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The truth about how expensive Perth is!!


Guest Perthprincess

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Guest Perthprincess

Hi everybody I'm new to the forum and I have been in Australia for 6 months, I have lived here 4 years ago so when we emigrated we had an idea about cost of living ect or so we thought.......in the four years since being here we have noticed prices have shot up. I do a food shop for myself weekly (hubby is fifo) with groceries and toiletries no luxuries and it's easily $150 per week I've never seen prices like it in the shops milk is $6 for 2litre. To go to places zoo, wildlife park it's at least $25 per person, kids under 3 free, the clothes over here are just ridiculous a pair of jeans was $90 I'm probably finding it more difficult because I keep thinking I could get twice as much for our money in the uk. We were looking for mortgages and for a mortgage of $450,000 your looking at re payments of $630 plus bills ect or the next 30 years. I am having a rant about the cost but we didn't realise how expensive things were and think so many people come over without realising and then struggle to manage another example daycare is between $70-$90 per day. Has anybody else found things very expensive?

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We are in Brisbane so it's a bit different. I haven't found it as expensive as I thought it would. We live on 59C bags of Woolies pasta mind. Get meat from the butcher, toiletries from Crazy Clarks or Aldi (and I brought a load with me), fruit and veg from a Fruit Market. Our weekly bill for a family of 4 is not that much more than yours.

 

I think a lot of it is having different expectations and shopping around rather than relying on getting everything from Sainsburys like I did in the UK.

 

The daycare doesn't seem too expensive. I know lots of people paying £40-£50 in the UK which is very similar to what you mention in Perth not forgetting that a lot of people are entitled to the Childcare rebate (not us unfortunately!).

 

The rent/mortgage one I agree with and that's the big one for us. Not sure we'll be able to buy here for a very long time and not in our current suburb probably.

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in the shops milk is $6 for 2litre.

 

I can't comment on Perth generally because I don't live there but both Coles and Woolworths here sell 2 litres of milk for $2. Surely they're not charging 3x the price there for the same product?

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Also mortgage of $450,000 at 7% interest over 30 years is $3,000 a month ($750 a week). That's roughly GBP 300,00. If you borrow that in the UK at the same terms then the monthly repayment is GBP 2,000 which is the same as the Oz loan- no difference.

However - the big difference is that depending where you live, GBP 300,000 will buy you something very nice. $450,000 here will buy you a 4x2 in a fairly ordinary area with fairly ordinary schools and that's where Perth is expensive.

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just nipped up to my local IGA 2litres of brownes milk $1.95 , bread $2.25 [ and you can get it cheaper than this ] chicken breasts skinless and boneless $10.00 a kilo , some times they re $8.99 a kilo on special ] beautiful big cauliflower $1.99 each and potatoes $1.99 a kilo , im in perth

 

the only place i can think of milk for $6.00 2 litres would be the garage or a late nighty deli

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Guest guest17301

I've never ever seen milk for $6 per 2ltr. My daycare costs $55 a day. My last pair of jeans cost $7 from target...obviously they will cost more in Witchery or someplace like that.

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Hi everybody I'm new to the forum and I have been in Australia for 6 months, I have lived here 4 years ago so when we emigrated we had an idea about cost of living ect or so we thought.......in the four years since being here we have noticed prices have shot up. I do a food shop for myself weekly (hubby is fifo) with groceries and toiletries no luxuries and it's easily $150 per week I've never seen prices like it in the shops milk is $6 for 2litre. To go to places zoo, wildlife park it's at least $25 per person, kids under 3 free, the clothes over here are just ridiculous a pair of jeans was $90 I'm probably finding it more difficult because I keep thinking I could get twice as much for our money in the uk. We were looking for mortgages and for a mortgage of $450,000 your looking at re payments of $630 plus bills ect or the next 30 years. I am having a rant about the cost but we didn't realise how expensive things were and think so many people come over without realising and then struggle to manage another example daycare is between $70-$90 per day. Has anybody else found things very expensive?

