stuckinblighty

but i dont live in London ............

joho

Yes it is bad, but the exchange rate is only relevant once, albeit and expensive once. Personally I would only transfer what I desperatly needed and leave the rest until......

As far as cost of living is concerened the best thing to do is not compare, I find household bills cheaper on the whole to the UK, rates are $330 a quater, food can be a bit dearer becasue there are no bigif offers, but I think that will change very soon, apparently wallmart may be coming.........

My hubbies wages are £10k better than the uk and mine are about the same so no different there.

Its also a buyers market at the moment and some good deals to be had.

I dont know where you live, but you need to compare a comparable place to where you live for prices. Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane oh and Canberra are all pretty much the same for house prices and should be treated as capital cities as lets face it each state is at least 8 times the size of GB before you even break them down.

I wouldnt move back to the UK unless something really drastic happened.

Jo

paul76

Not the sort of chat i need when im dreaming of a new life in Australia

31 years old with a 40k mortgage, got salary and final salary pension...i must be mad I have known this for years

brendarover

Not questioning your logic, but how can it be a buyers market, when every Tom, Dick and Dianne, keeps pointing on here, and posting how house prices in Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide are flying up by the day, get over here quick and grab one before they all sell out etc?

Which is the truth, is it a buyers market or a sellers market, cannot be both?

stuckinblighty

Trust me on this one its a sellers market in melbourne.The market went up 22% in the last 6 months...doesnt sound like a buyers market to me !

Lee

joho

Well certainly around Sydney the prices have stagnated and possilbly dropped a litlle. I can only speak for my area. But with interest rates rising I cant see it continuing to rise in the other areas for much longer if they are. Obviously personal opinions and probably wrong knowing me.

Its just another loop in the circle of life and ups and downs. It all boils down to what it is you are coming for because maybe you wont get it all.

Jo

Margaret3

10 months down the line we are finding it expensive, i know scotland is different from enlgand (better, lol), but its waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy more expensive than scotland.

We are re-thinking everything just now, i keep hoping things will get better, but to be honest they dont seem to be, i get quite 'down' when i read of others now having a fab time, when our time seems to be getting worse and worse. I have also knackered my back, so no work for me for a while and no work, means no pay, at least if i was working for the nhs , i would still be getting paid.


Mind you no matter what happens we wont regret the fact we tried it, at least it will be out our system, and has made us 'think' in a differnet way, i also think it has , on the whole , been a great experience for out kids

paul76

If i dont get a 60 pointer from the TRA i will be re-thinking my move to Australia.

In the last 4 years i have worked my @ss into the ground.

To come over to Australia and barely be able to buy a flat way out of the city on a much lower wage and that coupled with exchange rates.

Its not about money for me but i have had a mortgage since i was 23 and im now 31.

I dont want to go backwards in life as im sure we all dont want.

Atleast if i get a skilled independent visa it will last for 5 years when verified.

brendarover

To be honest, i am going over for a look, just a holiday, got no intentions of moving over, (if i do) to Australia anytime in the next few years, well at least two or three, maybe four? If i like it?

From a personal perspective, i cannot think of a worse time to make the move, i have read alot on here, before i joined, and it seems to be getting harder and harder to justify the financial aspect of the move. Whether you have money or not, its still a dream for the majority, which if does come true, making it work for the long term could be very difficult?

My points are:

1. 4k visa
2. 4k reccie, validation trip (optional)
3. Exchange rate is worse than cr@p
4. Rents are going skyward in Oz
5. House prices are in orbit in Oz
6. Food and energy costs are not cheap and going up in Oz, they are contained here in the UK?
7. The UK is in the horse manure, sterling is on deaths door, and house prices here are falling? Well they certainly are not going up.

All in all, you have to think real hard whether it is worth it now? The people who went a few years back are laughing, whereas the ones yet to go, will find it all totally different with regards to the setting up and settling in costs?

But who know's, it could all be different in three or four years time?

Oh yes, i forgot, poor wages in Australia aswell, well in my field of employment, and interest rates which are heading into double figures! I am off for a drink, it will seem far more do-able after afew?

rushmere

Unfortunately, I think you've made an extremely valid point.

I've been really fired up about going to Melbourne in the last few months, and I'm still at a very early stage of the visa process. However, the last week has been one of the most depressing I've had for a long time when the economic reality of moving to Oz has started to hit home.

On top of the terrible exchange rate, the lower Oz wages, the seemingly spiraling Oz inflation rate, interest rates and house prices, I've just had my UK house valued and found that it's dropped in value considerably in the last 6 months,and I've been advised that the value is dropping further every month.

The reality is that moving to Australia is suddenly starting to look like it could be financially crippling.

I hope it improves, but I have a feeling that it's actually going to get worse.

Will someone please convince me that I'm wrong???

stuckinblighty

I think you've hit the nail on the head mate...sorry to say.

Lee

JoolsB

I lived in Richmond just outside London in a 1 bed flat on a main road (45 mins to 1 hour to get into central London) which we sold for the equivalent of $850,000. In Melbourne I have just bought in Bonbeach (again 45 mins to 1 hour into CBD) for $392,00 only it's a 3 bed house. Okay so Bonbeach hasn't got the fabulous shopping centre/sense of glamour that Richmond had but it has got a gorgeous white sandy beach

stuckinblighty

IMO if you are bring over enough money to virtually buy outright in Aus then you're onto a winner but if you need a reasonable size mortgage its gonna be painful
I base this only on the figures i've been working on for myself.

Lee

paul76

I pray i get the 60 pointer from the TRA

£40K mortgage here and im only 31.

brendarover

Good luck mate, one thing you have in your favour is you seem switched on, believe me, it will help you. You are still young, get your visa, leave it until maybe 2011 or 2012, it could be a totally different scenario, a week is a lifetime in economics? Three years are a trillion light years in economics!