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As topcropper said, population growth isn't everything. You need the new people, whether new births or migrants, to add value to the economy. For kids that requires a social infrastructure and education that makes them into productive workers or entrepreneurs or teachers or whatever. For adult...

Because our tax system isn't generous enough to be considered a tax haven. It's not about whether we can provide the same quality of service (we can), it's about the demand (no hedge fund will want to operate out of Australia for tax reasons when they can incorporate wherever they want. Witness...

No, those places would not consider Australia to have a small population, at least relative to them. Populations from wikipedia: Liechtenstein 36,000 Luxembourg 500,000 Bermuda 68,000 Jersey 90,000 Australia 22,000,000 I haven't dropped any zeros, by the way. Make of it what you will. Nothing...

These are all tax havens. Small population, little traditional industry, few if any resources, but lots of financial and legal services and offshore income. GDP per capita can be distorted, especially by migrant labour who might be providing the low level (cheap) labour, but wouldn't go into the...

That, I get. But that's different from saying you want to hold 2 properties debt free?

Actually, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that as long as we have long term population growth and economic growth , property CAN go up over the long term. But other factors (recession, lack of confidence, etc) can hurt the market. It's more a response to the idea that property has a...

I agree, but for many industries (banking, legal, etc) it's still very CBD centric. It will change if they start really building business centres in other areas. Some of the new business parks in Sydney is a step in that direction. Norwest, for example, really opens up the areas around...

Actually, that's not so far fetched. Some 'bedroom communities' in the US and UK can be 2 hours travel from the city centre. People who work in manhattan live in upstate New York and commute. I know people making very good money in the UK who, because they want to live in a house, take a 90...

Detroit's problem wasn't that housing became too expensive. It was because it lost the one industry it built itself around, and the population halved in a generation. What is the point of mentioning Detroit in reference to 2050? Do you think the Australian population will halve after we lose our...

I'm pulling figures out of thin air here. My point is to illustrate how someone on 100k income might be able to 'afford' a 1m property. In any case, as you said it's doable, but looking just at the value / income ratio of 10, it would seem to be impossible. Long term, increases will still be...

Yes, Detroit is one example of what can happen if 1) you lose population and 2) your economy goes into decline. Obviously they go hand in hand. Japan is another, where the population of the whole country is declining. If I thought Australia is going to lose population and our economy is going...

I disagree with this. Why? Because people who trade up don't need high LVR mortgages. They might be buying with a 50% mortgage. In which case, their incomes just have to be 'appropriate' to half of the value of the house. The price to income ratio assumes people take out high LVR loans to buy...

Can urban expansion continue indefinitely? Maybe not, but there are clearly many cities far bigger than ours that still haven't hit limits. So I don't think Australia cities are anywhere near the limits of urban expansion yet. I disagree that townhouses / units have low utility. For one, if...

What you're not considering, HA888, is that the 'average house in the burbs' will move. 30 years ago, the lower end house in the burbs was not where it is now. The city gets bigger, and people get pushed out. That 300k house in an outer suburb will become a 'great piece of land to build a new...