Forgive me if i am wrong, but i have been doing a hell of a lot of research via the internet about salary's council tax, income tax, private pension, renting, buying a house, food, petrol etc etc...

And quite frankly i want to know why everyone keeps telling me that the U.K is sooooo expensive... B O L L O C K S , yes some areas house prices are, but that is normal for any country.

But house prices in general are a hellaoflot cheaper over there than they are in OZ, and bearing in mind most houses i have looked at are two storey 2-3 bedrooms with Central Heating, gardens, shed and garage aswell as double glazed windows etc. The standard for the U.K

What are they winging about?

Mortgage lenders also seem to be a lot more leniant so provided you have agood income and a deposit you will get one.

Food prices are quite cheap.. (and that was judging by sainsburys, the most expensive supermarket in the U.K) and i noticed there is a lot of buy 2 for this price or buy 2 get 2 free etc.

Yes there is council tax, health insurance and private pensions but p.pension is only 6% of your income (8% for super here) and you have the option of contributing yourself.
National insurance is 20%? and the average income is taxed at 20% and from what i can see that is a lot less than here.

Petrol price average in the U.K is 76.8p according to the AA petrol watch and i assume that is per litre not by gallon anymore, if by gallon where laughing if by litre then it's no higher than anywhere else.

Rental is as low as 300-400 pound a month for somewhere homely and in a cheaper area im not talking london here. (i currently pay 532 dollars p/m 50/50 (total mth rent is 1064)with a flat mate for a small apratment not in the city) equals me renting 2 propertys in england


So is it really that bad... oh and i watched pucker tucker (jamie oliver) the other day .... he brought 8 x yummy looking properly butchered/prepared fresh beef rump steaks for 17 pounds, which is what about 30 dollars and for meat of that quality you couldnt get that here.


So what is all the kerfuffle about?? Am i wrong in my assumptions,


remembering we are not talking about LOndon here....

I have to agree!!

pound to dollar - Oz is megga costs!!
When you work out that you probably earn the same dollars as you did pounds living is expensive.

Our food bill is now $200 a week instead of 70 pounds...
Clothes are well priced but toys again are expensive. We now have to do outside activites because they are free!!
We don't pay NI although my little one was given $1600 bill for a milk tooth that she smashed in the playground. Eldest one cost $40 on to trips to the doc's. Wish there was NI!!

I personally think that unless you can bring over enough UK cash things will be hard..

I had hoped to fly back to the UK every year hense no homesickness!! $11000 return trip i don't think so....

Maybe the fella's or (main earners) should all work in the UK and send the money back! then we would be laughing...

Your analysis is about right.

Meat is cheaper in Oz. But, frankly, I find it's - along with Oz chicken - pretty tasteless. Like anywhere, you have to pay a lot more for the tastier stuff.

The main two things that are more expensive in UK are houses (in SE England), and commuting. But, even with the houses, you should compare like with like. So, given its relative population size I would compare Sydney with London and SE, Melbourne with Birmingham - then the house price comparison is not extreme.

And net salaries tend to be significantly (20%+) lower in Oz.

Hmm, I'm not sure I agree with all of this (are you converting dollars to pounds with your rent estimates?), but my basic feeling is that only housing in Aus is significantly cheaper than in the UK, essentials vary to more or less equal out, and everything else is cheaper in the UK ("luxury" stuff). That doesn't really take into account the average wage being lower in Aus, if you take that into account I think the cost of living is about the same including rent etc, and more expensive in Sydney.

The average wage being so low is the real killer.

Im confused, i am talking about moving back to the U.K from Australia (after being in Australia for 12 years) i see the U.K as quite cheap (excl. some areas house prices).

The wages look a lot better too as i found out yesterday (i came to Australia with my mum) that she earned before we left 9000 pounds a year.

Now the average i have seen for most jobs depending on company/area i guess, is 25 tsnd - 45 thsd pounds.

Which converted to aus dollars is a hell of a lot better than what i am currently on.


