For the fifth consecutive month, Australian home values have retreated, with the nation's largest cities absorbing losses that now approach seven percent from their recent peaks. The Reserve Bank's campaign against inflation has cooled the economy with precision, but the instrument of that cooling — rising interest rates — is now pressing on the very households whose spending sustains growth. What unfolds in Australia is a familiar human tension: the tools used to restore balance can themselves become a source of imbalance, and the question is whether the correction finds its floor before the