Aust houses to flatline: PIMCO

Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) expects Australia’s housing market will flatten over the next few years, but it is not anticipating a collapse.

Speaking to The Australian Financial Review, PIMCO Asia-Pacific credit portfolio boss Rob Mead said Australia’s already expensive housing market compared to the rest of the world coupled with unemployment means investors should not expect a repeat of last year’s growth.

“Given those two factors, we’d say it’s hard to forecast similar gains in housing that we saw in 2013,” Mr Mead said from California, according to the newspaper.

PIMCO is the world’s largest bond investor and has over $US1.91 trillion ($A2.12tn) in assets under management, as of the end of 2013.