Trevski

Is Australia getting to expensive for possible migrants wanting to migrate here.
I have lived in Brisbane for five years since migrating from Northampton shire in the heart of England,We moved here with two children now aged (girl) 15 and the other (Boy) 10, for what we thought was a more cost effective life but it has now become a expensive place to live.
Do people now think that it is getting to expensive to make the move to Australia, with the house prices starting to fall and with the next interest rate increase it is getting hard to have money left over each week to spend on the family enterainment.
It is sad in this day and age it is now reported that people are turning off the lights etc in the evening to try and save electricity as it has gone up so much in the last two years, people are cutting back on fresh fruit and veg as that has rocketed up in price, Australia will become a mini USA where it is cheaper to eat junk food than eat healthy.
We as said have been here five years but are now think that it has become to expensive to live here and after talking to a lot of migrants the feeling is that a lot of them have packed up and left Australia.
So is Australia still a place people want to move/migrate to for a new life or is it now being used as a place to try until you obtain you citizen ship.
Have fun in what you do

freebo

I'm a new migrant and it was expensive to get set up but now 6 months later we've recouped the initial costs and are putting money away into savings. So once earning in AUD its not so bad (lots of things did "feel" expensive though).

The big issue for most migrants is the exchange rate, we have no need to bring our money over, which is a good job at the current historic lows, of course this may last forever, but I'm betting it won't.

Seneca21

Compared with not too many years ago Australia has become a very expensive place to live. This is because of the social virus that destroys everything wherever it is found: unaffordable house prices.

Every home owner wants their house to go up and up and up, yet they do not see the damage it brings to everything.

Trevski

I agree the only people making money are those companies that are able to push their prices higher for more profit like real estate agents and those in the banks/goverment etc that want more profit, get real and stop kicking the general public in the face, Australia is going to have a bad time when more and more people walk away from their house mortage because they cant afford it any more, its going to happen

Bermudashorts

Similar to Freebo. The historically low exchange rate is a shame but we will sit it out as I don't believe it will stay this way forever. We had to bring over some money to get ourselves set up but we won't bring any more for a while now. We don't seem to have got to the point of actually saving anything just yet but hopefully we will be at that stage soon.

As we were not here a few years ago, we don't feel the pain of things having become more expensive though I have read that is the case.

We didn't move for a more cost effective life, we are both earning less than we would earn in the UK (assuming a more normal FX rate of about 2.2 - 2.5) and we are paying more in rent than we did on mortgage. We just moved because we felt like it and despite the financial disadvantages mentioned we have a perfectly good standard of living.

KJCherokee

Don't hold your breath waiting for exchange rates above 2:1 - the last 10 years history isn't in your favour. The underlying trend is for the AUD to strengthen against sterling.

jad n rich

Shocked at what it costs to run a family now, our leccy bill just came in at a tad under $700, thats no heating, no ac nothing fancy but pool filter on 2 hours a day, rates have gone to $2900 and they were one of the few things that was cheaper here.

People often post 'could I live on 120K a year', probably hoping to get yeah mate you'll be rollin in it replies but now I would say if you had teens and a mortage you would struggle.

Ive just paid this morning the 2 youngest boys book hire levy and fees for state high school 2011, it was $1539 Thats free govt school, one in mid band one in advanced level. Now they want $95 for the grade 12 shirt.

freebo

I'm not holding my breath, as I said I have no need to transfer money at this stage.

Seneca21

My electricity bill is nowhere near the level of expense mentioned above and that is with heaters on over the winter. Also, a three bed house in Aus will have council tax at $800 - $1000 which is massively cheaper than the equivalent property in the UK or North America. US property tax in particular can be 15 or 20 times more expensive than Australian council tax.

So it's not all bad news, but Aussie houses are massively over-valued right now and as for the currency - the UK currency has been turned into toilet paper and I cannot see anything at all that will push it up. The only hope is that the AUD falls a little against it but I do not expect to see anything over 2 or 2.1 for a long, long time. In fact, I cannot see sterling buying over 2.5 ever again.

bcworld

Back in 2001 an AUD was worth as little as USD0.48 - today it buys USD0.97.

People probably made dramatic statements about the decline of the Aussie back then as well.

Wendy

I didn't move for money, and I wouldn't trade my life as it is now for my old life back in the UK (which I am not convinced is that much cheaper)

Also after talking with my son over there, and seeing his struggle at finding work since he graduated Uni last year, I am glad my other kids aren't there.

freebo

A strong currency is not always a good thing for a country, in simple terms it helps importers and hurts exporters. Recently Japan and Brazil have tried to weaken their currencies and the US is accusing China of keeping theirs artificially low.

Some are accusing the US and UK of deliberately devaluing their currencies which reduces the burden of their debt repayments and would also help any exports they have, indeed a the term "competitive devaluation" may apply here.

As Australian mineral exports are priced in USD I've been wondering how the strength of the AUD is affecting the mining companies, they get less Australian dollars for their product as the currency strengthens. Certainly it will hurt the tourism industry. In fact the Australian dollar has been rising against most currencies, not just the pound.

In the end the Australian economy is tiny in world terms and very much subject to the actions of other countries, I don't have any insight as to how it will play out but am far from certain that current conditions will prevail in the coming 2-5 years.

Amazulu

We are in the same situation and have no intention of bringing it over as we have no mortgage and a relatively good income. We have put a lot of the UK money into premium bonds due to the UK having no interest rates.

UK will bounce back eventually and so will the GBP.

Bermudashorts

I'm not holding my breath, I don't need sterling to bounce back any time soon. But I believe it will, eventually.

jad n rich

I dont know where you live but in SEQLD rates have come in around 2900pa and 3200 for the rental house.

I dont know anyone in OZ with 800 rates, so its not much use quoting that as a typical figure. Maybe you live rural, or dont have all services which makes the rates cheaper.