AM i right in thinking that the rate of interest banks charge in OZ is higher than the UK ~ 7.5%? I pay 5.5% here!

Do they do homestart mortgages in OZ, where you pay interest only for three years and then Capital and interest for the remainder of the term.

I am starting to think OZ in a hard financial battle ground and I might be worse of thn in the UK (Is that possible)?

have a look here http://www.infochoice.com.au/aspx/ - loads of info on mortgages

Ann

There are more types of mortgage here than you could shake a dirty stick at. I'm sure you will be able to find one that will suit your needs...

S

Yes, interest rates are higher in Australia. 7.5% is at the lower end of the scale, I think the standard variable rate is closer to 8.5% but of course there are loans on offer at lower rates than this.

I've not come across homestart mortgages here - there are 'honeymoon' period mortgages with a lower rate for the first couple of years and then the rate goes up, but the comparison rate shows that these aren't very good deals in the long run (ie over 5-7 years) and you'd get a better deal with a basic variable rate loan.

However, I think you could organise your own version on a homestart mortgage as most loans give you the option of paying the interest only (up to 10 years I think on owner occupier loabns).

But the bad news is, whatever loan you get, the repayments will be higher than the equivalent loan amount in the UK. And with the possibility of another rate rise on the cards...

Hi I am new to this forum but have now been living in Australia for almost three years.

We sold our house before leaving the UK and brought over with us a substantial amount of money for a deposit. Unfortunately the two years that it took to get permanent OK paying jobs means we no longer have this money at all.

We could not have bought a house when we arrived because we could not get a mortgage because we had no jobs. We also lost a lot of money relocating to get work. Even though I am a teacher (haha supposed teacher shortage!) and my husband works in Social Services we found it extremely difficult to get out of temporary insecure badly paying jobs. The job we finally relocated to only lent us removal costs so we obviously had to pay it back. When my husband could not get any work at all in that town we had to relocate again because rents were too high and we couldn't afford to even live in a country town.

We are now seem to be in the position that we will never afford a house in Australia. The mortgage rates are too high and we have not been able to save enough money for a deposit. Housing prices are also ridiculous for what you get. You will hear time and time again about Australia's supposed 'Strong Economy' but I have no idea who is actually enjoying this 'great' economy. Everyone I know here is either living the extremely hectic slave to a mortgage existence that we thought we were escaping when we left the UK, or renting and putting up with unreasonable rent hikes from greedy landlords.

I don't mean to put you off Australia but I am just being honest about what happened to us. The sun does shine here more often yes but it is not the land of milk and honey.

Australia is not cheaper than the UK and dont think that you pay less for everything. Sure fuel is cheaper and a lot of things are, but once you earn dollars it aint that cheap anymore. Its about the same.

In relation to mortgages yes the interest rate is higher AT THE MOMENT. i say that because if you put into perspective the interest rates Australia -v- UK over the course of the lifetime of the mortgage I reckon you'l probably end up paying the same. The difference being that you'll end up with a bigger house here.

It really is all swings and roundabouts and if your primary motivation for moving is to be financially better off, chances are that you wont achieve that unless you have sizeable capital from sale of old property assets in the UK I reckon. For most average preople I do think there is absolutely no difference financially in the long term.

If you can find a good job when you get here...

Absolutely agree

I think that's a really sad story to hear there Alice, and I can sympathise with you about the alleged opportunities for teaching here. I think it may well be worthwhile pointing out that there is certainly merit in apportioning a percentage of the money that you bring with you as the 'living expenses' and the rest as the 'capial'.

Allocate a time limit to your living expenses, and then when they are gone, you need to seriously sit down and review your position. I decided before I left that I wasn't going to use the money I had made on my house for living, so put that money aside. I allocated what I thought would last me about 6 months and said that if I hadn't found a job by the time it was gone, then I was going back. Of course, with the high [savings] interest rates here, that capital money can provide you with an additional income to see you through.

I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I think you have to be harsh with yourself and also realistic with time frames and finances etc.

S

S

Well the capital lasted about a year without being touched. It is true that in hindsight we should have gone back when the job situation got bad but how long is the timeframe for 'not having given Australia enough of a chance'.

That's the real question. I rapidly gave up looking for teaching work, and fell back into science research. I only had finances to last for 6 months before I had to start selling my body. And I don't think I would have made much doing that either...

S

The only people who are enjoying this so called great economy are the baby boomers, many of whom, are now sitting on a million $ + property. Many also have rental properties and can benefit by way of the new super tax legislation.

We, the X and Y generations will fund their retirement by way of HUGE tax increases in coming years and by paying exorbitant rent to these people.

A landlord I had in Sydney owned 17 rental properties. Is there any wonder why property prices are so high when ONE boomer x many more can do this?

We have been unfortunate to be born after them, by the time they all die off and have spent our inheritance funding their LONG retirement, it will be time for us to retire. Many of us will not own any property, the generations after us will be those who benefit by way of huge supplies of Real Estate that we couldn't afford.

We will have our super to fund us, so they won't even need to pay out pensions to most people.

It would be great being born right about now.

Very true! The generation that got everything they wanted. Jobs were easy to get when they left school and housing reasonable. They got to do their rebellion thing, turning society upside down with the sexual revolution and hippie values and now they are getting old they are turning their back on all that left wing stuff and becoming greedy capitalists!! They screwed their parents by rejecting their values and then creating a world that is completely different for them (and then putting them all into homes today) and now they are screwing their kids by not 'giving up the farm.' When I see those Commonwealth Bank ads that say 'Retirement...Its payback time.' I think payback for what?

These comments about the baby boomer generation couldn't be more true, I almost thought I had written these posts!

So its the same in OZ hey?

Yere all the 55 year olds whine and they are the most financially comfortable people in society and they will be ok in retirement, don't know what the hell I will do when the time comes!

What are the age bandings for these different generations you refer too?
Just interested to see where I fit into your theory....