That's a very bold thing to claim, Australia is a very big place, cities such as Sydney and Melbourne were doing well last year, Sydney still reported positive growth for the last quarter.

Although the Jan/Feb lending figures were indeed indicative of a slowdown, for NSW(where Sydney is) at least, they have rebounded somewhat in the latest AFG figures: http://corporate.afgonline.com.au/idc/groups/public/document...

AFG is a mortgage broker responsible for 10% of lending in Australia, their figures are updated monthly and are a good leading indicator of the slower official government stats.