I am working with some clients at the moment that were initially looking to sell their current home and upgrade to a larger home to match their growing family.  They didn't have not had any luck selling their home (at the price they felt it was worth) so were feeling dismayed about not being able to move in to a larger home. 

With the drop in interest rates and taking in to account what they could rent their current home for in the current market, it turned out they are able to buy the larger new home and still hold the current home.  They are now really excited at the prospect of bing able to buy a great home that they couldn't have afforded before due to its price coming down and holding their current property to sell in a few years time when the market picks up.

They did their sums and are turning the current financial doom and gloom in to an opportunity.

For aussie expats wondering when the best time to buy property in Australia is need to look at the factors that relate to them. 

1. The aussie dollar is around 63c (Fri 21 Nov 2008) to the US dollar.  That makes moving money in to Australia cheap.
2. Interest rates are falling which makes the cost of borrowings cheaper
3. The demand for core* rental properties in Sydney is very tight and putting upward pressure on rents.
4. A large percentage of buyers will be more influenced by their friends, colleagues and the media then actually looking at their own circumstances and doing the sums.  

The perfect scenario is the aussie expat, being paid in US dollars being able to buy a property that should be self funding fairly quickly due to the drop in interest rates and the increase in rents coupled with driving a good purchase price due to lack of competition caused by fear.

Of course this is not everyone.  There are the people who are concerned about job security (even then the figures may stack up) and the people who are already so laden with debt that lenders will not go near you.

*core rental properties refer to properties that are in high demand. For example 2 bedroom properties within 10km of the CBD and close to transport/facilities. Some suburbs such as Mosman have a large expat community so homes are also in high demand.