IMO this is the cruz of the argument for lower house prices:
Relative to incomes, Melbourne had the fourth-most unaffordable homes among metropolitan areas with populations of more than 1.5 million people in the developed world, consultancy Demographia said in a report in January, behind Hong Kong, Vancouver and Sydney. Melbourne’s median home price is 8.4 times median household income, compared with 6.9 times in London, 6.2 times in New York and 5.5 times in Toronto.
With the mining bubble burst (it's still good business although there's increasing competition looming) and China sailing into the doldrums, we should optimistically expect a gradual slide to the long term average for this ratio.
