Is it wise to move to Melbourne?

[ekf]

We are in a similar situation with 2 kids and are only breaking even each month sometimes not even. We could perhaps save some money on rent if we moved further out but then you have to weigh up the travel time versus time at home with kids, etc and feeling isolated, etc.

[Guest]

How on earth is Brisbane a big country town? I guess Topshop disagrees as they have their biggest Australian store here, same with Jamie Oliver who's building his largest restaurant here.

 

Obviously it's not as busy as Melbourne or Sydney, but you wouldn't call Manchester a big country town because it is quieter than London.

[Chortlepuss]

I think if you're settled in the UK, have a great job and you're happy and don't have a desperate urge to move to Oz I'd stay put.The one thing I can say in Brisbane is that is has beautiful weather (apart from mid summer) and I don't think Melbourne is significantly different from SE UK, apart from the hot days in summer. Sure Melbourne has a lot going on culturally but IMHO fails to measure up to the cultural activity of a city like Brighton and Hove in the UK. If you can come without burning your bridges (year out, rent house, career break, young kids) then may be worth it to get it out your system. But you need to have a passion to live here I think to make it work. I had a passion and was so grateful to have had the opportunity to come here 8 years ago - But I'm done now, and that's not because I hate Australia at all - I'm just ready for pastures new...

[pomsoutofoz]

We are in a similar situation with 2 kids and are only breaking even each month sometimes not even. We could perhaps save some money on rent if we moved further out but then you have to weigh up the travel time versus time at home with kids, etc and feeling isolated, etc.

 

Would you mind if I ask if both parents work that you break even?

[ekf]

Yep both working full time. In the UK one of us worked part time. Holding out for something better but who knows really, the Australian economy is not what it once was.

[Marisawright]

Thought that accountants would remain on the list but will be accepting less of them.

 

So if it's that expensive in australia in general, can anyone share if a family with 2 young children make savings? Assuming both parents have average jobs. I know it will depend on certain factors but in general can we save money if we live a simple life?

 

It all depends where you live and what kind of job you have. There are big differences in cost of living between the capital cities.

 

Sydney is by far the most expensive - people say it's comparable to moving to London - but it's mainly because the house prices are astronomical, so your mortgage will swallow a big chunk of your income.

 

Next is Perth - house prices are still high though cheaper than Sydney, but they also suffer from higher transport costs (Perth is a very long way from everywhere else in Australia), so overall it's a bit more expensive to live there.

 

Canberra is next for house prices - but as it's so small, you can buy in the country or outer suburb and still have a reasonable commute.

 

Melbourne is next. Adelaide, Brisbane and especially Hobart are by far the best value for housing.

 

Of course, house prices reflect where the jobs are, so moving to a cheaper location won't necessarily work if you can't get a job.

 

http://www.domain.com.au/content/files/apm/reports/ap1400103_housingmarketreport_jan_apm.pdf

 

As others have said - if you have a good job and a good lifestyle in the UK, then have a serious think about what you're hoping to get from Australia. If it's an adventure, then go for it. If it's a better life, think again. Australia isn't necessarily better than the UK, it's a completely different lifestyle which suits some and not others. Also, you will go backwards when you first arrive - you'll easily spend $50,000 moving, buying a car and household essentials before you even consider the cost of housing. Then if it doesn't work, you'll have to spend thousands more to get back home. You need to have strong reasons for moving to make that worthwhile.

Edited June 22, 2014 by Marisawright

[docboat]

I've been reading it's difficult to get a job in Melbourne and on top of that cost of living is very high there. This is making me hesitate to move to Melbourne with my family as I am comfortable where I am at the moment. Anybody sharing the same fear or any advices please?

