Yields may go up when prices go down, but owning property only makes sense if it is set to rise in capital value within the period you're planning to own it for, at least on par with other forms of investment, or unless the risk of falling values is more than weighed up by the advantages of negative gearing.. For the latter to work you'd have to be pretty wealthy already..
I don't understand what you are saying here.
I though rents should be falling. As mentioned, I have hiked rents considerably in supposedly vulnerable areas- inner city commercial and residential holdings.
Good property could very well increase in value if this financial strain is sorted and we don't will ourselves into recession.
I am looking at Sydney apartments. I always wanted one. Water front, art deco. Rent it for a year than do a smart reno and run a depreciation schedule on the reno'. I reckon I will be happy with this strategy in 5 years.