So my topic was me enquiring as to why people here in Australia keep telling me that England is too expensive. I was wanting people that have moved back to the U.K from Australia to give me their experiances of this.

As far as i can tell it isn't and is certainly helping me make up my mind as to whether it is a wise idea to go back to the UK and have a fresh start.

(Just to clarify)

Sorry if I haven't been very helpful.

Yes, wages are higher in the UK. Much higher, on average.

Yes, the average cost of living in the UK is probably a bit lower EXCEPT for housing, which is ridiculously expensive. I definitely find food to be cheaper in the UK, and with more variety.

You will generally get better goods for your money, too, IMO (I certainly think this is true for clothes, for example - I really miss the cheap and decent stores in the UK, I'll probably go on a huge clothing shop when I get back).

A note on wages though - it all depends on the job and area. My mother earns only about 14 grand, for example, because the job she's doing isn't rated as being worth more. I make more like 40K because I work in that sort of job. I guess I'm trying to say that there's no "average job", and you shouldn't expect every job (like basic office admin jobs, for example) to be paying 25k+.

I hope that's of some help.

The main areas I found the UK to be pricey were rent, council tax, transport and eating out.

Yes but as it is here, that all depends on what part you live in

Besides council tax as far as i have checked is no different to the rates where we are now.... and you can pay it monthly unlike here so it doesnt burn a huge hole in your pocket.


And is the commuting not a lot better than Melbourne? Ie: worth the cost?

estarriol thanks heaps.


Re: job i have had a look at my field of work and seems to be a lot of opputunity's out there for me and i nearly fell of my chair when the wages offered are 35k - 55 (which is almost when convereted to aus dollars, dble triple what i am on now)

My field being software testing with credit card/retail software (test anaylyst in I.T)

As for my mum i checked her job fields too and her wage is around the 25 - 40 so we should be a ok in that reagrd.

I have heard clothes are a lot cheaper and car prices are unreal too... i been looking i can get a second hand car 96-98 year for 3000 poundsand under or a brand new proton for 6-9000.

Im just havvin trouble making the FINAL yes lets go back and start again ... im not sure why i think im just scared, but as mum said here has gone horribly wrong so the U.K can only bring good things to us.


Mum has made her mind uo, but im being the pain in the ass and trying to analyse everything ... LOL

hi aqua

what part of melbourne are you in?

i know what you mean about being scared and that 'final' decision - ive in that mode for almost 5 years... and like estirrol says how you feel in the first few months is the way youll feel later - when i first arrived i didnt settle at all and i was used to moving to new cities all my life since a kid so i was shocked at how much i found this hard..

i cant say that my feelings have really changed that much - i will admit that if something goes wrong or i have a really really bad week i hate being here.. im only happy here when things are going well.... so its been a bit of a rollercoaster.....

but after 5 years i had to be honest with myself - although ive got on with it.. made friends, have a good social life, earn good money, have flat and job etc it was never enough and it never will be...

my advice to you would be to go for it.. your still so young and even if you stay in uk for 2 years - you will have sterling in the bank so if you come back to oz you will have a good savings account to set yourself up here....

i say go for it! life is for living - and treat it like an adventure and the uk a base to travel....

the worst that can happen is that you dont like it and you return to oz with no regrets!

I last remember a weekly travelcard from Woking to be over 60GBP a week. Petrol is less than half the price. A yellow weekly in Sydney is $44. As a renter I pay no rates here and I get another bedroom and lounge for the same rent. In Bondi we are blessed with loads of good cheap eats and the more expensive variety but the equivalents in London would have been at least double.

The above are the main reasons I have a little bit more in my pocket to save than I did in the UK. There are plenty more expensive items here but I listed the biggest differences and what people will get whacked with in the UK. Each person will have a different set of circumstances.

Thanks Jat!


