House prices can’t grow faster than wages. September 18, 2026

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

A LISTNER production.

Scott Phillips (0:04)

Chairs, the S&P, the ISX stocks.

SPEAKER_1 (0:07)

This is Motley Fool Money.

Scott Phillips (0:10)

Welcome to Motley Fool Money, the podcast that really should have a regulatory sunset. I'm Scott Phillips from the Motley Fool. He is Andrew Page, the man for whom regulation is a dirty four-letter word because he's such a nice bloke, he never has to worry about them. That's Mr. Andrew Ram Page, who invented, who gave birth to, who breathed life into, who sustained and nurtured and grew, strawman.com into what is now Australia's premier online investment club. Mr. Page, how are you?

Andrew Page (0:34)

Yeah, I'm good, mate, yeah.

Andrew Page (0:35)

Yeah, very big proponent of self-regulation here.

Scott Phillips (0:39)

Is there a bit of oxymoron in the world in self-regulation?

Andrew Page (0:42)

I know, I know, it's crazy.

Andrew Page (0:44)

Look, there's a whole bunch to unpack here, but it's one of those things that you kind of think, how do you even say it with a straight face?

Scott Phillips (0:54)

I know.

Andrew Page (0:54)

Like, sort of, I think a lot of the time people-

Scott Phillips (0:56)

It's literally not more on my definition.

Andrew Page (0:58)

I know, when people sort of like put that out there, and it's kind of like, and then there's no pushback, you're kind of like, did we just get away?

Andrew Page (1:08)

Did people buy that? Okay, okay.

Scott Phillips (1:11)

Imagine the conversation in the room, or so what we'll do, over on the other table over there, there's some wet lettuce, and we're gonna use that, is that okay? Yeah, you guys should do that, yeah. You should definitely self-regulate.

Use that wet lettuce. You whip yourselves in a shape that will be, you know, it's like, oh, come on, people.

And it's just, I, you know what I kind of, I'm, what do you reckon is behind that? Like, how do they get away with the first place? No, no, not from them, from the government. Like, the regulators who are supposed to do this stuff go, yeah, because of your point, right? They say it. And on the other side of the table, the regulators should go, haha, yeah, really funny guys, not a chance, except they kind of go, oh, good idea, you should do that.

Andrew Page (1:50)

Yeah.

Scott Phillips (1:51)

I assume it's votes or it's lobby groups or it's donors or it's ideologies. I don't know what it is.

Andrew Page (1:56)

There's something there, right?

Andrew Page (1:57)

Craven and cynical, but yeah, I think it's crony capitalistic practices. And I mean, the other thing, as I said, look, I've got a lot of views on regulation.

Scott Phillips (2:09)

You do.

Andrew Page (2:10)

And I think it's a very complex, nuanced topic, and so it's hard to sort of just throw out a line there and not be thoroughly misunderstood.

But I think, yeah, I think there is a very good argument in a lot of circumstances, not all circumstances, to say that regulation is a bad thing in the sense that it has this counterintuitive impact that actually does the opposite of what it intends to do, ironically. And it's the concept of regulatory capture. I mean, the banks are the best example. It's very hard to get a banking license. You can't have a banking license. If you do, you're going to have to comply with all of these regulations, which, by the way, are super, super expensive and complicated and convoluted. And it sounds really great, except there's two problems with it. One is it's a massive barrier to competition. It's a moat, what Buffett would call it. And it just means that there's less competition. Less competition means less value for consumers. And the other argument is, and the banks are such a great example of this, it's just like, well, we've got regulation as long as your arm. It's like, are you telling me there's no malfeasance? Every other year, there's an FX rate scandal, or there's, you know, charging dead people, or there's like, all the time. And it's kind of like, well, isn't the regulation meant to prevent those? Like, because if it is, it's not working very well. And when it does kind of work, as you said, the old wet lettuce comes out and it's like, and the press loves it, right?

Andrew Page (3:43)

It's like, oh, I can build a trillion, trillion dollar fine.

Scott Phillips (3:45)

It's a big number.

Andrew Page (3:47)

It's like, and they must just be doing cartwheels in the border. It was like, dude, that's like three days' profit, you know?