Neil51

$83000 is the gross salary excluding Superannuation. So the employer is paying 17% extra on top. It is just the high cost of housing that is a concern and then also the school fees. The Family Tax credits would help offset some of the school fees I thought.
Thank you for all your comments.
Neil

Dorothy

What visa will you be coming on?

the troubadour

Of course it is not a low income.$83,000 is pretty fair but not a lot in today's over inflated Australia.
For those of us that have been here awhile and set ourselves up it would be plenty.After all there are plenty of jobs still going for way under $60,000. This believe that all in Australia are on massive wages is a fallacy.

paddyo

Neil, they type of Visa you come on will be the key to all this. Then there is the time for the Visa processing. Until you get a concrete job offer AFTER your Visa has been processed do NOT make any decision on your UK circumstances.

Beoz

Neil ... You say 'high cost of housing'. What do you mean? To buy, to rent, in comparision to what? As a proportion of your salary or have you fallen into the trap of doing a straight exchange rate conversion?

I moved with a income conversion that is less than yours and proportionally my housing (rent) is cheaper in Sydney than it was in London though more expensive on exchange rate which means my net savings is proportionally more in Sydney. Which means I'm way better off.

jad n rich

But cost of housing in brisbane is not expensive. Despite being the third largest city, the housing to buy is a fraction of the price of Sydney or Melbourne. Renting could be done on under $400 a week including water and rates.

There would not be any school 'fees' in brisbane just the costs associated with each year.

Again be careful what you claim from centerlink. Many a new arrival thinks they hit the jackpot with centerlink payments then discovers they have to pay most of it back at tax time. The ATO here know your every move, seriously, bank accounts your credit card statements, every move on your passport, its all linked. Plus they are very interested in overseas income.

bingobob777

unlikely you'll get a decent house anywhere near Brisbane for that

paddyo

It appears you can.......http://www.domain.com.au/Search/rent...rom=300&to=400

bingobob777

only 4 of those are 400 or less

3 are minging, one has no interior photos which means it's probably shocking inside.

so no decent houses for 400 or less!

paddyo

well you are far better placed than me to know the best suburbs etc, I just did a quick search on Domain and picked an arbitrary location. I am sure someone who knows the area better can find better places.
I'm not saying its easy but a lot of it is also down to expectations and current circumstances.

Neil51

I mean "cost of housing" in terms of rent. It is just a matter of ensuring that our monthly outgoings are equal to or less than my salary. Housing rental would seem to take up two fifth of this, schooling one fifth, leaving $2000 per month for bills, transport, food and everything else.

I am not sure what visa I would be on yet, as I have applied for a Resident return visa, but if unsuccessful it will be a 457 temporary employer sponsored.

The whole situation of housing is putting me off now.
I intend to bring very little money with me due to the very low exchange rates with sterling and the differences in housing costs. e.g., the $2000 per ONE month for rental (or a deposit) for a small apartment in Canberra would be equivalent to FOUR months housing payments on our 3-bed family home with garden here in the UK.
Because of not intending to bring much money over, I thought that I would get some cheap room somewhere on my own and save up for a couple of months in Australia, while my wife and children stayed in the UK. It then also seems to me that a car will be needed in Canberra just to view properties, particularly since there is a lot of competition and that they are likely to come and go very quickly. Maybe I'll get a bicycle; but housing is a major concern for me now.
Thanks for all your help.

abi31

Neil are you sure you've got that right $2k per month is about £1k (decisions on what comparison rate to use are controversial but I always use 2.5:1 which would actually make it less but it's probably better to make a personal comparison based on actual earnings between UK and Oz for a direct comparison)

So you only pay £250 per month in the UK for a 3 bed house?? That's crazy cheap and I'm not surprised you're worried about rental costs in Oz. But, and I do not know where you live and would not make any judgement on it, if you only pay £250 per month you may be able to disregard some of the expectations that some of the other posters have put forward about the cost they expect to pay to get a particular type of area or property. For example someone said the properties at $400 pw in the link were minging, but they look fine to me for rental properties - so it's all down to expectation and experience.

Beoz

OK Neil. It sounds like to me you don't live in London and you bought your 3 bed house a long time ago.

So over time you wittle away the mortgage and monthly repayments become relatively cheap, especially where interests rates are in the UK right now.

You need to look at it a little differently. You are moving to Canberrra where rent is reasonably high in comparision to other capitals in Oz.

If I were to move to London tomorrow and rented a 3 bed house then I can be pretty sure that I would be paying at least 2 fifths of my salary in rent - most likely more.

So it's all relative.

In addition you will no doubt rent out your 3 bed house in the UK. Someone said you are paying about £250 per month per for housing payments in the UK. 3 bedroom house renting for more than £250 per month - that's a given right? Bingo - there's more income. I don't think 2 fifths is an unreasonable amount to pay on rent. I currently pay a little more than 2/5's, I save and do just about anything I need to do.

Sure a new car will cost money. I rented a car everytime I needed one for the first 6 months. In fact I did some sums and I worked out that if I rented a car every weekend for a year it would be cheaper than having the car I currently own. But I chose to buy one in the end but saved first.

I did not bring a pound with me when I moved here - oh I tell a lie. I think I had £20 in my wallet. I got a credit card straight away used that, paid it off with first salary, no interest.

I think you might be over analysing this a little, and comparing too much on the exchange rate.

Neil51

You've got it wrong. I'm not just considering exchange rates. It is the disparity in housing costs relative to salary. Canberra rental for a one bed apartment is circa $500 per week, therefore $2000. House rental prices are far wider than currency exchange rates between the two countries. For your information, my monthly housing rent in th UK is £500/month and this is average.

Beoz

Ok .... well on that info ... and this is a very, very rough analysis but before tax you are currently forking out 20% of your salary on rent and in Canberra it will be forking out 30% of your salary on rent.

On the plus side you will get another 10% in super, cheaper petrol, etc, etc .... well we're really splitting hairs now aren't we. I took these figures back to my employer and said "this is what I need to make it a financial win" and they came to the party.

BTW .... you certainly aren't in London at £500 per month for a 3 bedroom house. I was paying £1400 per month at my last one bedroom place. You can see why Sydney is a winner for me.