boots

Can you afford to pay for a $980,000.00 home with this new Tax Reform ?And will the power be candle power or oil lamps?
On the bonus side,no need for 2 car garages anymore,stable for your horse/camel.
Clean energy Future!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brisneyland

I hear the "it's so expensive" whinge a lot. I don't know where you're all shopping or looking at houses but all I know is that I've never felt better off than here. In the UK it was always a struggle, last week of the month, skint. Every month. Things on HP, Christmas on the drastic plastic, going out for a meal was for special occasions, dreading the car tax or MOT or insurance or council tax, there was always something just as I thought I could get ahead.

Here, I actually have savings, as I think do most people here. If the washing machine breaks it's not the end of the world. I can eat out if I choose, I'm not loosing sleep worrying about bills. I have bought a brand new car, paid for in full. First time in my life I have something new that nobody else has dicked about with first.

I look around here and I see big 4x4's towing jetskis. How often do you see that sort of disposable income in the UK? The shopping centers are full of people buying stuff. Last time I looked in the UK the shopping centers were awash with people bartering in the Mr One pound shop.

So bananas are $14 a kilo. Don't buy them or base your exchange rate conversions on them.

isgraham

It depends on how your expertise are valued in the UK or Australia as to how your experience unfolds. In my case I had a crappy Toyota corolla in Sydney I have a BMW X3 in London. I had to rent a unit in Sydney, I own with a small house 25 minutes from the City with a small mortgage. I rarely had savings month too month out of my salary in Sydney although I was able to get decent bonuses. In London I save a couple of thousand pounds per month and I get good bonuses. Fundamentally for me London is cheap because my skills are more highly rewarded in the UK, the point being that you really need to move over with your eyes open as to your earning potential and the local costs. That's what has been good about this thread it has exposed the issues for some around costs and the benefits for others of better income. It helps people make more informed decisions.

moneypenny20

I was broke in the UK and I'm broke here. Same shit...........

sonlymewalter

people forget its a worldwide GFC and not just in Aus

And id rather be skint here than there.

lancastrian48

Lol..Moneypenny..correct

itxrd

Agree completely. The other dudes line of work must pay twice as much here as it does back in the UK. My mate is a construction engineer and think thats the case there. Then of course you'll be better off. But like for like...

And sonly is right. I'd also rather be broke here than back in the UK.

BadgeIsBack

Same here...but it is very unfashionable to say so....

Amazulu

The carbon tax is going to cost us but, unfortunately, we are not the only country embarking on a course of green lunacy:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/ene...n-reforms.html

TKline

The Aussie property boom and commodity boom are 100% dependent on China continuing to power ahead. I think a problem with any asset or investment class in Australia these days is the amount of debt and leverage involved in all markets. Even if you're not highly leveraged yourself, you can bet most of the other market participants will be, and that makes for an unstable investment (through no fault of your own) when the global economy has another dip and all asset classes get the jitters.

If I was invested in Australian property or commodities right now my biggest fear as an investor would be China. A drop in Chinese asset values would not only shake confidence in China's economic vitality, but it would also open debate about whether or not the global economy is over-leveraged and over-reliant on the success of China (it is).

Excessive leverage is partly what made the property bubble aftermath so devastating for Japan, America and Ireland. There's a great discussion here (China Property Bubble) about the Chinese economic bubble and it's potential impact on the global economy.

Several months ago, so-called Chinese 'expert' Nick Lardy dismissed worries about what he called the "so-called property bubble" - this was during a conference held at Peterson Institute in DC. However, he now concedes that says a real estate downturn may cause a significant in China, and this is an opinion shared by many other mainstream economic analysts.......

So what changed his opinion? I would suggest a dawning realisation that most of the massive Chinese stimulus, lending and spending during 2009/10 just ended up in property purchases, which drove real estate prices in an alarming and totally unsustainable manner. Also, a realisation that China's economic system frequently produces bubbles, and that's not very likely to change in the near future!!

To understand why excessive debt and leverage is going to have a hugely negative impact on all asset classes going forward, read up on some of the work by Professor Steve Keen. He's the Aussie bloke who predicted the GFC, and he has also shown that unsustainable debt to GDP ratios in a country (which you definitely have in the UK, and we have in Australia too) will always result in deflation or depression.

Right now, Melbourne is the canary in the coalmine of Australian property, and it's one very sick yellow bird. Melbourne stock is building up alarmingly, and yet the builders just keep on building. There's a huge pipeline of units under construction and as they hit the market over the next 6-12 months we'll see a housing market bloodbath the likes of which have never been seen. Auction results in Melbourne have completely collapsed and FHBs have deserted the market. Unbelievably the spruikers are still out there saying it's a great time to buy (but when do they ever say anything else). Of course, when the extent of this crash becomes clearer, they'll vanish into the ether!

Tom Kline.

isgraham

I agree with sonly's comment as well but that's not my choice. When I moved to Sydney it made me better off than London moving back to London has made me better off than Sydney. The moment that changes I will be on the plane moving back. I would much rather be in Sydney than London but I do what I must to get a nice place in a nice suburb in Sydney that means working in London for a while.

itxrd

Interesting. I am thinking the same. As soon as there is a recession in Oz (and nowhere is immune) I'll hop back to the UK. Good thing about all this is that the world is a small place nowadays and you can do that

isgraham

Fortunately I have quite a few options some with nice climates. If Australia doesn't pan out I may have to move to my place in Brazil.

chris955

That of course is YOUR situation and obviously doesn't apply to everyone, lots of people in both countries have savings and lots don't. You have to remember that this country has I think the highest level of household debt
in the developed world so we must assume that most people also have everything on HP and Christmas on the drastic plastic. When we were in the UK going out for a meal certainly wasn't a special occasion and we dread the arrival of the cars rego and the electricity bills and the rates notice.
Some amazing generalisations in your post, your situation does not make it the same for everyone.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Interesting perspective. It's certainly not the view of the world I see in the Illawarra.