Oaklaurel

G'day Cava83, it looks like you are comparing the rent payment to a mortgage payment of principal and interest. This is a good start. A better comparison to rent could be interest only payments as this levels the field a little as you are not actually paying down the loan - like renting. Excluding capital gain renting is still cheaper than owning under the figures you have quoted, when you add the capital gain back in it can tip it back to being buying is better depending on your location (high demand area like the inner and middle ring suburbs in the major capital cities have generally performed the better in the past - that is why property there is so expensive). The Australia housing market is a low yielding (rent %), high capital gain market. Usually the reason that the rental yield is low is because it is yet to catch up with the capital appreciation. To make things more complicated, due to the high transaction costs (stamp duty etc..) property investment has performed better as a longer term investment 10 years+. The other thing to consider is that interest rates are a historic lows now so don't count on them being at below 5% (as you have quoted) long term. When the economy is going well and house prices booming expect interest rates to increase too. I doubt if this has answered your question but hopefully it shows that the pros and cons of purchasing Australian property are more complicated than just if your mortgage payments are more or less than the rent payments.

Generally landlords/real estate agents will believe that if you are having trouble finding money for bond and rent at the start then you may have trouble paying rent on time later on too. If you are looking to rent from someone that maybe more flexible (in terms of bond and rent upfront) then going through a real estate agent may give you trouble. Real estate agents generally have strict policies about that sort of thing. There are other places to find rental properties gumtree.com.au for example where you can find properties directly through the landlord. But that comes with other risks (e.g. there are some scammers on those types of sites). Having said that it is worth a look, just don't pay any money without inspecting the property and being sure that they are the landlord. Good luck in your search.

Unfortunately you have come to Canberra when the Government job sector is being/has been cut and there are less jobs going and more people looking. However, as you are accounting and banking sector related you have that going for you. The other good thing is that now it is easier to find houses to rent or buy, previously the housing market was very competitive. As mentioned previously seek.com.au is the main site people use for job hunting. Good luck in your job hunting.