More Australians are taking public transportation to move around and biking to reach their destinations. The shift toward more environment-friendly and healthier transport options is one of the findings of the State of Australian Cities 2011 report released on Thursday.

In the nine-year period from 2001 to 2010, over 11.5 million bikes in Australia were sold, which is 2 million higher than vehicles sold for the same years. Besides the global preference for cleaner and healthier modes of transport, the preference for biking or walking could also be explained by the soaring prices of gas and cars being more expensive than bikes.

"It seems our love affair with the car is declining, with per capita car travel falling by 1 per cent.... This could in part be because people are seeking jobs closer to where they live, reducing their daily commuting load," Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement.

A shift in urban living habits is also observed as more young people in Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. The change, which reverses a two-decade trend of youth leaving the family home upon reaching adulthood, is explained by house prices going beyond the reach of young workers.

Although most Australian homes have more bedrooms than occupants which had been a national trend since 1994, a growing number of young Aussies now prefer to live with their parents or share homes.

As a result the number of people per house in Victoria and the mining states went up as well as the number of bedrooms per house, except in New South Wales which showed a decline in number of bedrooms and residents per unit.

Among the cities, Melbourne is attracting the largest number of local and foreign migrants after it gained 600,000 new residents in the past 10 years compared with Sydney's 450,000.

The shifting demographic trends had the federal government linking future infrastructure funding for the states and territories with strategic planning systems for their capital cities.

"While our country is famous for its agricultural and mineral production, it is our cities that produce 80 per cent of out national wealth," Mr Albanese said.

"We need better cities for the people who live in them, for the people who work in them and for the people who depend on them.... The fact is our cities have become too important to ignore," the minister stressed.

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