JoandPaulW

we have been to australia many times and, whenever we thought about moving down under we always dreamed that we would live in sydney.

but since we started looking into emigrating, everything seems so expensive in sydney that we don't think we will be able to achieve the lifestyle that we dream of.

is it really that exspensive there? we're now considering perth (where the wages seem really low) or Brisbane.

any advice is welcome.

debilloyd

We live in Sydney and I find it the cost of living to be on a par with the cost of living in the UK. We lived in Milton Keynes and I don't think living here is any more or less expensive.

The only bit we are struggling with is the house prices in the suburb we live in(St Ives). However, we chose to live here knowing it was expensive. There are other good suburbs in Sydney where the housing is much more affordable.

Hope this helps
Debs

NickyC

The only thing that's more expensive in Sydney is housing.

Everything else is much the same as in the other large cities. There's hardly any difference between food prices in the supermarkets in, say, Brisbane and Sydney. Same with petrol and other services. All much the same, regardless of which city you live in.

Cost of houses is the biggest killer here - but Perth's median house price is almost as high as Sydney's so it's not as if that's a problem that only occurs in Sydney.

walaj

Hi Debs - another one in St Ives

This post may help - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=436799

chels

I think petrol is more expensive in NSW than other states because it's taxed more - not a huge difference but a few cents per litre apparently. Public transport can be more expensive, depending on the ticket and type of transport used. Supermarket food prices, no difference. Restaurant prices - a bit more in some parts of Sydney, but if you eat out in the western suburbs you can find bargains! None of these factors contribute to a very much higher cost of living though.

Housing is a killer if you are determined to live near a beach or in one of the popular suburbs. There are many suburbs with cheaper housing (both to rent and to buy), especially to the west and to some suburbs to the south of the city. These suburbs are where the majority of Sydneysiders live.

bushy

we were originally going to buy in Perth but the house prices have gone up so much in the last year that we're considering buying in Sydney or Brisbane.You get a lot more house for your money there.
It's just a bit awkward as we live all the way over the other side of Oz in Karratha!!

Jacque

With the recent WA boom Perth's median price almost caught up to Sydney's. Pretty incredible really, considering that Perth is Australia's most isolated capital city.

Hey Bushy, I had a client from Karratha recently who was looking to buy an investment here in Sydney. How is that booming mining town going? He was doing really well, buying land and onselling duplexes, as I recall.

bushy

Hi Jaque,
Yeah,Karratha is booming!! The folks here are paid so much money they don't know what to do with it and there's not much here really to spend it on! The house prices here are ridiculous,You can pay $800,000 for an OKish 4 bed bungalow...all bungalows cos of the cyclones!! and the rent is even worse-$1000 a week! Luckily we get a house with hubbys job.
Bushy.

michdp

We live in Sydney too & as a previous post said, if you want to live near the ocean - which we do on the Northern Beaches of Sydney- you pay a premium. We are just looking to buy & the house prices are higher than decent London suburbs.

Yes - there are cheaper suburbs but you get what you pay for here. If you want good schools, open spaces, low crime rates etc., near the ocean or parks etc., it costs more.

Gethy

Hi,

Can’t really offer any advice other than we feel exactly the same, we have decided on Brisbane for the first 12 months and we will see how we settle. We will try and secure good jobs in our chosen fields of work and hopefully, if we still fancy living in Sydney, we can apply for jobs whilst living in Brisbane having Australian experience on our résumé’s.

Hopefully we will find Brisbane a lovely place to live and work and want to stay there for a good few years, but that’s the beauty of renting we can try before we buy .

We never really considered Perth, neither of us have, I won’t say anything bad about it because I have never been. My friends who have been said it is a great place to visit but like I said we never fancied it.

Cheers