Rhian,

There is an older paper I found (also on the Web): K.C. Sharma, D.S. Rao and W. F. Shepherd, Agricultural Economics 4 (1990) 1-12. Figures from a table in this paper puts the ratio between France and Australia for value of production per unit are of arable land at 7.5:1 in France's favour (as of 1980). Of course labour per unit area is also much higher. I have seen claims before that equate the arable land of Australia with that of France, presumably after correcting for productivity. I would just make two points on this. First, people need more than just food. Those agricultural exports help to pay for the imports needed for a larger domestic population. Second, a lot of our agricultural practices are not sustainable, even if we ignore peak oil and climate change. (See Mark O'Connor's book "Tired Brown Land" on this.)

That said, I don't think high house prices are related (yet) to limits to growth, although Stalinist urban planners often justify forcing people into higher density housing on the basis that it preserves agricultural land. We are running up against such limits with regard to water supplies in our cities, all of which, except maybe Hobart, have permanent water restrictions.

Tinman,

Your solution implies that governments want to solve the problem. They don't, because of bigger fees and charges on more expensive houses and because the high prices give existing homeowners a stake in the high population growth and neoliberal economic policies that suit Big Business. Governments have deliberately engineered this situation. It doesn't matter how much suitable land Australia has, if the vast majority of jobs are in a few capital cities and housing must be within commuting distance.

Having suffered the horrors of housing dislocation and the residential tenancy market I feel compelled to speak out. Housing affordability is more than policy failure although this certainly contributes to the problem. It is a public health issue yet this aspect of the problem has received scant attention. I have compiled a survey for tenants at
www.housingsurvey.com.au which I hope to incorporate into public health action. It is simply unacceptable that this rich nation promotes housing as a tool of wealth creation, yet fails to protect the vulnerable via tenancy acts that are actually workable, or habitation standards that ensure the landlord/agent relationship is not exploitive. Housing is a human right.

TO Rhial.
YOU ARE PROBABLY RIGHT ABOUT GOVERNMENTS, WE HAVE LOTS TO SHOW HOW DESPERATE THEY CAN BE TO RETAIN POWER...RECENTLY....AND THERE'S MORE TO COME!LETS HOPE RUDD AND CO.WILL COME UP WITH SOME GOODIES IN THE HOUSING SOLUTION "TINMAN" they are at tight odds!