Mister176

Good day! Hope everyone is doing well

Just wondering if anyone here can kindly pass on a few pointers on the following queries I have about moving to Sydney:

1. Place to live

Which is the best area for young single working professionals to live and socialise?

Being from the UK, it would be ideal if I can find somewhere with a European/British vibe to ease my transition for the first year or so.

Also looking for good public transport links and easy access to CBD where work will be based.

2. Place to buy

Instead of burning money on rent for a few years, I am looking to buy a little pad of my own as soon as possible. What options do I have?

I have good UK credit history, AUD100k cash for deposit, and will be making at least AUD80k gross annually in the first couple of years.

My ideal flat would be a standard 1 bedroom in a central location (but not ghettos), with good public transport. No need to worry about schools/family friendliness/Noise/Heavy traffic etc.

Many thanks for your help and advice

Mister176

spuddyo

Manly was my choice, and the best 3 years of my life was had there. Ferry to the city, good bus service, lots of bars and restaurants, plenty of Holiday makers in summer to have a laugh with, great place if you're single. Others might disagree, but for me it felt like every day that I wasn't at work was a holiday.

AndrewMarilyn

Where will you be working?
What are your interests?
Both will affect your choice of location.

JoeBloggs80

Surry Hills for sure.

lapin_windstar

Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, Glebe, Bondi, Pyrmont, maybe Newtown.

If you lived in London, OP, where would you live? Tell us this and we will reveal to you its exact equivalent in Sydney.

Mister176

Thanks for the suggestion mate.

Google Earth-ed it a little bit, looks a bit remote/residential, isn't it?

How long is the ferry commute to CBD? Did you work locally in Manly?

I will be flying a fair bit for work reasons (to NZ and Melbourne), is there a central location with good airport connection?

A example would be Paddington in London where the Heathrow express terminates.

Mister176

Hey Joe, thanks for the advice!

Heard loads about Surry Hills, apparently a very popular area for young professionals and looked great on Google Earth.

Will definitely check it out when I arrive in Sydney, but what would you say are the clear downsides of it? Must be some other than the price tag (which I am happy to put up with)?

Mister176

FANTASTIC!!

I am a typical West Londoner, been living at Notting Hill Gate (W2) for the past 2 years, before then lived near Knightsbridge until the oil rich wealthy Arabic brothers colonised the neighbourhood and make the rents shoot over the roof!

I am keen to avoid the equivalents of Mile End, Limehouse, Bermondsey, Kennington, Elephant & Castle etc at all cost! May invest in a place in these "upcoming" areas to rent out, but would not fancy living there everyday personally.

So yeah, it would be utterly fab if you could kindly advise the Sydney counterparts of the following London neighbourhoods (in terms of demographics, infrastructure, transport, culture, history, etc):

- Marylebone
- Regents Park
- Bayswater
- Notting Hill
- Kensington
- South Kensington
- Victoria
- Paddington

As mentioned in a post above, wouldn't mind the space and/or condition, I am all about LOCATION. Oz is all about the outdoors, only need a small clean pad / small 1 bedroom flat in a nice area to crash in every night really.

Thank you for your help mate!

JoeBloggs80

No downsides at all really other than cost. Also you might get slightly annoyed at the amount of pretentious hipsters roaming about if that sort of thing bothers you. I guess it could also be noisy at times depending where you are but you've said that doesnt bother .

Its central to the city, has hundreds of bars/restaurants on your doorstep, 20 mins drive to the eastern beaches (bondi/bronte/coogee), can get the train to the airport in 10 minutes.

As mentioned above Darlinghurst and Paddington arequite similarly central and with things going on, but I would say Surry edges it. If you want the slightly more corporate living with mostly city workers then go for Pyrmont or Darling Harbour.

I've lived all over West London in Kensal Green, Hammersmith and Putney and feel right at home in Surry Hills (with the bonus that my block has an ouside swimming pool and spa - you dont get that in London )

Beoz

Manly is nice and has a big expat community but it's isolated. My Manly friends are often the butt of 'bubble' jokes. Ie they go home on a friday night and aren't seen again til Monday. Bit like those who live in Clapham. Airport connections are also poor from Manly.

Inner west south or east or lower north shore will all meet your requirements.

As for renting v buying you've got to remember that whilst rent is wasted money so is a mortgage as most of it will pay bank interest. That said you have a healthy deposit so you might end up paying less in a mortgage per month than rent for a 1 bedder. Don't expect to see any capital gain on a property in Sydney over the next few years. Market is flat and dropping if anything.

lapin_windstar

Sydney's "classic" old money lives on the North Shore and Woollahra/Rose Bay/Vaucluse etc. Well-paid hipsters live in Surry Hills and Darlinghurst. Trendier hipsters live in Erskineville, Newtown and Marrickville. young professionals who want to buy live in Zetland or Green Square. Young professionals who rent live in Paddington and Darlinghurst (nicer bits) and nicer bits of Woolloomooloo and Potts Point. All of this is a generalization, of course, but it will help you do initial research, I think.

You must be new to London...

benhila

We live in Pyrmont and love it. It is very central: a few minutes walk to Darling Harbour, CBD, the fish markets, Broadway and Glebe. Used to live in Maida-Vale which is similar in many respects. Also easy access to the airport: about 20 min by cab or shuttle.

spuddyo

Manly is only 30 minutes on the ferry to the city and 15 minutes on the fast cat service. Also makes a great start to the day if you work in the city, Sydney Harbour to look at on your way in isn't a bad view. Once at Circular key it's about 20 minutes on the train to the airport.

lapin_windstar

Manly is a polarizing topic.

Beoz

So about an hour or so by the time you mess around with change overs. Not ideal is it.