Wages will never keep up so who do you sell your home to in 30 years time that will be able to afford what you need from it to fund your retirement? No, the historic property growth rates of the last 25ish years aren't sustainable over the long term, not without some fundamental changes. Those growth rates were based on teh deregulation of our financial system (a lot of countries went through it at the same time) and the increasing trend to have double income households. Both those things have been done now and the massive boost they caused can't be replicated. If government/developers/financial institutions/spruikers want the same levels of super-growth in teh next 20 years, they'll have to look at "reforms" such as extending the lifespan of mortgages to 50 years rather than 20, or massively increasing population growth. Justine Davies Tue 04 Sep 12 (11:24am) I'm a sponge. I want to soak it all up I want to know all I can about money but in a way that I can understand and then apply to my life. So many books I have read say the same thing about debt and savings. I love blogs like this for all the comments and hearing how others respond. You get an understanding of what others are earning/spending/saving and how they are coping with the different issues that you post. That gives a 'real life' edge to learning about money. With books, I like practical recommendations on things I can do.