Welcome to this week’s property news roundup. The hottest topic of the week has been population growth. FactCheck: is Australia’s population the ‘highest growing in the world’

Australia’s population tipped to hit 25 million years earlier than forecast

Surprisingly, with all the calls to reduce the growth, few have yet asked the question of how this might affect the already slowing property market. Speaking to George Tharenou, Economist at UBS, Business Insider has written a piece on how it how it is impacting the economy in general. He concludes the article thus:

“Combined with our view that housing weakens further, we continue to expect the RBA to stay on hold until 2020,” he says.

In the meantime, The Conversation this week attributes the population growth to increasing homelessness and decreased affordability. Tell me about that apartment oversupply again?

Adding to this already rocky mix, Westpac this week announced that it would be pulling out of SMSF lending. Will others follow suit?

However, with the news from APRA that their banking crackdown is over, one has to wonder what is next. Whatever it is, the head of Australia’s banking regulator ends by proclaiming:

“It has been a long time since a serious economic storm hit the Australian financial system. Maintaining sound practices in good times, and remaining ready for stormy weather, are essential for a resilient banking sector,” he said.

Finally, auction clearance rates have dropped below 50pc this week. Read more on Domain.

With so much going on, who know what might happen next?

Have a great week everyone!