We pay $420 for a 4x2 lovely town house (19ks from cbd melbourne), no way in a million years we afford a house like that here, we both work full-time, with 2 childrien (although one is 19 and mainly self'sufficient which is making thins a little easier), but it is all a bit of a financial struggle.

However when i hear of people struggling to pay a mortgage i feel quite lucky that we did not jump in and buy, coz am quite sure we would never have managed it financially (we would have only had a 20 percent deposit).

Comparing using the exchange rate does not compare cost of living.

No, it doesn't.

I bet its not what you want to hear and I'm sorry but you can't compare houses from Australia to UK, the house we have here in the UK is considered a large (not huge) 5 bed by UK standards, but achieve the impossible pick it up and move it like the wizard of oz to a Brisbane suburb and it would be considered small to moderate.

Homes are very different, and they also vary a great deal dependant on where you are looking and how popular the area is to live in, homes in oz tend to be more open plan and consist of more than one living area, possibly a parent retreat (larger than normal masterbedroom where you can almost put a lounge of your own) sometimes they have media rooms, alfresco areas etc just as an example for you. Therefore it's understandable the costs will vary, probably what you'd consider a reasonable rental is available but you might have to go say further out, looking at maybe a longer commute or you may need to go inland a bit from where you're looking or even just into the next suburb.

Where we live in the UK the rental costs have shot up and last year when we rented as there were no other good size properites in the area we wanted we ended up paying £900 per month for a good sized UK 4 bed but that had been trashed by the previous tenant so as well as that monthly bill we also had the house to clean and live with bits of carpet covering holes in the lino in various rooms the colour sceem by the previous tenant left a lot to be desired, however that was the only 4 bed in the area and wasn't even due for rent therefore the landlords theoretically took advatage and charged what they liked.

Believe me I know its hard not to compare the £ and $ but you really need to forget it, the only thing you need to concentrate on the cost of living $ and the wage you will be bringing in and work out your outgoings. It's swings and roundabouts and will be more in some areas than others and you'll turn your head inside out comparing it to your life here as some things here you dont pay for there and vice versa some things will be more expensive and others cheaper.

You need to think about the sort of place you want - but be prepared to be flexible on the area, the house etc... if you want to make it more affordable.
The more restricted you are the less chance is it's gonna work out

A four bed house in mango hill (bush around) 35/40 mins to brisbane, say midlands compare to 35/40 mins to city, both houses in country side/bush land , australia is well expensive for rent and it will only get wprse as more homes are repo`d and sol then people go into rent

On your figures Australia was cheaper based on percentage of average wage.

Which is a far more important marker.

Sydney here. Inner west.

Its simple, this town does not have enough houses. You hardly see high rises...so maybe that might be why.

Inner West (10 mins on train to CBD) $1100 per week for 4 beds. Over $50k in rent per annum!!!!! Could never every afford to buy.

If you are coming from the UK simply do the following. If it costs £1 (based on March 2011) in UK it will cost $3 in Sydney. Do the same for everything house and food (food I'd *4).

Your UK salary therefor has to be *3.(I've managed *2.3, so I am worse off)

Most of guys I work with live in places like Newcastle but who wants a 4 hour commute (2hr both ways).

As for living close to the beach!!!! forget it, decent 4 beds $1500/week.

Loving it at the moment though; nice to see blue skies and its safer than UK. I feel very very lucky. Maybe it will ware off but touch wood.

So I can divide our Aus salary by 3 and that figure would be the equivelant salary in the UK in terms of how far it goes, covering the cost of living... rent, food, fuel, entertainment, savings etc.

I would say that's a good measure based upon 8 months ago and it's what I tell agents I want to move back. I'm still in London so there must be plenty of people who sell themselves cheap.

Hi Margaret, if you don't mind me asking, what jobs do you and your other half have? I only ask because you say its a financial struggle - my husband and I have been researching moving to oz - haven't made a final decision yet - were originally looking at Melbourne but then started looking at Adelaide - lots of different reasons but one of the main pulls is the money that people are supposed to earn over there compared to here in NZ. We have tried to compare wages (he's a bricklayer/stonemason, i am a legal secretary) and it really does look like we'll earn considerably more money but compared to the higher cost of living we're not sure it will make that much of a difference. What i'm getting at is, we also have two children, both still very much dependent and if we moved there would we still be financially struggling? My hubby currently has lots of work (fingers crossed and touch wood) over here and i have a very secure job, both only have a half hour drive to work in the CBD - would it really be worth our while dragging the family over there to start all over again yet again? such a hard decision to make so seeking help/advice/information wherever i can. Many thanks for your help.

But australia is way expensive on living expensives

Compared to UK?

No it's not.

how do you say that when
food is more expensive here
rego is more expensive here
cars are more expensive here
internet and phone is more expensive here
dental and docs are more expensive here
rates are more expensive here
houses are more expensive here
britian has high fuel but less running costs for cars

I guess it depends on where you live in Aus. For me.
Rego is cheaper.
Rates are cheaper.
Internet comes with a 50% discount.
Food is about the same.

For the car and house. They were cheaper when I bought but I can see that may no longer the case.