Cost of living in Sydney or Melbourne
 

Hi guys,

Firstly I want to thank you guys. BritishExpats helped me a lot during my immigration process (PR) few year ago. Thank you!

Now, I will be moving to either Melbourne (40% chances) or Sydney (60% chances). In this regard, I need to compare cost of living in these two cities. Now, I know that Melbourne is less expensive then Sydney but I need this information to negotiate a better deal with my employer based on destination selection.

I am moving with family (wife + 2 school going kids (aged 11 and 6)). For now, my wife would not be working, so I would be sole earner of the family.

Can you guys give the Melbourne and Sydney estimated expenses against below:

Monthly Cost:
Furnished 2 Bedroom Apartment
Unfurnished 2 Bedroom Apartment
Furnished 3 Bedroom Apartment
Unfurnished 3 Bedroom Apartment
Utilities (Water + Electricity)
Monthly Internet + TV Cable
Average Mobile Phone
Monthly Grocery
Monthly School fee (if private school)
Any Medical Insurance Fees
Dining out once a week
Petrol, Parking, Car Service etc

One Time Cost:
Car (may be) Toyota Corolla (New)
Car (may be) Toyota Corolla (Old)
Driving License
School Admission Fees

Please also mention, if I have missed anything in above table.

Your help here is always appreciated.

Thanks
Komail Noori

Re: Cost of living in Sydney or Melbourne
 

It will take a good few hours to put this info together. Send me a private email with your address so I can send you an invoice.

Re: Cost of living in Sydney or Melbourne
 

Hmm. Don't you have Google in your country?

Re: Cost of living in Sydney or Melbourne
 

Petrol, rego, gas, car insurance, school extras (photos, excursion, swimming lessions, uniforms and book orders can be thousand + easy with couple of kids. Especially in high school)

Re: Cost of living in Sydney or Melbourne
 

What you pay monthly in the UK, look to pay weekly in OZ

For cars use www.carsales.com.au

For property use www.realestate.com.au

Private schools is around $30k to $40k per child, then another $10k to $20k for other incidentals.

Re: Cost of living in Sydney or Melbourne
 

Hi Komail,

The people on BE are a helpful bunch, but this is a pretty big ask. Personally I would have thought the main difference in cost will come down to cost of rental properties. The below tool may be of some help.

Numbeo: Cost of Living Comparison Between Melbourne and Sydney

Re: Cost of living in Sydney or Melbourne
 

Means little without taking per city average salaries in account.

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/5673.0.55.003

Re: Cost of living in Sydney or Melbourne
 

Rubbish

Re: Cost of living in Sydney or Melbourne
 

That may be more relevant from a social science point of view, but for the OP who is looking to negotiate a good deal from his existing employer, it is only of limited help.

Average salaries per state and across all professions hold little value. They tend to reflect the types of industries prevalent. If you want to be more scientific in your research, you would really need access to a report that shows the average salaries per capital, based on job-title and work experience.

For example, in the statistics you link to, the average salary in Greater Brisbane and Greater Sydney is $52,171 and $57,612 respectively. However - architects in the middle of their career earn the most in Brisbane, on average $11,000 more than architects in Melbourne and Sydney! (link)

The OP needs to look specifically at what other professionals with his job function/title and work experience earn in the different cities before negotiation a relocation package with his existing employer. The OP then needs to take into account living expenses in the two cities.

Re: Cost of living in Sydney or Melbourne
 

Rubbish. It is all relevant. When we hire from abroad we know we have to pay those more in Sydney and thats why we try and throw them at the Brisbane office. We can pay them less.

Its pretty simple. If your staff can't afford to live they bail out and work for someone who offers more. You can't throw a Brisbane salary at a Sydney employee and expect them to be happy.

As for Architects well please. There's one screwed up profession. Labour heavy, poorly managed, factories full of very bright professionals whizzing away with Revit, something designed to save the industry money but instead costing Architects an arm and a leg. As a result still producing shite architecture Australia is renowned for. Architects are arty farty types. Very few of those type wish to live in Brisbane. There's your supply problem.

Re: Cost of living in Sydney or Melbourne
 

I agree to a point; some cities are more expensive to live in, and salaries have to reflect this depending on if you are working in Brisbane or Sydney. But I'm not so sure calling architects arty farty makes my example less valid ;)

Re: Cost of living in Sydney or Melbourne
 

Well Architecture is just one example of where there may be a differing case. Architecture is a funny case. Too many architects for whats needed, and the business model of Architecture, especially now that contractors and owners are driving this BIM thing, and throwing all the excess work back at the Architects makes the current business model unsustainable. Architects are also historically poorly paid and the first to hit the dole queues in masses during a recession. There are probably others occupations who differ from the norm. But looking at the big picture and the overall average tells a different story.

Re: Cost of living in Sydney or Melbourne
 

Fair enough.
Judging by another thread started by OP, they have opted for Sydney.

Re: Cost of living in Sydney or Melbourne
 

Yeah, though a good conversation to be had. Many come on here and look at Brisbane as they figure its the cheapest aside from Adelaide and Hobart without considering salary differences. Of course if you're an Architect its Brisbane all the way :)