KayC

Hi,

Can anybody tell me if it is possible to live on a salary of $60,000 + super in Perth. We wouldn't need to live right in Perth but within commutable distance, say 30 mins to 1 hour away.

We are a family of 3 with 10 month old baby.

Many Thanks for any input.

KayC

Amazulu

I reckon the minimum household income to have a fairly comfortable life is $80k. Anything less and you will struggle somewhat or have to sacrifice something.

This is my opinion - others will disagree.

renth

If you didn't have a mortgage you'd be OK otherwise if you did, or had to rent, that wouldn't be enough IMO.

this charming man

do you grow your own food?

worzel

I won't disagree. Given the way interest rates, petrol and food prices have gone up recently I think even on $80K you would need to be very careful with a typical mortgage of $300K.

ianhutch1

You would never be able to survive on 80k with a 300k mortgage, me and my wife are on over 120k combined and we have been told we can only borrow 300k in the current climate.

worzel

We survived okay on $80K when we came over but with only a $150K mortgage and weekly bills were about $150 less than now. We had a large deposit for the house so borrowing wasn't a problem.

I have friends who survived on about $65K 2 years ago but they struggled. I think it would be a very basic existence these days.

ianhutch1

Yep its a nightmare here at the moment, we are really going to struggle to get on the housing ladder over here if we decide to stay

renth

Just hang in there, I reckon we are going to see 30%+ price drops within the next year or two.

KayC

Hi,

Thanks for all your replies - we didn't think it would be enough

We just hoped it would!!

ianhutch1

Sorry its not what you wanted to hear.

Perth is an amazing place but it is VERY expensive to live here and the interest rate is causing all sorts of problems, we thought we would easily get on the housing ladder over here but we have had a rude awakening since we arrived because there is absolutely no decent "entry level" housing under about 400k.

Its better to do your investigating properly before you come including seeing how much you could borrow on your wage (there are a few mortgage calculators on the net) that way you wont be stuck here in all sorts of trouble later

Oh and your bills, including food and clothes, will be about 25% higher than whatever you spent in the UK from our experience.

philnorris

I havent lived in Perth for what I would call a prolonged period of time, however I have rented and found the bills to be cheaper than here in the UK. We spend about £100 a month on gas and Electric here, we spent $170 a month on both in Perth and the AC was on most of the day.

I also found clothes cheaper out there, much cheaper than here in the UK for the same brands, hence why I always buy all my clothes when I go to Perth. You will struggle to find a house (at the moment) for anything less than $400k as mentioned which is why I am saving everything I can before I go back to Perth for good.

This is my opinion but I honestly found the cost of living cheaper, I think it just depends on what you buy, we use a lot of fresh fruit and veg and using whats in season is generally much cheaper.

If you want to message me I have a budget calculator that I use to see what I think I would spend on a monthly basis taking in to account my wages etc etc.

Kapri

Hmm - I have some thinking to do because while my OH was retraining (2 yrs) we would only be earning about $60,000.
I'd be willing to tighten my belt for 2 years if I thought things would improve once we were both working but if a joint income of $120,000 means you can only borrow $300,000 then it just doesn't seem worth it.

ianhutch1

Where the hell do you shop? We are finding clothes out here horiffically expensive and much worse quality that the UK too....

Case in point I bought a G Star hoody in Perth and it was $180, went back to the UK and bought a Bench one (what I would consider a comparable brand) for 40 pounds.

Decent jeans in Perth are about $120-150, jeans in the UK are 30 quid in Next including a belt.

The missus is finding the same, a work "top" over here is about $70, in the UK would be 15-20 quid max. Boots and shoes dont even go there.

Food is definitely more expensive for us and we are watching what we buy and only buying in season and are shopping at the local butchers and fruit shop which is a lot cheaper than coles and woolies - the quality isnt a patch on what you would get in the UK either which is a disappointment considering they stick "local" produce down your throats all the time.

As for bills our first electric bill was $170 for a month but we did arrive when it was 40+ and the aircon was on more or less 24/7. Just got our water bill and that was $160 for 3 months which isnt too bad.

It baffles me when people say its cheaper here, if you like stuff to a comparable standard to what you had in the UK then its been way more expensive in our experience.

But its still great

ianhutch1

Have you got a house in the UK? If you can bring over a decent deposit then you might be able to get something, if you havent got any cash though you may as well forget it.

The 300k we were told we could borrow included $60k we brought over from the sale of our UK house as well - $50k of which would be eaten up with buying fees