tsk tsk tsk. all the morons in perth/melbourne must be crying.
hee hee
http://www.forbes.com/realestate/20...rdable-forbeslife-cx_mw_0724unaffordable.html
World's Increasingly Unaffordable Cities
Matt Woolsey, 07.24.08, 12:01 AM ET


The Australian government, for example, has increased interest rates 12 times consecutively since 2002 to stave off inflation and is cutting personal taxes so consumers have money to spend.
This affects those in Melbourne and Perth, which rank No. 8 and No.10, respectively, for their accelerating costs of living. It's a precarious situation. Increase interest rates too quickly and you'll slow growth, but keep interest rates too low and you'll mute the spending power of the economy's growth by making money more expensive.
"The tax cuts over the past couple of years have been somewhat offset by the double whammy of sustained higher petrol prices and the marked increase in the cost of debt," says Matt Whitby, national director of Knight Frank Australia, an arm of the London-based financial research firm.
One major problem has been in the availability of housing. "Both state and federal governments need to seriously address the supply shortage in this country, not only as a necessity due to the growing population, but to put downward pressure on prices and rents and hence inflation," Whitby says.