I'd put off buying a house until at least the new year to see the effect of the government farking around the industrial relations laws. I forsee a fair few people loosing work or transferring to casual employment (even more so) and a spin off effect could be that the market will become flooded with people wanting to sell up and hence prices staying level, or perhaps even dropping, especially in Sydney and Melbourne. Interest rates will also rise again around September/October because more people will be taking out loan, particularly investors, as the house prices drop. It's too volatile at the moment to buy and you could find yourself loosing a hell of a lot of capital in the short term (2-5 years) though long term property is always a good investment. my $0.02 Cheers Dylan