 

Some quite serious advice for you - has been said by others, but it is worth repeating:

 

1. Do not go to Melbourne

2. Do not immigrate into Australia - in fact, do not emigrate at all

 

Immigrants do not do "easy". Emigration is hard. Yourcurrent life is comfortable, and you would be mad to swap comfortable for hard. Whether to Australia, or Canada, or France. Stay put. Do not move out until you have:

 

1. Decided what it is you seek, and you cannot obtain that want in your home country

2. Have prepared yourself for the hard grind, the tears, the fears and the despair - all of the troubles being made worthwhile by the gain you are seeking to obtain. The price you pay for emigrating

[Chortlepuss]

Yep both working full time. In the UK one of us worked part time. Holding out for something better but who knows really, the Australian economy is not what it once was.

 

I don't know any families with only one breadwinner. When we came out here in 2007 we had quite a comfy lifestyle on my salary (just over $100K then). Unthinkable now, in Brisbane you are hammered for rent if you want a reasonable rental, and Melbourne and especially Sydney higher. Healthcare, education (even if kids go state) very expensive. The only people I know who are pretty flush are single ICT contractors and couples with no kids and 2 high incomes coming in (> $200K combined). Of course if you own your house outright that is different - In Brisbane a half decent house in reasonable commuting distance to the city costs upwards of $650K. Don't know how people survive on the 'average' wage.....

[flag of convenience]

The number of top acts visiting Perth has certainly improved since we had the new entertainment centre. I've been to see Elton John, Nickelback, Neil Young all at the new place. Best concert I saw last year though was The Cult at a smaller venue. They were playing one of my favourite albums, electric, for the first time ever on tour. I think anyone who says there isn't much to do in Perth doesn't look very hard. We have loads of concerts in summer, a lot of them free and there was a stage set up with concerts every week at Scarborough Beach in the summer. A lot of people don't know what's going off on their own doorstep and prefer just to assume that Perth is dullsville.

 

A quick read through the local free Xpress magazine would give them a few ideas every weekend.

 

http://xpressmag.com.au/

 

While Perth has certainly improved with regards to cultural events it is hardly comparable to cities its size or even smaller in Europe. Marisawright was purely pointing out the limitations of the second tier cities in Australia, which can hardly be faulted.

Some prefer such cities over the bustle of first tier cities, while others don't. To what degree Perth remains Dullsville, is a debateable point. While some enjoy its present offerings, others quite legit imo, others do view it as a place of limitations. Both right in their own way.

[flag of convenience]

I'm used to big-city living so the smaller capitals seem unsophisticated to me - that's my personal opinion. On the other hand, I know people who love living in Perth or Adelaide and would hate the idea of living in a sprawled, traffic-jammed city like Sydney. We all have different likes and dislikes, and we all have different needs and expectations in life. It's good that there are opposing viewpoints in this thread because that will give the OP an idea of how different people see it.

 

I'm not sure if big city living can be really achieved in Australia, perhaps apart from a few inner city areas, in the European/Asian context. Not enough density to give that "big city" ambiance of places where folk live, work and play.

I agree opposing views essential to enable well rounded and contrary opinion. Only issue being a number can't/won't accept critique for some reason on the city they live in.

[flag of convenience]

It all depends where you live and what kind of job you have. There are big differences in cost of living between the capital cities.

 

Sydney is by far the most expensive - people say it's comparable to moving to London - but it's mainly because the house prices are astronomical, so your mortgage will swallow a big chunk of your income.

 

Next is Perth - house prices are still high though cheaper than Sydney, but they also suffer from higher transport costs (Perth is a very long way from everywhere else in Australia), so overall it's a bit more expensive to live there.

 

Canberra is next for house prices - but as it's so small, you can buy in the country or outer suburb and still have a reasonable commute.

 

Melbourne is next. Adelaide, Brisbane and especially Hobart are by far the best value for housing.

 

Of course, house prices reflect where the jobs are, so moving to a cheaper location won't necessarily work if you can't get a job.

