Greetings from Australia

[Hyde]

Hi,

This site is fantastic and I hope to learn more about being frugal and more conscious with my money from reading the forums.

I live in Australia, and while a lot of the information is still relevant, there are differences between Australia and the USA that need to be considered. For example house prices in Australia tend to be more expensive than in the USA. According to http://www.numbeo.com/property-investment/rankings_by_country.jsp price to income ratio for a house is 3.39 in the USA, while in Australia it's 7.92.

So it would be great to see any other Australians on the site discussing ideas etc.

[HappierAtHome]

Welcome! There are LOADS of Aussies here. If you're in a city, most areas have Meetups occasionally (check the Meetup and Social Events section of the forum), especially the Perth crowd - we hang out roughly once a month!

There are always heaps of Aussies with journals if you check that section.

[Jupiter]

Hey mate, I'm a fellow Aussie :)

I'm hearing you on house prices... I bought my first property for almost 600K (5% deposit and huge loan to pay) in Brookvale near Sydney a few months ago and guess what? It's a tiny 49 ground level square metre apartment! The bank doesn't usually let you get a loan if the property is less than 50 but I'm a good negotiator plus I'm 21 so I got heaps of time to pay it off (not that I'll take too long with the way I save).

MMM's property was only 200K (when he retired at 30) and it was a whole house! The only place you are going to find a house that cheap in Australia is Broken Hill, NSW and that place... Well if you want to live in a small town in the middle of nowhere (literally a desert) with constant issues with lead poisoning then go ahead and move there. It's a place for the true Aussie Mustachian to retire (but I'm not man enough for that...)

[marty998]

Ahh pretty soon this forum is going to be more Aussie than American...

[JLR]

Another Aussie. Good to see. :)

[Ozstache]

Welcome!

[happy]

Hello Hyde,

Do a search on Australia or Aussie and you'll find quite a few threads and journals.  Check out the Aussie investing thread http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/australian-investing-thread/and there's an Aussie property one too that had an excellent start but went off track for a while.  There are quite a few local differences to our US cousins.

There's a whole network of us posting on each others threads and journals.

And welcome:)

[Astatine]

Welcome!

Ahh pretty soon this forum is going to be more Aussie than American...

Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi

[happy]

Welcome!

Ahh pretty soon this forum is going to be more Aussie than American...

Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi

+1
Haha, I nearly posted that!

[Aussiegirl]

I'm hearing you on house prices... I bought my first property for almost 600K (5% deposit and huge loan to pay) in Brookvale near Sydney a few months ago and guess what? It's a tiny 49 ground level square metre apartment!

Holy Moly!  I'm an Aussie (obviously) and that even quite horrifies me!   Good thing I'm through the property buying phase, thats a big cheque to write.

Welcome Hyde!  While there is a disparity in some of the prices etc that are quoted, the themes and ideas are all the same.  Except for retirement planning - both retirement savings accounts and pensions (in Australia, pensions are income and asset tested for our international friends info), and the rules on both of those will change before a lot of us get to traditional retirement age, and not for the better (unless you're the government trying to plug a budget hole!).   Still great to be on the forum, getting ideas, staying motivated ........ ah FIRE ........

[Quokka]

Hello Hyde - Thought I'd also say hi to everyone in this thread as I'm another Aussie just signed up.

Currently working my way through the investing in Australia thread, loads of good info there.

I hear you on the house prices. We've moved around a bit and so have always rented but had our first child lately and would like a bit more security. The rental unit we're in now has just been put up for sale, and this could be our 3rd forced move in as many years. We have the means to buy but it's going to be hard pulling the trigger at these prices.

Great to be here, looking forward to lots of valuable discussions.

[alsoknownasDean]

Welcome :) There's plenty of us around.

Hey mate, I'm a fellow Aussie :)

I'm hearing you on house prices... I bought my first property for almost 600K (5% deposit and huge loan to pay) in Brookvale near Sydney a few months ago and guess what? It's a tiny 49 ground level square metre apartment! The bank doesn't usually let you get a loan if the property is less than 50 but I'm a good negotiator plus I'm 21 so I got heaps of time to pay it off (not that I'll take too long with the way I save).

