When I was still a novice investor one of my early mentors taught me that the four most dangerous words a property investor could say was “this time it's different.”

Unfortunately in my early days of investing I ignored his advice, to my detriment, as I found that history does repeat itself.

The best way to explain is to look back to earlier this year as many of our property markets boomed and two extreme opinions came out. One group suggested we are in for a long boom and another said the property markets would implode. At the time I made it clear that my view was the extremists, in both directions will be wrong.....

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The Economist magazine’s latest survey of global housing reported that Australian property had the poorest return on investment of the 20 countries it evaluated.

The same survey found that Australian property was overvalued by 61% based on the current ratio of house prices-to-rents and historic ratios.  Next on the list was Hong Kong (53% overvalued), followed by Spain (50%).

So is our property market really so overpriced and a bubble waiting to burst?

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With ever increasing media attention focused on our national property markets, it's sometimes difficult to sort through all the information and statistics bombarding us every day.Whether it be on the TV, in the papers or on the radio, it seems like everyone wants to tell us how poorly property is faring. But what's the real story?

Sure, the real estate markets have slowed down from their booming conditions of the first half of this year. And although the doomsday speculators would like us to believe this is the end of the world as we know it, the truth is there are always peaks and troughs in the property game. It's just the way the markets works. So, let's try to make some sense of what is happening in the market...

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Over the last few weeks I have noticed increasing nervousness amongst the property investors I speak with, and it’s not just beginning investors wondering whether they should get into the market. I’m also noticing concern from some investors with substantial property portfolios.

Only yesterday I got a phone call from a professional colleague who has been investing for years, but now has the jitters after reading that Jeremy Grantham a legendary US investor warned that Australia had, “an unmistakable housing bubble and that prices would need to come down by 42% to return to the long-term trend.”

Is he right? Are our property markets going to crash? Read on to find out more...

Australians love to talk about 4 things... football, the weather, property and interest rates.

And right now what’s going on with the property markets is top of mind for many Australian investors. Over the last few weeks it has become obvious that the tide is slowly turning from a seller's market to a buyer's market and many people are asking; is this the beginning of the end?

Six interest rate rises, lower affordability, fewer finance approvals, concern about overseas economies and more properties for sale than last year have all combined to slow down the boom we have been experiencing.

So…is this the beginning of the end?

I was having my hair cut the other day when Harry my barber said “Michael – I’m going to get into property investing and I’m going to make a fortune because I’ve learned to invest like the pros!”. Each time I visit Harry the conversation always seems to revolve around property, but when I heard Harry say he learned how the pros do it I was concerned. I know Harry has been reading every property book he could get his hands on, attending lots of seminars and watching all the free DVD’s the property marketers are sending out. I also know that while Harry enjoys his job, he’s sick of the rat race and trading his time for dollars. And he feels he missed out on the last property boom and wants to make up for lost time. He wants to get rich quick.

Deep down all property investors knew the low interest rates couldn’t last forever, though I must admit I enjoyed the strong cash flow the lower interest rates brought with them over the last year or so.

The Reserve Bank of Australia warned us that rates had to increase from “stimulatory levels” as our economy improved and now after 5 rate rises since October last year rates are back to what the RBA calls “average” levels.

So what next?

Will interest rates keep rising and if so when and by how much? And how will this affect our property markets?

You’d have to be living under a rock not to know we are in the middle of one of the biggest property booms for a long time. Just open any newspaper or turn on the TV and you can’t help but know that property values are going up almost daily.

However while some analysts are reporting extraordinary capital growth, there are others who are suggesting caution.

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Only a few days ago I was chatting with a friend, and as usual the topic turned to property. He asked me – “Why do you think you are right? How can properties keep rising in value with lower affordability and rising interest rates?”

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The Australian property markets are really heating up and boom time levels of capital growth are causing many to question whether this can continue. In fact there are some warning that the boom will bust.

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