 

http://www.domain.com.au/content/files/apm/reports/ap1400103_housingmarketreport_jan_apm.pdf

 

As others have said - if you have a good job and a good lifestyle in the UK, then have a serious think about what you're hoping to get from Australia. If it's an adventure, then go for it. If it's a better life, think again. Australia isn't necessarily better than the UK, it's a completely different lifestyle which suits some and not others. Also, you will go backwards when you first arrive - you'll easily spend $50,000 moving, buying a car and household essentials before you even consider the cost of housing. Then if it doesn't work, you'll have to spend thousands more to get back home. You need to have strong reasons for moving to make that worthwhile.

 

Perth had excellent housing price values until ten years back. Eating out was very affordable as well. The so called boom ended that and took us into territory a lot would have preferred not to go. I would certainly question the value of emigration these days. I still advocate for those to come on a WHV. Great time to be had.

[Marisawright]

I would certainly question the value of emigration these days. I still advocate for those to come on a WHV. Great time to be had.

 

My thoughts too. If people are young enough or rich enough to treat it as an adventure, then it's a great thing to do. But today, the difference in opportunity between the UK and Australia is nowhere near what it used to be, so people hoping to move to Australia and end up wealthier or more successful are likely to be disappointed.

[Lambethlad]

Melbourne is a brilliant city. You can live frugally or extravagantly - it's up to you. So go for it and have some fun and adventure. Good luck.

[ekf]

In a recent survey Melbourne and Sydney came in the top 10 most expensive cities to live in the world. London isn't even in the top 10.

I don't know where you are currently but we had a much more comfortable life in London. We came here to be with our families but if not for that I would be in London.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-05/sydney-and-melbourne-among-worlds-most-expensive-cities/5298818

[Paul1Perth]

Some quite serious advice for you - has been said by others, but it is worth repeating:

 

1. Do not go to Melbourne

2. Do not immigrate into Australia - in fact, do not emigrate at all

 

Immigrants do not do "easy". Emigration is hard. Yourcurrent life is comfortable, and you would be mad to swap comfortable for hard. Whether to Australia, or Canada, or France. Stay put. Do not move out until you have:

 

1. Decided what it is you seek, and you cannot obtain that want in your home country

2. Have prepared yourself for the hard grind, the tears, the fears and the despair - all of the troubles being made worthwhile by the gain you are seeking to obtain. The price you pay for emigrating

 

I've got to say you make emigrating sound a lot harder than we found it docboat. We didn't have it easy either, we came with a 2 year old, selling the house in the UK was what paid for us to come, we didn't know anyone here, never been before, I was out of work 5 months but my wife is a nurse and managed to get work after a couple of weeks.

 

In all that time I don't think I ever felt despair and very little tears. Sure it wasn't nice being out of work, hated it, but always felt that something would come up and it did. Never been out of work since in 22 years.

 

It wasn't great renting a small apartment but it wasn't bad either. We woke up to the sun shining most days and we lived near the river. There were some nice parks close by where we could take the youngster and obviously beaches close by for weekends. I guess we are pretty laid back people and optimistic compared to a lot, but I never found it that bad.

 

I wasn't one to sit by the phone moping though. I bought a second hand bike and an answer machine. Two of the best purchases I made. I soon learned that companies would probably give you a ring if they had anything going but there's no sense in driving yourself mad waiting for the phone call that might not come. I got the bike, put a child seat on the back and me and the youngster would go off exploring just about every day. Looking back it was a great time and brought us really close together as a family.

 

Eventually it all came together, we got jobs, we got a house near the coast that we had always wanted, we got promotions, a bit more money. Never regretted moving for one second.:cool:

[grahamffc]

Thanks to all for the replies. Grahamffc my wife is also an accountant and ACCA qualified. I have worries that it will be harder for her to get a job as ACCA is not well recognised.

 

 

It will certainly be harder than if she was CIMA/ACA (and therefore CPA/ICAA due to their mutual recognition agreements) qualified. However everyone seems to get a chance at some point. Recruitment consultants will all know of ACCA and explain that to any potential employers, and also many hiring managers will know of it themselves if they are from or have worked outside of Australia which is a suprising high proportion. The reluctance of employers to take on someone who has not long arrived in the country should be a bigger concern, unfortunately too many of us go back which makes it harder for people arriving.