Its good to know people out there have the same dilema's i really cant see myself coming back here though... i came here with my mum in 92 i was 14 as she had always wanted to live here since she studied oz at her school, and her sister and mum where here, so we came along (i didnt really have a choice at the time)


anyway.... we came i went to school (eurgh) and quit, BUT in saying that one good thing is i got a decent job, got my foot in the door and got another better job which i am in now.


I have never really fit in, and always for the last 4/5 yrs pondered coming back to the UK always looking at stuff on the web, and then recently as mums life has gone to shit here that she also wants to head back and start again.... so as you said to go for it..

im thinking we will, the hard part will be telling her sister as she is very dominant and opionated and wont like it when we say weere going back to the U.K but i guess its not her choice, and at the end of the day we can always come here for a holiday and vice versa.

Cant really compare clothes prices for australia, but the UK seems to be cheaper than Canada for certain types of clothes except jeans, and has a better choice.

Regarding car prices, when we where back 4 years ago, the Uk was paying the highest prices for new cars compared to the rest of Europe. Maybe thats changed now. I have also read that the Proton is cheap Malaysian crap, and I still wouldnt call 9 grand really cheap either. Sounds like aussie car prices are way more expensive than the UK from some of the posts on here.

In general your comments about cost seem odd to me. We have just come back from three weeks in Perth and plan to return in the summer.

Expense is surely relative to the area you choose to live in and the salaries you earn. I beleive that the UK is very expensive. The cost of housing is massivley more expensive here than in Perth. If you want to live anywhere near the coast here you need upwards of half a mill! We live 20 mins outside of Poole and our 4 bed box is on the market for $740,000.00 £300,000.00!!! We can be in Hillary's living a stroll from the beach with a new house for less money. Sure live in Wales or South Cornwall and you can buy a nice cheap house but theres no work etc! My parents want a retirement apartment. They can buy a one bedroom/kitchinette/livingroom flat in Dorset but it will cost them £110,000.00 Compare that to retirement units in Aus and theres no contest.

Wages here are good but boy do you have to work for them! And after all money does not buy happiness, all the hard work means no familly time or recreation time and that is what I find so hard about the UK. The culture here is all work and no play, if you want to earn big bucks you are expected to be on hand at the expense of anything else.

Daily life costs big here, pay for parking $9 for 2 hrs parking (not in town parking either!) Bus and rail is mega expensive £65 return to London and then the trains are so full you have to stand. FUEL IS NOT CHEAP. It is over half price in Perth. Sky (foxtel) with any access to sport is about £40 a month. Private school fees for my son are £21,000.00 a year LOL. ( I could Cry when I see the prices of the top Private schools in Perth) I could go on and on.

The thing is, I am moving to Aus because life here does not make me happy. Sure I have a great job, a big house (for UK standards), and a good lifestyle but I dont have time for anything. Everything is about what you own. Lets face it in the UK most of the time your indoors so everyone likes to have a houseful of nice things. But these things are expensive believe me. But hey as I said its all relative.

Like you say, cost of living is all about where you live and how much you earn. Of course, you can buy a nice house in Oz if you're taking a heap of UK £££ with you. Could you afford the same Oz house if you were paying for it on Oz wages and not your UK capital?? How do the school fees in Perth match up against your Aussie salary? It's OK saying you can get a big house in Perth for $500k but for an average Aussie, that's 10 times the salary.

Fuel is hlaf price in Oz...but then your salary is likely to be half of what it was in the UK!!

There are lots of things cheaper in Oz than the UK.....and vice versa.

I never understand why people want to get away from the long working hours in the UK. Australians work longer hours than the Brits. An Aussie working week is 40hrs, with 20 days annual leave as the norm. My husband and I worked for different companies in Melbourne but in both cases, 40h really was a minimum. (He now works a 35hr week with 30 days annual leave in the UK.) We had less leisure time/holidays in Oz and it was very expensive to holiday anywhere on Oz wages. (And there's only so many trips you can do from Melbourne)

You can have 'the lifestyle' in the UK as well as in Oz. They're just different. I wouldn't say either is better/cheaper....just different.