Sydney is in the grip of a housing bubble, Australia’s most-senior economic bureaucrat said in one of the strongest warnings yet by a government official. “When you look at the housing price bubble evidence, it’s unequivocally the case in Sydney -- unequivocally,” Treasury Secretary John Fraser said in testimony before a parliamentary committee in Canberra Monday. “Frankly, whatever the data says, just casual observation would tell you that’s the case.” Home prices in Sydney rose 15 percent in May from a year earlier although they fell 0.7 percent from April, according to Corelogic RP Data. Australia’s major banks ... (full story)