The numbers you need

104 seconds

... is the time, on average, between each birth in Australia according to calculations by the Bureau of Statistics. The bureau also believes a death occurs, on average, every 212 seconds, while migration patterns deliver a net gain of one person every 139 seconds, thereby increasing Australia's population by one person every 83 seconds.

$1999

... is the averagecost of renting a house for a week in Port Hedland, Western Australia, during the March quarter. But with the mining boom now fading, rental prices in the iron ore export hub are following suit; the average rental there cost $2544 in the June 2012 quarter.

82 per cent

... is the proportion of Australian first home buyers with a mortgage who choose to buy an existing dwelling rather than a new one. The trend is strongest in Tasmania, where barely 5 per cent of buyers choose a new dwelling. Victoria and WA have the biggest tolerance for new homes, but even so, about three quarters of people choose an existing dwelling.