bensym

Cheers guys ^^^^will look into this.

Applied 27/4/17 online in Sydney. Still no news. My permanent residency visa has since expired. Does anyone know if there is a way around leaving country to go on holiday, without having to renew my PR visa?

thanks for the response. Getting a lender for my UK property (as an Australian) is hard enough at the moement.

Hi All, I need to re-mortgage my UK property to a buy-to-let (now the permission-to-let is expiring), and I also would like to take out an Australian residential mortgage here in Sydney. Is anyone aware of any of the international lenders (HSBC for example) offering lending on the two properties combined ( ie preferential rates on the two loans or cross-border mortgaging)? Usually these banks operate through local subsidiaries (so separate balance sheets) so I am thinking they probably wouldn't offer it. I was wondering if anyone has come cross this sort of offering before? Cheers Ben

a nice summary article from the SMH the other day http://www.smh.com.au/business/how-low-can-the-aussie-dollar-go-20130624-2osff.html

Discount the USD effects against the current AUD sell-off at your peril. USD is still the globe's reserve currency. The investment community (the bulk of which are based in the US) are long AUD stocks and bonds. US financial institutions own 40% of Telstra stock, 25% of the big 4 banks here.Asian pension funds are dropping AUD securities also (esp Japan). Returns are falling, non-mining investment is exiting. Lets not forget that China owns the bulk of US debt now as well. If it's rumoured Soros went short AUD @ 1.03-4 v USD then the world listens. Put it this way, in watching this sell-off I have totally discounted anything happening with the UK economy, and even any news out of China. Any big swings overnight have been attributable to what the US Fed is saying re ending QE. Watch GBPUSD v AUDUSD and you will see what I mean. When you factor in the impact of the technically driven computer programmes trading the markets, then the herd mentality on USD becomes further exacerbated.

Thanks for tips everyone. I will check them out. Yes I want a few accounts as I'm sending some GBP over every month. Moneycorp were quoting me 4c under the market on Friday which was taking the p*ss in my view.

Thanks for the advice lara and wattsy.

Does anyone use an fx broker other than Moneycorp? I'd like to investigate a few quotes going forward when I need to transfer.

I can remember coming on holiday in the early 2000s and it was 2.80 -2.90. I was buying people drinks and meals, and instead of shouting loadsamoney like the Harry Enfield character, i was shouting "strength of the pound". geez how that came back to bite me on the ar*e when i moved here to Oz.

I live in Sutherland Shire which is great for families (national park, beach, pools, schools). A mate of mine attended the Catholic schools in Caringbah which he says were pretty good. I think you could probably get a 4 bedder with pool for $1-1.2 mil. Train into Redfern takes 40-45mins and you could walk to the RPA from there in 10-15mins.

Yeah avoid Coles. For start-up here Aldi and K-mart will be your best bets. Aldi do basic loaf of bread for a $1, 2L of milk for under $2, and are even doing booze now - $10 for a bottled six-pack of "unkown" but quite palatable lager.

It's stuck in this 1.46-1.62 range for the past couple of years. I think this is going to tick back up to 1.60-1.61, but I will only get excited if it breaks 1.62. I read somewhere in the aussie press that the Australian mining boom is not expected to fully fizzle out until 2014 which could tie in nicely with some recovery out of the UK, but that is quite a way down the track. The mining company CEOs are now openly complaining about the strength of AUD, and if this makes them uncompetitive (as it has the other underperforming sectors in the Aus economy), then the RBA has to listen. I would say transfer as little as possible. Play the long-game on this.

Moved to Miranda (sutherland shire) last month and loving the area. We have all the amenities on our door step, and although we're 25km from the city it still feels like things are going on. I grew up in the inner west of Sydney and much prefer the Shire. Can't wait to get out and about locally when summer starts to roll on. We're three stops from Cronulla on the train, and with a limited stops train you would be in Kogarah in 20 mins (40 mins to city). Agree with LKC the Taren Point route to Kogarah is far more bike-friendly than Princes Highway route. Alternatively, I hear places like Oatley and surrounding areas are quite nice and closer to Kogarah.

I didn't know you could do it online. I thought it was Victorian residents only could apply online using a test app. I went to a centrelink office to do my wife's yesterday. Needed passport and visa details, driver's license and medicare card. I have to say getting documents here is far smoother than in the UK. We got our driver's license and medicare card on the spot.

