Good point G.
The FHB rush is future demand brought forward. I expect FHB purchases to plummet.
I guess that's a point of differentiation. I think that the current FHB numbers are coming from existing, pent up demand. With no deposit loans and tightened lending criteria by the banks I can't see how demand can really be brought forward to any great extent as people have to have saved something already. Ie people who have been wanting to buy for some time but have been saving, waiting. Flat/falling prices, + low interest rates. + the grant have spurred them into action. This is also backed up by the figures which show FHB numbers have been very much below normal/average for the last 2 years prior to the current mini-boom.
Going forward I think FHB numbers will just return to the historical norm (or a little below allowing for some proportion of future demand having been "used" up). I'm expecting to see the proportion to fall beck to between 15 and 20%. Let's see what happens and who was right!
Cheers,
Beej