NEWS of a further quarter of astronomical property price growth will send shivers down the spine of anyone yet to set foot on the real estate ladder.
The latest Real Estate Institute of Victoria report shows the cost of a middle-of the-road Melbourne house rose 8.5 per cent to $559,000 in the three months to June 30.
While the figures appear to be a new nail in the coffin of affordability for first-home buyers, a growing number of property economists said they were further evidence of a price bubble inflated to bursting point.
Gavin Putland, a director of Melbourne-based Land Values Research Group, was even willing to give the impending crash a time-line.