联邦财长 Joe Hockey 再次否认了澳大利亚存在房地产泡沫的说法，他认为，房价的上涨只是反应到目前房产市场依然供应不足，供不应求还会存在一段时间。

本周之前BIS（国际清算银行）曾经警告说，根据它们一系列的指标显示，澳洲房产市场目前表现过热。某些经济学家和银行家也曾担心，在当前较低的利率前面，过多的投资者和购买者选择买房可能会导致自己负债累累，待利率上涨之后将难以承受。但是财长迅速的对上述评论予以驳斥。

他说，这些想法是错误的。目前澳大利亚根本不能生产足够的住房来满足人口增长的需要，大批海外开发商的涌入，正好可以解决这一问题。目前悉尼、墨尔本以及布里斯班都吸引了不少海外投资，而这些新建的住宅一定程度上缓解了国家住房短缺的尴尬。

目前房价的持续上涨，最根本的原因还是整个澳洲市场对住宅的刚性需求，而不是那些人口中所说的泡沫。澳大利亚根本不存在房产泡沫！

另外，澳元汇率的走低也是非常好的契机。财长表示，虽然不知道这种低迷的状态会持续多久，但是现在无疑是海外投资者进入澳洲市场的最佳时机。财长还反问如果现在不是最好的时间，那么更待何时才是最好的时机呢？

财长说把钱放进银行并不能带来长久的利润。“ 现在是一展身手的时候 - 我们已经进入了提高经济增长的中期轨迹。” 他说。

Joe Hockey denies Australia in a property bubble

September 16, 2014

作者：Mark Mulligan

摘自悉尼晨峰报

Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey has again dismissed the idea that a property bubble is forming in Australia, saying that rising prices were just a reaction to lack of supply.

Echoing the thoughts of many private sector economists and bankers in the country, Mr Hockey said the idea that households and investors were taking on too much debt to buy houses was wrong.

"I'm not so sure it's credit fuelled," he said during a seminar in Sydney. "There's a lot of cash going into property now."

He said the recent surge in new dwelling construction – much of it the result of foreign investment - in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane might go some way to addressing housing shortages in the country.

"Australia fundamentally doesn't produce enough houses to meet demand," the Treasurer said.

"It is just an infinite mantra for international commentators, for analysts based overseas to say 'well, you know, there's a bit of a housing bubble emerging in Australia'.

"That is rather a lazy analysis, because fundamentally we don't have enough supply to meet demand.

"That doesn't suggest there's a bubble; there might be a price increase of some substance, but you'd expect the market to react and produce some more housing."

The Treasurer's comments come two days after the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements warned that Australia's housing market looked overheated on a series of metric.

Mr Hockey said a lower Australian dollar might encourage more investment in new housing, although he declined to speculate on whether or not current weakness in the local currency would last long enough to speed up Australia's economic transition.

He said currency speculation was a "mug's game". However, Mr Hockey agreed with Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens that animal spirits were key to the re-engineering of the Australian economy, along with low interest rates, infrastructure investment and other government programs.

"Yields are, overall, quite low around the world," he said.

"So if people are not having a go when yields are at very low levels, then when do you have a go?"

"Putting your money in the bank is not going to deliver you necessarily long-term benefit.

"Now's the time to have a go – we've got a trajectory that involves improving economic growth over the medium term."