Thought this might be interesting for people wondering if they can afford to live here...
I have recently contributed to a thread saying that the cost of living in Melbourne was pretty much on par with the UK, and in some cases more expensive. Now, on the whole I still stick to that, however a recent string of events has forced our hand to move and I think it will work out for the best....
We currently live in Bayside. Here you can't buy a house for much less that $400k (i'm talking a family house). In our suburb a small plot of land with a house that needs knocking down will cost you at least $1m (£500k). You then have to build a house on top of that.
Anyway, our landlord came and told us that when our lease is due, our rent will be going up (because of the current demand) - we are already paying $2350 a month. So we decided that we need to buy or build a house rather than be held to ransom.
We want a new house so decided to see if we could afford to build our own. It works differently over here... in the UK generally the house builder will have all the houses planned and all you need to do is turn up and choose which one you want. They are also a fixed price, so you know what you are paying. Over here though, you need to buy the house and land separately (the builders will help you with the land or you can do it yourself).
Well, to our surprise we discovered that the starting price for a decent 4 bedroom house is around the $150k (£75k) mark!! You can then buy land in most suburbs for around the $180-200k mark (£90-100k) - for a 650m2 plot (an ok size but you won't have much of a garden - remember houses are bigger here so take up much of the plot).
While we were in one of the builders display homes the woman told us to go to their display centre in Melton, which is a small town NE of Melbourne. She lives there and loves it. It is 40 minutes on the train to the CBD and is still in zone 1 for the metro trains. So we took a spin out there and loved it as well. Melton is out in the country but has all the shops, parks, swimming pool, etc that you would expect. It is known as a "working class" area but it is one of the few places which doesn't have grafitti everywhere and looks clean, well kept, and everything is fairly new. The town is undergoing a huge expansion with lots of new land being released for housing. But it gets better.... we then found a plot of land measuring 850m2, for $98k (£49k). So, the total cost of the house and the land is $250k (£125k). Now, this might not seem too amazing for people living in some of the more remote parts of the UK, but i'm sure that the folks from the South are gasping at this news.
Before I get a string of "I told you so's"... there are a couple of caveats to this great news:
1. There are additional costs while building a house over here. You need to pay for site costs, driveways, fencing above the cost of the house. These figures vary but could be up to $20k (£10k).
2. Since you buy the land separately you need to pay for it before building begins. This means that you start paying part of your mortgage from that day. The builder then asks the bank for money at different stages to pay for the building so each month the build goes on your mortgage payments increase. This could cause problems if you are renting because you will pay rent and a mortgage at the same time probably for 6 months.
3. Last but by no means least, the interest rates are up at 9.7. This has a huge impact on the monthly payments. We are going to have a mortgage for half the amount that we had in the UK, but the monthly payments will be around the same. However, we are gambling on the interest rates going down.
Anyway, I thought some folks out there would be thinking of building a house, so might find this information useful.
Thought this might be interesting for people wondering if they can afford to live here...
I have recently contributed to a thread saying that the cost of living in Melbourne was pretty much on par with the UK, and in some cases more expensive. Now, on the whole I still stick to that, however a recent string of events has forced our hand to move and I think it will work out for the best....
We currently live in Bayside. Here you can't buy a house for much less that $400k (i'm talking a family house). In our suburb a small plot of land with a house that needs knocking down will cost you at least $1m (£500k). You then have to build a house on top of that.
Anyway, our landlord came and told us that when our lease is due, our rent will be going up (because of the current demand) - we are already paying $2350 a month. So we decided that we need to buy or build a house rather than be held to ransom.
We want a new house so decided to see if we could afford to build our own. It works differently over here... in the UK generally the house builder will have all the houses planned and all you need to do is turn up and choose which one you want. They are also a fixed price, so you know what you are paying. Over here though, you need to buy the house and land separately (the builders will help you with the land or you can do it yourself).