MMM's property was only 200K (when he retired at 30) and it was a whole house! The only place you are going to find a house that cheap in Australia is Broken Hill, NSW and that place... Well if you want to live in a small town in the middle of nowhere (literally a desert) with constant issues with lead poisoning then go ahead and move there. It's a place for the true Aussie Mustachian to retire (but I'm not man enough for that...)

Holy crap! I knew Sydney was expensive, but wow.

Haha you'll find <$200k properties in plenty of places in Australia (even some capital cities). It's just that most of them aren't employment hot spots, and may be in relatively disadvantaged suburbs or towns. Ergo, don't expect capital gains. :)

Although it probably means a Mustachian can sell up a paid for place in Sydney or Melbourne, buy in Hobart or some other cheaper city and invest the difference. :)

[stripey]

Hi and welcome!!!

Welcome :) There's plenty of us around.

Hey mate, I'm a fellow Aussie :)

I'm hearing you on house prices... I bought my first property for almost 600K (5% deposit and huge loan to pay) in Brookvale near Sydney a few months ago and guess what? It's a tiny 49 ground level square metre apartment! The bank doesn't usually let you get a loan if the property is less than 50 but I'm a good negotiator plus I'm 21 so I got heaps of time to pay it off (not that I'll take too long with the way I save).

MMM's property was only 200K (when he retired at 30) and it was a whole house! The only place you are going to find a house that cheap in Australia is Broken Hill, NSW and that place... Well if you want to live in a small town in the middle of nowhere (literally a desert) with constant issues with lead poisoning then go ahead and move there. It's a place for the true Aussie Mustachian to retire (but I'm not man enough for that...)

Holy crap! I knew Sydney was expensive, but wow.

Haha you'll find <$200k properties in plenty of places in Australia (even some capital cities). It's just that most of them aren't employment hot spots, and may be in relatively disadvantaged suburbs or towns. Ergo, don't expect capital gains. :)

Although it probably means a Mustachian can sell up a paid for place in Sydney or Melbourne, buy in Hobart or some other cheaper city and invest the difference. :)

Yup, people do this quite a lot.

[Melody]

Welcome - another Aussie here. Just like in the Olympics we dominate on a per capita basis ;-)

If you have skills that can be utilised in the mining industry (and that doesn't just mean engineering; lawyers, accountants, B2B sales and PR all needed too) Perth (and I imagine Brisbane) can offer a good mix of high wages and "affordable" housing (relative to Sydney) if you are willing to give up some of the big city delights. Of course both cities are more likely to have boom/bust cycles and while Perth housing is half the price of Sydney housing it's still not cheap. That being said $300k will get you a reasonable 2 bed unit <10kms from the CBD and if you're willing to go to the (poorer) "burbs it can get you an actual house within a 45 minute train commute of the CBD as Perth rail is faster than Sydney Rail because it's newer.

My journal, if you're interested in living the MMM life in Perth:
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/journals/lost-in-the-supermarket-%28music-money-mayhem-rebooted%29/

[cakie]

If you have skills that can be utilised in the mining industry (and that doesn't just mean engineering; lawyers, accountants, B2B sales and PR all needed too) Perth (and I imagine Brisbane) can offer a good mix of high wages and "affordable" housing (relative to Sydney) if you are willing to give up some of the big city delights. Of course both cities are more likely to have boom/bust cycles and while Perth housing is half the price of Sydney housing it's still not cheap.

I studied in Melbourne but moved to a regional town at the start of the year. It's 400kms from the nearest city, but big enough that we have everything we need anyway. I pay less rent for a whole apartment here than I did to share a dodgy old workers cottage with multiple others in Collingwood... that part is pretty awesome :D

[Melody]

But.... Collingwood!!! :-) I do think people overlook some of the bigger towns... A town of 80,000 doesn't feel that different from a major city in terms of facilities and even a town of 30,000 probably has 90% of what you need in a given year.