Muzza04

Seems to be a lot of posts on cost of living here.

Bread???? Make your own!

Here is my view:

When we woz in UK (South East region) we relied on 2 incomes to keep ourselves above board to pay for extortionate rent, petrol and bills

Here in Perth, we reckon a starting income of $40,000(gross) is sufficient to cope with day to day costs of lving,, ie groceries, bills and rent/mortgage.

When in Sydney 2 years ago we had a joint income of $45,000(gross) and after paying rent (flat in Balmain), food and bills, had enough money left over to enjoy weekends away in Kangaroo valley etc or drinks in local boozer several times a week.

Now a bit older and none the wiser, I have resorted to buying a slab of beer for home. Because there ain't a pub nearby.

BTW , we are a couple, no kids and rent a villa 5 minutes outside Perth city for $150 a week
Laters
Muzza

HUP

As a family of four we live day to day on $50k in Melbourne and that allows us to live and have a few trips and takeouts etc. What it dosn't allow for is a great deal of saving for emergencies such as dentist bills car repairs etc etc. There were several threads a short while which suggest a household income of $80k would be about right for a family of four.

Everyone has different needs and costs of living will vary on those requirements. We have invested our UK money into our house over here and are now living on the AUD and it is then that you realise how expensive things can be. Say if we wanted to go to the UK for a holiday it would cost us in the region of $10k which would require a significant amount of saving.

Muzza04

Obviously would need a bit more income, for those with kids etc.

As for holidays to UK, yes they are a very pricey when earning AUD.
For me, a holiday back in UK would be likely once every 3 years.....what ...still gotta go to Uluru, Darwin, Broome, Adelaide, etc and New Zealand.

But surely as time goes by salary increases are likely.

My view is that when you get a job here, you are basically a few steps back from where you were in UK. Ie you need to prove yourself far more here.
Or at the bottom of the job ladder for some.


For those about to come out, settle well, and wish a holiday back in the UK a year or 2 later..... I would recommend keeping some GBP pounds in UK to pay for it and use whilst there...

John Howard

We live in Sydney and have a joint income of $120,000. We didnt have a house to sell in the UK so dont have any GBP. So you may think whats this arse moaning about?

We are getting married at the end of the year$$ we want to start a family= 1 income

Average house price in Sydney $500,000
Most anybody will lend us $450,000 with a $85,000 deposit, about $3,200 a month re-payments for 25 years.

You may say- move to somwhere less expensive, but cost of living is relative to salary. The same as living in the South or North of England. So you are unlikely to be any better off, and not like where you live and i would rather have a good quality of life than a great house in a shit hole.

I've had my winge, and am happy here in Oz, more so when i looked at the temps in England its warmer here at the moment and we are in the middle of winter!!

Yours, saving for a deposit

NickyC

Poor you - you're in the typical Sydney first-home-buyer situation.
I'd also rather live in a shoebox somewhere nice than a mansion somewhere grotty.

Can't really help you except to say that the average life of a home-loan is 7 years - most people move and get a new one within that time. So you're unlikely to be paying $3200 a month for 25 years - more like 7 years, then you'll be up for more!

In practice, most Aussies pay off their home loans long before the 25 years is up. Dump as many savings/lump sums/windfalls into it as possible and the remaining term reduces pretty fast. I know quite a few people who've lived on one income, put all their second income into the mortgage and have paid it off totally in a few years.

Have you though of moving to the Central coast? It's not a shit-hole at all, train into Sydney is not that bad and weekends up there would be lovely. Alternatively, look at buying a unit instead of a house to get started on the ladder.

John Howard

We live in Coogee at the moment on Mount Street. Our options are:

Buy a unit in Coogee, and then look at a house in the Shire/Further south. Unit prices are dropping rapidly at the moment and should continue to drop.

Or Look for a 2 bed house a bit closer to the eastern suburbs.

At present my salary goes into a saving account and we live on my partners salary. Do you own in Coogee?

NickyC

We're not far from you. Bought our house here over 10 years ago. Had a small semi in Bronte for 8 years before that, so we've been in the market in this area for a longish time.

Prices are dropping slightly but I doubt if it will be a major fall. The area will always be in demand due to proximity to beach.

If I were in your shoes I'd be looking for a cheap, unrenovated unit in a good 1920's/30's block in the best position possible. Do it up, wait a while and in a few years you could be in a position to do it again with a semi.

That's how we started. Back in 1985, for the price of our tiny Bronte semi we could have had the equivalent of a McMansion somewhere out west, but decided to stay in the East. I'm always thankful we did as we've benefited enormously in the long run.

Good Luck!

65 million

If there's no pub nearby, there's your first opportunity!. Get a business loan and build one. You never know you could make a packet?

bondipom

May have been the case in the past with inflation eating into the total loan amount. Nowadays pay offs are much much longer. 30 year terms are increasingly available and housing affordability is at an all time low. Rates are on the rise with the economic cycle.

House prices will probably stagnate for a few years in the Eastern Burbs but units are down down.