockland says unaffordable house prices have driven people into buying homes on lots that are less than a quarter of the size of the traditional quarter acre block. Stockland on Thursday revealed the smaller blocks were proving popular with buyers, particularly as affordability becomes the biggest issue confronting home hunters.

Managing director Matthew Quinn said residential sales had been a positive for the group which had successfully trialled the sale of freestanding houses on 250 square metre lots across Australia.

Smaller house and land packages were now best sellers for the group, including 210 square metre lots in one state.

"People's resistance to small lots and small houses has gone," Mr Quinn told analysts on Thursday. "It's now about affordability."

.... The group recorded a reduction in overheads across the business and its strategy of reducing lot sizes to help improve affordability led to a four per cent increase in revenue from single lot sales.

Stockland expects a better performance in the remainder of the financial year, as residential property sales picked up in the final four months, particularly from first-home buyers. Mr Quinn said affordable housing markets in Perth and south-east Queensland had now turned the corner after foundering last year. "The signs are that both south-east Queensland and Perth are much more positive than they were six months ago," he said.

However, he said the improvement only applied to the company's affordable house and land products. High-end properties and some apartment locations continued to struggle while house prices generally came under pressure due to a lack of affordability.

On the other hand, many commentators and analysts still do not believe that Canada’s housing market will suffer a severe correction, citing Canada’s ‘conservative’ lending practices and its ‘world’s best’ banking system, which was ranked safest in the world by the 2011-12 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report.

Peak under the hood, however, and you find: (i) that the Canadian banks have arguably received their world-beating ‘safe’ status because most of the credit risk on their loans is being carried by Canadian taxpayers who, via the Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC)...

Rismark, RP Data, ASX create house-price index

by: James Glynn
From: Dow Jones Newswires
March 01, 2012 2:45PM

THE obsession with residential property [you got that one right - Judd] in Australia achieved fresh highs today with the release of an index that its creators say will enable investors to track house price movements on a daily basis.

The index, which is designed to be traded, was created by property research firms Rismark International and RP Data in conjunction with the Australian Securities Exchange.

The world-first commercially available residential index will track value movements across all dwellings.

"The daily index is the result of three years extensive research and development," said Rismark chief executive Ben Skilbeck.

"It is specifically designed for trading purposes and tracks the value of an investment in a self-financing market portfolio."

More.....