 

Also the job hunting timeframes you are used to will affect how you find it. Melbourne is a tiny job market compared to London but will be far bigger than regional UK. It took me six months to find a permanent job (this however included two months temping) which was a real shock as I've never been job hunting for more than four weeks in London, but if I was coming from Bath (my hometown) that might seem quite normal. Don't be fooled by the presence of Accountant on the SOL as there is no shortage of them in Australia.

 

Since it would be impossible to secure a job from outside of Australia, one thing I would highly recommend your partner does is apply for some jobs on via Seek or Linkedin pretending you are already in Melbourne and see what interest this attracts. Don't worry about wasting other people's time and you are certainly not wasting yours. It would help if you have a friend there who might let you use their address/phone number but any correspondance will most likely be through email anyway. If she applies for a dozen and hears nothing back then you'll have very good reason to be concerned. It would be time consuming but I certainly with I had done this.

[grahamffc]

How on earth is Brisbane a big country town? I guess Topshop disagrees as they have their biggest Australian store here, same with Jamie Oliver who's building his largest restaurant here.

 

Obviously it's not as busy as Melbourne or Sydney, but you wouldn't call Manchester a big country town because it is quieter than London.

 

Topshop and Jamie Oliver must also regard Aberdeen, Norwich, and St Albans as global metropolis's too.

[docboat]

I've got to say you make emigrating sound a lot harder than we found it docboat. We didn't have it easy either, we came with a 2 year old, selling the house in the UK was what paid for us to come, we didn't know anyone here, never been before, I was out of work 5 months but my wife is a nurse and managed to get work after a couple of weeks.

 

In all that time I don't think I ever felt despair and very little tears. Sure it wasn't nice being out of work, hated it, but always felt that something would come up and it did. Never been out of work since in 22 years.

 

It wasn't great renting a small apartment but it wasn't bad either. We woke up to the sun shining most days and we lived near the river. There were some nice parks close by where we could take the youngster and obviously beaches close by for weekends. I guess we are pretty laid back people and optimistic compared to a lot, but I never found it that bad.

 

I wasn't one to sit by the phone moping though. I bought a second hand bike and an answer machine. Two of the best purchases I made. I soon learned that companies would probably give you a ring if they had anything going but there's no sense in driving yourself mad waiting for the phone call that might not come. I got the bike, put a child seat on the back and me and the youngster would go off exploring just about every day. Looking back it was a great time and brought us really close together as a family.

 

Eventually it all came together, we got jobs, we got a house near the coast that we had always wanted, we got promotions, a bit more money. Never regretted moving for one second.:cool:

 

Snap!

 

But I think the mindset was there all along, right?

[Guest]

Topshop and Jamie Oliver must also regard Aberdeen, Norwich, and St Albans as global metropolis's too.

 

You seem to have missed a couple of key words or lack reading comprehension.

 

Is Topshop's largest UK store in any of those places? No they put their flagship store on Oxford Street.

[PomCat]

Edit for accuracy: Melbourne is a fantastic place to live and any suggestion that it shares similar weather with SE UK is just plain wrong. Next they will be saying it never snows in Kent. The OP needs to research options and do whatever feels right - but needs to take a lot of the comments on here from returned migrants with a pinch of salt. Many of us feel that we absoutely made the right choice in coming to Oz, but in saying that it isn't for everyone. As some say, tread your own path!

[ekf]

Edit for accuracy: Melbourne is a fantastic place to live and any suggestion that it shares similar weather with SE UK is just plain wrong.

 

Ha ha, agree! We are well in to winter and I put a coat on for the first time just today.

