Catch

just checked out this site sounds a bit like " The Matrix" but you cant help thinking it could be true.

Grayling

.....but not in areas that I, or many others, would choose to live

G

BadgeIsBack

Many people would be earning a fair bit more than that,in outer London, unless they were starting out or in the public sector.

ABCDiamond

On what grounds do you say that ?

Many people do actually choose to live in the Redlands, especially the British.
8% British in my area, compared to 5% average for Brisbane.

The area may not be your choice, but it is still very popular for many others.

What is your preferred area, and what area in the UK would it compare to ?

Grayling

I live in the western suburbs.

The point I am trying to make is that, whilst there may be a few suburbs where you can buy a house for under, say, $500000 there are an awful lot more where you can't, especially as you get closer to the city.

If you are going to use one hour's commuting time as a criteria you can commute to london from places such as the south coast in that time and there are plenty of sub £200000 house available.

If you take London out of the equation then most areas of the Uk would be cheaper tham many areas in Brisbane (or any other major Australian city).

£200000 would buy you quite a lot of house in many areas of Britain nowadays

Australia is no longer a cheap housing option

G

carolinephillips

Maybe now prices have tumbled, but a 4 bed semi in the area I lived in was unobtainable even with a good salary. Mind you the same can be said of the area I'm living in now- gonna have to make do with a shack!!!

Grayling

Exactly.

....but people complain about the cost of houses in the UK and then go and buy a house in Australia for an amount which would have got them a nice place in a nice part of Britain.

G

Catch

In the majority of Northern England £200000 would buy you into a far better suburb than it would in Australia

Geelong Gent

In southern England it can be the opposite

ABCDiamond

Agreed, about the no longer a cheap option, but with a median for the whole of Brisbane being $473,500, more than half of all properties are under that $500,000 price you mention.

Not just a few.

Some Median House Values of some popular areas in Sept 2008

Springfield Lakes $380,750
North Lakes $437,500
Manly West $441,000
Wynnum West $444,000
Victoria Point $447,500
The Gap $487,500
Wellington Point $495,000
Ascot $1,630,000 for the rather wealthy

BadgeIsBack

Agreed.

I think it also depends on what you do for a living and exactly what you are looking for.

All I notice is that as soon as you want a oldish house (with 'character'), with land (up to even 1 acre) plus detached plus more than 3 beds then the prices rocket up away from that 200k.

But 5 years ago it was quite easy for your average Brit expat to move to Australia and definitely step up. In Perth and Brisbane not so much the case now.

You have to really want 4+ beds etc to be prepared to pay for it now in Brissy and Perth. I don't mention Sydney and Melbourne as I think they are different markets.

We paid 330k for 3beds on an acre 1 hr from Melbourne so we got what we wanted - I am really not so sure now about new migrants.

BadgeIsBack

Sorry - that was with a house - I didn't mean 3 forlorn divans, say, in a paddock.

savanna454

Not in my particular case - I have always had interest only mortgages to maximise gearing but point taken.

This interest is still 'black hole' money to the bank rather than landlord.

In the early years of the majority of capital & interest mortgages most of the monthly repayment is interest not capital.

Mortgages are redeemed on average around the 7 year mark when little equity from repayments has been built up.

So mortgages per se as a means of saving and producing equity as you've suggested are correct but I would argue the returns are poor and balanced out by other 'expenditure'.

Quote from the link:

'Rent money is dead money'

'All money is dead. Interest paid or foregone, maintenance expenses paid, insurance and stamp duty. All of these add up to far more dead money than the rent you would pay to live in an equivalent house.'

Servicing a mortgage however is the 'tool' by which equity can be increased spectacularly through capital appreciation in a rising market and indeed this is where 'black hole' money to service mortgage debt beats renting any day and I like many others have benefited from this over the years

However the OP was posing the question of delaying purchase in an uncertain market and ?presumably renting.

I am in the same boat and will do the same - continuing to rent until IMO prices have at least stabilized.

For example in May we looked at a 5 bed house on an acre in Donvale for $1.1mil. The vendor had turned down $1.2mil late 2007 when the market was booming for personal reasons. Went to auction in July and got passed in at a bid of $850k to then appear again a month later for $895 which I suspect was the reserve in July. Eventually got sold last month for $825!

Too hairy for me so I'm happy to wait. There are many other similar examples in the price range and area where we've been looking..........

isgraham

No they shouldn't compare London with the capital of Australia because London is a financial capital and Canberra isn't. With all the redundancies happening in finance now particularly in Sydney I would be very surprised if prices don't fall.

ABCDiamond

Looking at Sydney prices, in general, they have been dropping since February 2008, although some areas of Sydney began dropping a few years ago.

It is now the time for the high end prices to come down, which has already recently started to happen in some suburbs.
Brisbane however, shows a different result, although still a drop since Feb 2008:

http://www.myrp.com.au/sydney_house_prices.do



London average property price is about £366,968 or about 1.5 times the value of a Sydney house.
http://www.wheresmyproperty.com/pric...donaverage.asp