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Comment by hguhghuff | Hacker News Reader

House prices won't go down in Australia. There's an infinite supply of corrupt Chinese cash that needs to be laundered, and every Australian is entitled to sell their piece of Australia to get their fair share.

Ha ha downvotes from those with a vested interest in getting those sweet sweet Chinese dollars.

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> Ha ha downvotes from those with a

This breaks the site guidelines. Could you please read them and not do that again?

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I think you mean "the Chinese authorities cannot possibly get a list of Australian property owners and jail a few thousand of the ones that can't explain the origin of their money".

No, I mean that there is on onus in Australian law to prove other forms of investment are not from criminal origin, but no such onus on real estate.

That's because no one wants to look at the fact that our housing boom is driven by the proceeds of crime on a gargantuan scale.

Oh, I see. You're talking about a giant immigration wave from China. I thought you had in mind people who were subject to Chinese law and could be arrested by Chinese police.

No, that would be racist.

I object only to real estate sales to people who are not permanent residents or citizens. I don't give a shit what country any Australian is originally from ... we are all Australians who hold citizen or permanent residen status, no matter the color of your skin or religion.

I think this is a global phenomenon.Real Estate prices in India escalated pretty much because people settled in decided to put their money into buying houses so that they can sell or rent them for a very high returns. This in turn forced realtors to over extend themselves.

Our previous government was corrupt to the hilt so this continued for over a decade. That said India now have strict regulations in place[1] to curb this behaviour. I am not sure why other countries cannot follow suit.

I have no issues with foreign investment comes into infrastructure and commercial space. I think its mutually beneficial. However, inflow of foreign money into housing is just evil. Local population with fixed means of income just cannot.

[1] http://www.freepressjournal.in/india/rera-all-you-need-to-kn...

But if they aren't permanent residents, then they are subject to the law of whatever country where they spend the rest of their time. China, I presume. So when you say there's an infinite supply, you imply that the Chinese police cannot obtain Australian property records and use those to identify and imprison a few thousand corrupt officials.

The most corrupt people are the older upper middle class Australians. They are happy to do nothing at all other than "own property" and rake in ridiculous amounts of money. All they are doing is sucking the money from younger or poorer people and transferring it to themselves without actually doing any work or adding any productivity to society.

I live in an area with lots of these investors and they don't work. They talk about it in hushed tones like it is a scheme or a rort, which is obviously is.

not sure corrupt is the right word, but I get your point

I suspect you are being downvoted because of your simplistic worldview.

Those who hope for high house prices downvote - they know their paper wealth depends on the Chinese keeping house prices propped high.

Those who feel Australian society ruined by the housing obsession vote back up.

Nice and simple.

I can't downvote, but I hope for high house prices. What do I do?

You look into you heart and know that we're selling everything valuable in Australia to China. Our houses, our farmland, our infrastructure, our natural resources. Everything must go.

That's not living, it's not a society, it's not a future for our children, it's just self interest and greed.

If you have integrity then you stand for what's right, if, like half Australia, you depend on this corrupt system, then you keep nice and quiet.

I would agree with the "simplistic view" comment, except for the fact that I live here and have seen it happening for at least the last decade. Foreign investors are literally buying up streets of houses, without regard to the price; Chinese companies are buying up as much farmland as they can; Adani is trying to mine as much coal with no regard to the environment while getting billions in Government assistance; and don't get me started on all the Chinese buying up as much baby formula as they can and sending it back home to their relatives.

There's a difference between immigrating to a country because you want to live there, and immigrating to pump it for its resources until it runs dry.

Those who think that Chinese investors are only one part of an incredibly complex issue don't vote you up or down.

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