A House, A House, My Kingdom for a House

Ok, I know it's supposed to be My Kingdom for a Horse, but in Sydney's real-estate market, it really is a Kingdom for a House.

Despite the housing market bubble bursting in countries like the US and UK, Australia's market remains defiant of the trends.

For those looking to get a foot in the door, like The Bloke and myself, it's disheartening. Take, for example, today's open house jaunt....

We pull up near the townhouse, which is almost new and, despite being under the flight path, has double glazing to compensate. We're right on time for the 12:00-12:30 viewing, which is the viewing time for every other bloody open house inspection on a Saturday morning.

The real estate agent pulls up in his massive, black 4wd, which he (naturally) double parks so that he doesn't have to deal with the unpleasant prospect of walking ten metres to the property.

He jumps out and cheerfully announces that it's hot - no news to the 20-odd people waiting in the heat for him to be bothered to show his face. He swaggers to the door, all open neck shirt and sunglasses on shaved head, saying he "won't be a moment" to just "open up" the house.

We all troop in to hear him cheerfully announce that, such is the large interest in the property, that the estimated value has gone up $20,000. Great. That neatly puts it out of our budget. At it's original estimated value (if nobody puts a pre-auction offer in and it actually goes to auction) it was already twice the amount in mortgage repayments that we're currently paying in rent.

The townhouse is great and exactly what we're looking for. The only problem is that it is exactly what around 30 other couples are also looking for. You can barely move around the place without bumping into desperate house-seekers. We flatten our backs to the walls in corridors to pass and some get bolshie, pushing past you to look into the bathroom, not bothering to wait patiently for the last person to exit.

Deflated (unlike the property market), we head over to the next viewing.

It is not nearly as nice as the first townhouse with the second bedroom so small you could reach out and touch the opposite walls at the same time. The courtyard is lovely with a water feature and Japanese feel to it. But it's brick veneer and weatherboard and has a closed in feeling to it. The Bloke is quite keen, though.

We see the same faces from the first inspection and realise that this too, is a popular property.

We decide to call it a day as there are very little other properties open for inspection.

I am hopeful that, as Sydney returns from holiday January, more houses will come onto the market. The Bloke is less optimistic.

We return to our rental, in a suburb that we could never afford to buy in, and hope the property bubble will burst.