We live in a former mining town in the north of England. It's OK and improving at a snails pace, and family and friends are here. But my OH and youngest talk about Aus every day, missing it a lot. And since we left here in 2008 before the banks did their thing, compared to now, there seems to be a very different mood in the town. And not in a good way! And the local once excellent school has gone downhill badly, so it looks like we will be moving somewhere...

I think you need to figure out what you really want, especially your OH and the youngest will only talk about it as long as your OH does. You said
"One major reason for leaving was that despite having two good jobs, the property prices were not just high but rising at a crazy rate".




Imagine if you buy now and property prices start decreasing at a crazy rate, which will probably happen in the coming years. You'll then be worse off than before, so what improvement was that? Maybe your OH is missing the old location, but then you need to question why you left in the first place.

Been living in melb for just over year/half.

You need to be very wary of property prices, look at what they are advertised for then look a month on in the sold section. A year ago 100,000 over was typical now 200,000 or 400,000 over is common. The market is so flooded with buyers.

Job market is similarly competitive. A lot of new arrivals, all looking for work and a house.

Compared to 2013 when we bought property there its absolutely bloody insane.

I find melbourne has gone downhill on the crime side, a lot of its mostly drug related, but no shortage of crime, and its not just a few streets inner city, its statewide. We lived in melb briefly in 2001 and cannot remember it like that then.

But everywhere gets more expensive, everywhere has more crime, Melbourne is a typical mid size city. But please as housing is one of your main concerns, just worth making absolutely sure you fully understand what stuff is selling for, its absolutely nothing like the advertised prices.

There's a good reason why housing where you live is cheap. Its a crap area.

Sorry but no point in sugar coating it. If you want to live somewhere nice, somewhere growing, somewhere with a bit of everything, somewhere where other people want to live, you have to pay.

Simple economics of supply and demand.

Wouldn't agree there. Just because housing is cheap, doesn't mean it's a crap area and just because it's expensive doesn't mean it will always be a desirable area.

In the individuals opinion sure. In the masses opinion. Nup. Simple economics of supply and demand.

But aren't the masses usually the losers? If it was always about following the trend rather than setting the trend, no property developer would be interested.


Your simple economics of supply and demand often go the other way too.
There used to be a demand for VHS and then the DVD player came.

In the case of iphone consumption, you probably have a point.

Perhaps Melbourne markets itself better than a dying northern industrial town.

I would have to agree, many towns in this part of the country are indeed crap and are far cheaper places to live than this one. And while it's an exception (edge of town here, overlooking the Cheshire plain and next to the site of the new RHS Bridgewater, more leafy than industrial these days) it is useful to think what is it that makes VIC a better choice for us and how much of a premium that's worth.

So yes, it's helpful for us to think in terms of what we are willing to pay (time and money) for an address in a nicer bit of VIC. Don't really want to be so busy rowing the boat that we miss the scenery... maybe my expectations are a bit unrealistic.

Well put. Can't argue with that.

We loved living there. We agreed before leaving Blighty, if one of us decides to return, we both agree. The final straw for me was attending auctions ready to buy and seeing basic weatherboard houses (guide 600ish) fetching 8 and 900. I was scared by the idea of playing along only to find high interest rates and falling prices, making us a slave to the mortgage while the kids grow up. It looks like that is still a possibility, so a return to Aus means we find a cheaper area (we rarely went to Melbourne itself) or bite the bullet and sign on the dotted line...

We had decided that in Ballarat at the time, we only liked the old school Victorian style houses close to the town... never even bothered to look at other areas. A quick look on realestate.com.au has offered lots of affordable (seemingly) property for less than half the price of those grand old places. Thanks for nudging me back in a good direction!

I've never really understood why everyone on BE seems to think that state capital cities are the only places that exist.

If you would be happy somewhere much smaller and assuming you do a job which would be in demand in more rural areas, there are a number of towns to the west of Melbourne worth investigating.

Ballarat is one, Colac is another (handy for the Great Ocean Road coast and not too far from Melbourne). Orbost is too small and insular for me (and not to the west either!).

I would love to know more about Colac... (OH is a very skilled nurse, I'm a tradie but done a fair bit of site management too). We loved our trips on the GOR, and enjoyed the landscape inland. I can read wikipedia about Colac, but what is it really like? Is everything available for a typical person, such as reasonable schools, hospital, safe refuge if bush fires are an issue there? Any thoughts you have on Colac would be welcome - I will be busy looking at house prices and trying to work out how long it takes to get to Geelong and the airport... cheers!

Its all about your earning capacity and the earning capacity of others where you choose to live.

I would have a guess that being a tradie you are in a position to earn a lot more in Melbourne than Cheshire on an exchange rate comparision which means nothing when a mortgage or rent is your biggest expense.

That said you are investing in an asset. Yes it might cost a lot up front, yes it has monthly payments, yes there could be a property crash next year, but really, in 25 years time where is going to have the greater growth, Melbourne or Cheshire?

Who knows, but buying your own home isn't about today or next year.

Do you know anyone who has actually lost out by buying a home and living in it for years?

I agree the evidence so far points to bricks and mortar being good long term. Is Aus not a special case though? Great place but propped up by export of natural resources and inward migration - heavily dependent on the global economy which is looking a bit wobbly at the minute?