Fejaouk

I am a single nurse moving to Townsville, where house prices are supposed to be cheaper. How on earth does a nurse on $50,000+ afford to buy their own house?

Plus rental costs are not that much cheaper, how on earth do you save to put down a big deposit or self-build.

Scottie x

JAJ

Slightly tongue-in-cheek but maybe hope for an economic recession and a crash in house prices?

Fejaouk

Either that I shall be moving to the trailer park lol

Scottie x

Sally Simpson

Let's move there together then!

Margaret3

works for me

Margaret3

we have been in melbourne for nearly 8 months, am a nurse and hubby a printer, we didn't think we would be able to buy a house before we came out from scotland and now we know for definate we wont be able to afford one, we didnt com with much dosh, only enough for a 5% deposit, but after doing our sums we know we wont be able to afford the repayments every month

hollykimalan

Hi,
We are moving to Mackay which is sort of between Cairns and Brisbane. Hopefully, UK house sale dependant, we will have about aus$40,000 as a deposit on a aus$290,000 house. You can get a 3-4 bedroom detached house up there for that. If you want better quality maybe aus$350,00. We hope to get a nice older house with no frills. The local bank has said it will lend me ip to these amount on my nurses wage alone ($50k).
Maybe, like the big cities in the UK nurses cant find affordable homes now too!
Sad really aint it!
Alan and Kim
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Fejaouk

On a $300,000 mortgage over 30 years, 4 year fixed at 8.19% thats $2251.15 a month! Over half your salary a month to your mortgage, how are you supposed to survive? I think its irresponsible of the banks to lead this when they know it will only lead to reposessions etc.

Yeh I am single and even a 2 bed apartment in Townsville, in a flat that need some work they still want $200,000! Maybe I need to stop comparing and realised it is how it is!

Scottie x

hollykimalan

I aint buying a £350K home. If you care to re-read the post I was only giving a general impression of house prices.
I have worked out with salary sacrificing and tax breaks 'cos we will have 3 kids my mortgage would much less than half my income...even with a $300k mortgage.
Alan
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Sally Simpson

Until you get out there & see what the reality of living & working there is, I would not worry too much!
Rents seem to be relatively low compared to mortgage payments though from what I have seen.
Anyway, you might find yourself a wealthy partner & not have to worry!

jam76

Just a quickie about renting....

Prices for rent about the same as a mortgage in Aus? Have you seen how much a 1 bedroom aprtment is here in Manchester UK to rent a month?

Try 500-550 (£)...

We were just looking (curiosity) at suburbs in an around Brisbane, eagle farm, kangaroo point etc etc and rental prices (as when we do get there we will have to rent to start) and for the same price we're paying now for rent we can have a 3 bedroom bungalow with some garden and a driveway, some even had pools!

My point is, is that it may be the same but your money buys you alot more than where I live...

If ya from London then I do understand what you're on about, as buying a shed in London would be the same price as a penthouse in Manchester!



How on earth can it be worse over in Aus than here?

hollykimalan

Yeah, I agree...
I am struggling to find a place in the UK that a Nurse could buy whilst using less than half her/his UK take home pay!
Even in a dismal bit of Scotland you need you pay at least £125k for a 2-3 bedroom home.
Using the original posters figures (£125k..over 30 years 8.19%)....that equates to a mortgage of £933 per month...Which is way more than half a UK nurse band five take home pay!
Which would mean earning £1866 per month in your hand for it to be half your wage...which would mean a salary of...£32k assuming you pay 5% into UK.
It just sucks being a nurse when it comes to finances I think thats what it boils down to...no matter which country you live in!

Alan
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Fejaouk

Well that sounds promising, maybe the internet gives a false sense of things out there. Thanks everyone for giving your point of view.

Scottie

hollykimalan

Yo be honest Scottie...my wife and I have just got used to paying loads a money on housing!
We will save on council tax bills...I think!
When you have a family about half your income goes on your home in one way or another...unless you are lucky.
If you are under thirty I would spend as much as you can afford. As long as it is a mortgage and the property appreciates in value...
I did that in my early thirties and am now in a 5 bedroom house that senior Doctors that I work with can't even afford to buy...they have seen that it is on the market!
Remember in 5 years time you income should have increased but your mortgage payments SHOULD be roughly the same......
Alan
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Fejaouk

Hi Alan

Thanks very much for the advice. I am working hard just now before I go to save enough to buy a decent car outright so I can get a better mortgage and have a deposit. I have friends in Townsville who say their house has increased in value by $200,000 in two years! So I think the propery I do buy will increase in value.

Yeh I am going to try to buy the best I can or something that needs work which I can do myself, which normally gives a good return for the work you do. Also I was also thinking about overpayments on my mortgage because I know you can save a lot and pay your mortgage off a lot quicker and in the long term it benifits you a lot.

So Alan what was the % you paid to your mortgage in your early 30's? Thanks for your help and advice friend.

Scottie x