@Ausexpat: Okay, so you are admitting that the market is not free and that this initial assertion you made is inaccurate: "The housing market is a place where sellers and buyers willingly agree to a price that they both determine is rational. Government intervention will only distort this dynamic and the market will adjust accordingly with a series of unintended political, social and economic consequences."

Presumably, you will stop arguing from this position in the future.

I will respond to your other points in a follow-up.