Tidying up my office I found a Herald supplement from April 2008 called “First Home Buyers’ Guide”. I was looking at how I could afford a house back then so kept it for future reference. It is full of useful stories like the how Damien and Susan managed to buy their $600,000 house on a 100% mortgage by going via a broker; How buying an apartment can get you started on the housing ladder; And on the back page is an ad from Barfoot & Thompson with this great graph (house prices never go down) “if you were wondering if it’s a good time to buy”. I wonder what the figure for 2009 will be. It’s only a year ago, but it seems like a very different time.