Australian average house prices
Source: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/12/....html?from=top5

March quarter 2005
Adelaide $267,000
Brisbane $312,500
Canberra $375,000
Darwin $255,000
Hobart $240,000
Melbourne $309,000
Perth $290,000
Sydney $485,000
Capital city average $375,000


Based on House prices in Sept 20005, the ratio of House prices in capital cities to Australian average annual wages are as follows:
Source: http://www.findem.com.au/news/displayArticle.php?id=462
8 January 2006

Sydney - 9.8
Melbourne - 6.8
Brisbane - 5.8
Adelaide - 5.1
Perth - 5.8
Canberra - 6.6
Hobart - 5.0
Darwin - 5.6

Does that mean that people in Brisbane are paid more than people in Perth, given that the ratio is the same (5.8) but the cost of housing in Brisbane is $22K different?

Hmmm

from 2004, average wages:

NSW - $51,760
ACT - $ 56,227
QLD - $47,403
VIC - $50,403
TAS - $45,682
SA - $46,444
WA - $50,013

BUT........... If we just take Perth rather than WA as a whole, and all those high paid miners, I don't know what the figures are... :)

I'll have to look it up :)

I found one ABS site that quotes year 2000 figures of:

Equivalised disposable household Median income per week
Brisbane $422
Perth $419

and by entire State
Equivalised disposable household Median income per week
QLD $364
WA $395

Now that supports the theory of Brisbane being higher than Perth, but WA being higher than QLD.