Well, to our surprise we discovered that the starting price for a decent 4 bedroom house is around the $150k (£75k) mark!! You can then buy land in most suburbs for around the $180-200k mark (£90-100k) - for a 650m2 plot (an ok size but you won't have much of a garden - remember houses are bigger here so take up much of the plot).
While we were in one of the builders display homes the woman told us to go to their display centre in Melton, which is a small town NE of Melbourne. She lives there and loves it. It is 40 minutes on the train to the CBD and is still in zone 1 for the metro trains. So we took a spin out there and loved it as well. Melton is out in the country but has all the shops, parks, swimming pool, etc that you would expect. It is known as a "working class" area but it is one of the few places which doesn't have grafitti everywhere and looks clean, well kept, and everything is fairly new. The town is undergoing a huge expansion with lots of new land being released for housing. But it gets better.... we then found a plot of land measuring 850m2, for $98k (£49k). So, the total cost of the house and the land is $250k (£125k). Now, this might not seem too amazing for people living in some of the more remote parts of the UK, but i'm sure that the folks from the South are gasping at this news.
Before I get a string of "I told you so's"... there are a couple of caveats to this great news:
1. There are additional costs while building a house over here. You need to pay for site costs, driveways, fencing above the cost of the house. These figures vary but could be up to $20k (£10k).
2. Since you buy the land separately you need to pay for it before building begins. This means that you start paying part of your mortgage from that day. The builder then asks the bank for money at different stages to pay for the building so each month the build goes on your mortgage payments increase. This could cause problems if you are renting because you will pay rent and a mortgage at the same time probably for 6 months.
3. Last but by no means least, the interest rates are up at 9.7. This has a huge impact on the monthly payments. We are going to have a mortgage for half the amount that we had in the UK, but the monthly payments will be around the same. However, we are gambling on the interest rates going down.
Anyway, I thought some folks out there would be thinking of building a house, so might find this information useful.
HI
The land is a steal at that price cheapest seen in Perth nor 230k for a 650sqm block oh seen a house design she likes at a display village 175k 4 x2 theres only me her and the bloody dog. That includes fencing drive etc, only need a 496 m block
Malx
aka Billy 1/2 doz m
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Hi Buck,
Thanks for the info, i've clicked your chicken for that one. Do you know if you are allowed to do this kind of thing on a sponsored visa 457 at all? We are definatley interested in this.
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Thanks for the info, i've clicked your chicken for that one. Do you know if you are allowed to do this kind of thing on a sponsored visa 457 at all? We are definatley interested in this.
hi
were on a 457 you have to apply to the foreign investments r board for permission and rates are higher and you will need a 30 per cent deposit
malx
aka Billy 6m
__________________
Here at last
SUFC life not a pastime I limit myself to 2 drinks a day, I`m now 10 years in front make that 15
Well... I don't know the in's and out's of how your visa restricts you, but when I payed my deposit for the land, the land agent asked if I had a PR visa. He told me that if I wasn't on a PR visa that I wouldn't be able to buy an old house but I could build a new one (which seems strange to me). He also said that if I wasn't on a PR visa there would be a clause in the contract forcing me to build on it within a few months (i.e. you can't buy land and just leave it sitting there empty). I'm not sure what classes of visa are affected by this but it's something to look into.
Well... I don't know the in's and out's of how your visa restricts you, but when I payed my deposit for the land, the land agent asked if I had a PR visa. He told me that if I wasn't on a PR visa that I wouldn't be able to buy an old house but I could build a new one (which seems strange to me). He also said that if I wasn't on a PR visa there would be a clause in the contract forcing me to build on it within a few months (i.e. you can't buy land and just leave it sitting there empty). I'm not sure what classes of visa are affected by this but it's something to look into.
Defo think thts true about the land
Malx
__________________
Here at last
SUFC life not a pastime I limit myself to 2 drinks a day, I`m now 10 years in front make that 15
