Rob Morton-Jone

I know that real estate cost varies from stste to state but would be intersted to know what $400,000 to $450,000 would buy me

Pollyana

www.realestate.com.au will search each state by price range and type of dwelling - good for dreaming, but also very useful!

worzel

I have roughly the same figure in mind and have explored a number of areas. In Adelaide, Bayside (Brisbane) and Gold Coast you will get a 4 bed, 2 bath, 2 car, pool in a nice area. With change!. In Bayside (Melbourne) you will need to start around $600,000 to get anything nice and possibly think more too, and still not as good as you would get in the other areas. I think Perth is on a par with Adelaide etc and Sydney as expensive as Melbourne but I haven't looked into those.

The normal rules about location apply of course. For example Glenelg near Adelaide is on the beach and a quaint old town popular with the tourists. Think $400k for there. But head a few miles south and you can take a quarter of that off. And go North of the city and you will get close to halving it.

As Pollyanna says, you will need to do your detailed research but this is a very rough guide to what I have found so far.