 

If you lived here for four years ago then you'll be in a prime position to witness the rip off prices that have been inflicted on folk starting around 03. The newbies can argue their corner till their blue in the face but this place has seen such dramatic changes ...I wish I could find the link...but off the top of my head wages have increased 400% since 1980.....and house something like 1300% ...but that last figure could be even greater. How sustainable is that?

Perth is something like the seventh most expensive city in the world to live. Unbelievable. Who would have guessed in 2000 we would be in such a position?

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Ok I wasn't after an argument! I was just saying from my point of view I find it very expensive to live here!!

 

Perthprincess ....the topics around Perth does stir up a degree of dissent on both sides. Don't forget you remember things as do I before the so called boom. The newies will argue their side as they see it now.

All I know is I wouldn't want to be coming here now and paying a mortgage. It would certainly add years onto my working life.

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I would love to be paying those prices, fuel milk rents are a lot more expensive here in Alice springs, milk $5, fuel $1.85 -$2.00 a litre, unit slightly bigger than a rabbit hutch $420 a week. I f your husband is fly in and out then there is no need to be in the city anyway.

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Guest guest36187

It's all down to standard of living isn't it. If you shop in Myers and David jones life will be much more expensive than shopping in Kmart, target etc.

if you continually shop in corner shops and not supermarkets where prices are lower, it will be expensive.

 

When my husband moans about costs and spending money, my first comments are .....

 

Do you actually need it or do you want it?

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I've been in Perth since 1997 and I haven't suddenly seen price hikes in anything but property - and as we bought in 2001 I can sit here smugly and watch my house go up to three times the value we bought it. Hard for those new people who are selling an average priced house in the UK to get on the property ladder in Perth.

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Guest Guest66881

It is expensive here no doubting that fact.

But, life goes on and you have to learn to cut your cloth as they say, we only buy what we need, and if we need a luxury item we tend to hang back or save, no different to what we would have done in blighty really.

But yeah some things here are crazy prices, e.g. toms go up and down drastically here lately $7.99 kilo:mad:, a bit like the bananas saga lol.

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^hello all,It's good to hear these prices as i was starting to worry that it would be hard to live in Perth as things have got so expensive. Whats peoples views on rental. We have around $400 a week what will we be getting for this? Where are the best mixed areas and we would like to live with other nations and not feel like we're in little England.

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Guest Guest66881

Last year you would of been ok, this year prices have gone up again, and the average now is some where around $425 i think, but you could still find smaller older dwellings if you search and get lucky at the process stage.

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^hello all,It's good to hear these prices as i was starting to worry that it would be hard to live in Perth as things have got so expensive. Whats peoples views on rental. We have around $400 a week what will we be getting for this? Where are the best mixed areas and we would like to live with other nations and not feel like we're in little England.

 

Unless your looking out in the sticks probably a crap hole thats not been decorated since 1970!

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I agree with others - totally depends how you shop as to what you spend on things. I'd never pay more than $2.29 for 2L of milk, I bought two pairs of jeans from the Levis shop in Harbour Town for $75, and we probably spend between $100-$150 a week on food for the two of us (breakfast, lunch & dinner). All household goods, cleaning products etc are bought from Kmart or the Reject Shop.

 

We know it's more expensive than England, which is why we stock up on stuff when we visit, or get stuff posted out from there. But is it necessary to have topic after topic on how expensive Perth is? In the words of my aussie work colleages........"If you don't like it....." :biggrin:

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You learn very quickly where to shop and where not to. Petrol stations here are a shocking rip off so I only shop in them if I'm desperate. Coles is good value in my opinion, IGA is a rip off, but most places constantly do specials so you can always find something to fit the budget. Eating out is scandalous sadly, since I love eating out. My favourite wine is 11.99 in Dan Murphys but 18.99 in my local bottle shop, so shopping around is essential. Rent is another issue though...

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