Rate cuts are in the wind and, while they'll certainly improve housing affordability ...

This kind of neoliberal rhetoric is what needs to end. Rate cuts DO NOT increase housing affordability; they do the opposite. They make it easiest for the wealthiest to borrow even more cash, and buy another property, which increases demand, drives up the price, and ultimately reduces affordability. The "benefits" to non-owners grows more and more fleeting EVERY SINGLE TIME.

It's the same deal with the "first home buyer" schemes. I have yet to see one that isn't neoliberal economics marketed to sound like it's a benefit to the working class, while it does little more to drive up prices at the bottom end of the market, again reducing housing affordability.

The only things that will stop the cycle is all of the things that will literally reduce the cost of housing, and is bad for every single homeowner/investor who doesn't plan on holding onto it for the long-term — hard limits on the volume of property any individual can own (like 2, MAX), completely banning any company from owning residential property, a massive investment in public, at-cost housing, and a dozen other significant regulations that transform the entire concept of housing from being an "investment", to being for a basic human right, and necessity for both physical and mental health.