Hi guys ... meet the Australian economy, where sharks, monkeys and parasites happily cohabit and prosper:

House prices 'world highest' By Tim Colebatch and Jewel Topsfield, Canberra (The Age, December 1, 2005)

AUSTRALIA has by far the most overvalued houses in the Western world, with prices 52 per cent higher than justified by rental values, the OECD says.

In a new analysis of the housing boom sweeping developed nations, the OECD also says the price of housing relative to incomes is 50 per cent higher in Australia than in other countries as a group.

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Of 15 OECD countries compared in the study, Australia had the highest prices relative to rental levels, the third-highest prices relative to incomes, and the fourth-highest levels of household debt relative to incomes.
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Its warning comes as a grim report on welfare services says the struggle to find affordable housing is now affecting middle-class Australians as well as those on low incomes.

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The report said average household debt had skyrocketed as a proportion of household disposable income. From 49 per cent of income in 1990-91, the debt ratio trebled to 143 per cent in 2004.

"The major component of this rise in household debt has been the even greater increase in borrowing for housing," the report said. "Such borrowing has grown more than four-fold in real terms since 1990."
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"In 2003 the Productivity Commission recommended that a national public inquiry be established to examine the housing needs of low-income residents. But the Howard Government rejected that recommendation", Senator Carr said.