No Chimbu. On a commercial holding it would have been an absolute winner in hindsight. When you factor in the purchasing power of the USD versus the Aussie at the time, and the fact that anytime the AUD is that low I place debt in USD.
So, a 2 million dollar commercial property, comfortably leveraged with the 500,000 USD, yielding 8-9%. The AUD has since appreciated and now you flip your debt to profit or maintain a fantastic yield by keeping debt in USD.
A simple strategy I had with a residential holding. Just wish I had the balls to do it with a commercial property. Fact is, I read some crap here on the vulnerability of BNE commercial property and went conservative.
That article is just crap Chimbu. Speculative journalism drawing on inconclusive and possible scenarios.
Many folks I know could pay out their mortgage in OZ but have leveraged against their house to invest elsewhere. If the Australian economy does badly I could speculate that this is very unwise. If the Australian economy does well I could pat them on the back for their resourcefulness.