I sense this is a buyers market also. I've noticed on realestate.com.au that a lot of the rental properties on the market, have been, or are currently, up for sale also. Quite a few negative gearers attempting to cash the profit now, realizing the party is over. In addition, there have been a number of properties sitting unsold for a very long time, certainly in the areas of Sydney I am looking.

I think anyone moving to Australia (like myself in three weeks) needs to rent with the Australian housing market and AUD over-inflated to the state they are now. I've always been a big believer in minimizing debt in your life, yet Australia does seem more of a debt "trap" than the UK at the moment. Aussie banks charging exorbitant lending rates and massive multiples-of-salary needed to buy a property do not help.

Rikyuu, a somewhat cynical view but I like most of what you say. There is this overwhelming undercurrent of "she'll be right mate" around the Aussie economy and the housing market. You should listen to my father bang on about his three investment properties over there, despite being leveraged up to the hilt. Negative gearing has exacerbated the housing bubble there, and the Australian govt have been the main proponents in getting the Australian housing market to overheat to the stage it is now. Of course they are going to intervene wherever possible to protect themselves politically. All it takes is a shock to the system and the house of cards will come tumbling down. I don't want to buy when I get there due to this threat. I think the tipping point is coming.

I know the area well Maryrose, as I grew up in Ashfield, but had a few friends in Haberfield. I also spent many boring an hour stuck at Birkenhead Point with my parents. There used be an excellent Vietnamese restaurant in Haberfield I don't if it is still there. Also look for a great little Italian restaurant called Filicudi on Ramsey Road (road from Haberfield to Five Dock). This was my family's fav Italian restaurant for over 20 years. I look forward to explore all these places again when I return to live in Sydney in three weeks time.

I'm going to all over gumtree.com.au when we get there. I can live with second hand furniture while we get set up, and there does seem to be some bargains to be had.

Well done. We put in an application in for a place in Sydney this week, and it was rejected within 3 hours. A friend viewed it for us, we put in an introduction letter, statement of our funds, estimates from local estate agent on what rent we will receive from my London property,even offered to pay 6 months rent up front. Not even given a reason given for why we were unsuccessful. I've had enough of looking before we get there now. We land in Sydney on the 19th of June and have a 3 day window (staying with a friend) to find a place to live. I dislike being treated like a second class citizen so I look forward to meeting some of these shifty estate agents.

If you have lived in the property (before renting it) as your principle place of residence, you get tax relief on CGT. Definitely in Australia, but not sure under British tax law.

Totally normal it would seem. We are going in five weeks and it certainly is a roller coaster. I go through feeling excited and can't wait to get in and organize things one minute, to panic and totally questioning what we are doing the next minute (are we making a huge mistake?). We're lucky in that we have good friends there already, but my wife and I still get scared/nervy as it is such a massive leap. What keeps me focused is thinking that six months from now we'll all be happy and settled in, and enjoying the Aussie summer.

I'm leaving most of my money here in the UK. I get over 3% on my UK accounts, and the best Aussie banks offer is 6% for four months before dropping to under 5% thereafter. With the RBA in cutting mode you can bet the Aussie banks will be passing on these cuts on their savings accounts. I am making far more with every 0.01 up tick in GPBAUD than I do on the savings account interest rate differential. At the moment AUD is a good "bellwhether" for risk and uncertainty in the global market. I read a bit of research from the investment banks on this, and also a few fx trading forums. Consensus seems to be that the downside risk for AUD is not fully priced in yet. There may be a muted bounce for AUD, but the downside risks remain for the remainder of the year. Taxation of FX gains is something I really need to look into. It does seem a hideously unfair tax for people emigrating.

An increase in part time jobs is hardly the tonic the RBA needs in its rate setting agenda. We saw similar "dovish" stories here in the UK after our last employment figures and then the GDP figures came out. The RBA surprised with 50bps in order to catch up, as they were behind the curve. Naturally they will wait and see what the effects of this cut are for the next couple of months, and to take in more data (CPI, retail sales, carbon tax effects). This is a slow game they,re planning in order to engineer a soft landing. This will all change though if the Euro goes **** up (then watch out!).