When asked by a chap in the uk why i was leaving the uk i said a better life for my family, healthier, more oppurtunities etc. I also said now would be a good time as the uk was in a poor position and could not see it improving for a while. Told the guy i was going to Oz and he replied be careful you might be jumping from the frying pan to the fire. I asked why and he explained a few things to me which i understood very little about and with my flights booked house sold and shipping on its way took with a pinch of salt.
I am now beginning to understand what he meant. After having a morgage consultant round from the bank i recieved approval but she then went on to tell me dont be in a rush to buy as houses here are a bit expensive. Very nice of her i thought. I work in the construction industry and now there is alot of talk of recession. Not only recession but house price crash and it seems that the ozzies are saying Rudd has spent all there money trying to keep them out of recession and now wants to Tax the industry which has kept this country growing for the last ten years.
This is something i know little about but having been through one recession in the uk where i saw people loose jobs, houses and even thier marriages through financial burden i feel that i am reluctant to stick around here to watch another. Alarm bells ring today when retail is down for the third month in a row. Is Australia just a bit behind the uk?
Any Thoughts?

Why are migration and buying a house intrinsically linked in peoples minds? It makes absolutely no sense to me. Renting is about half the price of buying in Australia at the moment if not cheaper. Do yourself a favour and leave the property bubble madness to the rich and the reckless.

Asking these kind of questions on an internet forum is pointless - opinions and assholes etc. Only you can make these decisions.

Follow advice from BE and you could end up in a whole heap of shite.

The same could be said for any source of advice. It's up to the individual to make their own decisions and live with the consequences of them. You could potentially sue if you act on poor advice from a professional but your unlikely to get far and they know this.

Recession or not, I still would never buy a property here, they are way overpriced, plus as the above poster said, it’s cheaper renting. I pay $470 a week for my apartment now, I looked into buying it last year, the mortgage would have been $980 a week... I thought, what’s the point? People say, oh but it’s yours then... no it’s not, it’s the banks, it still wouldn’t be mine for another 30 years, and I don’t plan on being here then anyway.

True. A home should be something thats paid off within a decade or so, so you can then get on with your life. The thought of having a mortgage in my fifties or sixties makes me itch. My moneys staying well and truly under my mattress. A brand new Landcruiser and a top of the range caravan is looking more enticing all the time.

A recession may happen in Australia, it may not. If it happens and you have a job, why go back to the UK where there is also a recession? It makes no sense. If you have no job here and a job offer in the Uk, you would obviously be better off... You don't need to over think it

We won't be buying for a while either. Just watching the market until we feel it's stable.

What about the thought of still paying rent in your 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's ?

The normal time for paying off a home was always about 25 years, but then people started trading up for something bigger and better, so times have been extended.

If you can get a house at age 25, and pay it off in the normal 25 year mortgage, then come age 50, you should be comfortable.

The difficulty comes when you try to start again at say age 40, and you don't have the equity equal to 15 years of previous values, to use as a deposit, to enable a 10 year mortgage period.

I hear what your saying but rent is what it is......temporary and flexible. As it stands, I pay $120 a week to rent a room with my brother and sister in law, her brother and two nieces in a great suburb. No debt, no contracts and no strings. I am in a minority but if I put six figures anywhere, Im beginning to feel that it wont be on bricks and mortar until I have the misfortune of marriage. Touch a hell of a lot of wood!

N.B A lot of people I know are inheriting the deceased estates of family members which goes to prove that you pay off your house to die and have the property sold to pay the debts of your children/grandchildren. Hardly seems worth it.

Play now and pay later!

So true - I'm not at that grand old age yet but OH is and it's not as easy as it would've been 10 yrs ago.


And all because we did the above But I've found the bank don't care if you've no credit card or overdraft but 3 motorbikes, car, camper trailer etc

Must be a massive room but even so dont think most people would want to share that much

I really should read before I post . Its my room entirely, I even painted it devil red.

I've tried renting and it was a pain. I don't know if we were unlucky but we couldn't put pictures up, the landlord visited every month (I don't blame her but still a pain all the same) so we had to get it super tidy for her coming and then she gave us notice to leave as she wanted to sell it (again, I don't blame her but still a pain) and not forgetting the fact that it has to be in an ultra clean condition on departure or no refund of deposit.

Like I say, I could have been unlucky but I wouldn't rent again.

personally I'm WAY TOO untidy to be able to live in a rental... and I like knocking holes in walls... and decorating to my own taste.. and changing my own lightbulbs...

Thats true. My local paper reported large numbers of dogs and cats being dumped because their not permitted in rentals.