[Petals]

I am one who likes the winter in Melbourne, is not that cold, as has been said you cannot compare with UK, we grow things in the garden in winter, the ground never gets that cold. I like the winter because I can get out in the garden and its comfortable to work rather than in the summer when its way too hot to dig.

 

Melbourne has never been an easy place to get a job when coming from another State or overseas as there is an element of Victorian preferred and its sticks.

 

Cannot be compared with the UK or large capitals like London as look at the population of the country as compared to overseas countries like the US and Britain, so obviously the job market and needs for experience are going to be a lot less than where people are coming from. There are only so many people to go to a financial adviser and bank or accountant. Do the math and don't compare saying oh its so much larger in London, of course it is.

[starlight7]

If the OP is well settled where they are currently living- why would he/she emigrate? There has to be some incentive somewhere along the line. Boredom perhaps? But it is a very expensive thing to do so you need to really want it- otherwise you will get peed off and leave before you have given it a good go.

[jimmyay1]

Melbourne is fantastic and i wouldnt listen to people doing it down - it's what you make it really. Personally i wouldn't live anywhere else. Forget weather critics. We have seasons. It's not a big deal. We have schizophrenic springs, some very hot days in summer, really long, lovely autumns - and short, mild winters on the coast. I know that i can go skiing in the mountains every winter, and swim in the warm bay every summer- both activities a relatively short drive away from home. I love that.

 

But more importantly if you move you will be an IMMIGRANT and will need to adapt and be FLEXIBLE. You are giving up your whole life, family, friends, job for a new country and culture, and new opportunities - most of which you may not know exist or will have to create yourself. It should enliven and challenge you and might take you places you'd never thought you'd go.

 

But if you are quite happy where you are , why move.

 

Having said that, i was happy in London, had nice life and still moved, here and things have worked out fine.

 

However you are not suited if you can't cope with a big change to your routine and life, and having to start life from scratch. Immigration is not as simple as getting off the plane. It is a process which takes months and even years to bed through.

 

You will have challenges and if you are not mentally quite determined and robust it just will not work with the way the world is today. Not many things come easy in this life wherever you are in the world now - just the way it is i am afraid.

 

I would certainly put out strong feelers on the job situation before i moved though - any former employers you can look up who have Aussie offices? It's all about contacts and will help you get a feel . Sydney has more finance jobs - but is very expensive housing wise and travel around the city is a real pain, like London. As a new migrant without good income you will have to compromise on your quality of life.

 

Melbourne is a much better laid out city and cheaper in terms of housing. There may be" fewer opportunities" ( i still believe you largely create your own oppportunities in life ultimately) but you would be able to live a better lifestyle on less money.

 

I would also say Melbourne has a more friendly feel (not that i've lived in Sydney) and is quite a stylish city.

Edited June 24, 2014 by jimmyay1

[Marisawright]

Melbourne is fantastic and i wouldnt listen to people doing it down - it's what you make it really. Personally i wouldn't live anywhere else. Forget weather critics. We have seasons. It's not a big deal. We have schizophrenic springs, some very hot days in summer, really long, lovely autumns - and short, mild winters on the coast. I know that i can go skiing in the mountains every winter, and swim in the warm bay every summer- both activities a relatively short drive away from home. I love that.

 

But more importantly if you move you will be an IMMIGRANT and will need to adapt and be FLEXIBLE. You are giving up your whole life, family, friends, job for a new country and culture, and new opportunities - most of which you may not know exist or will have to create yourself. It should enliven and challenge you and might take you places you'd never thought you'd go.

 

But if you are quite happy where you are , why move.

 

Having said that, i was happy in London, had nice life and still moved, here and things have worked out fine.

 

However you are not suited if you can't cope with a big change to your routine and life, and having to start life from scratch. Immigration is not as simple as getting off the plane. It is a process which takes months and even years to bed through.

 

You will have challenges and if you are not mentally quite determined and robust it just will not work with the way the world is today. Not many things come easy in this life wherever you are in the world now - just the way it is i am afraid.

 

I would certainly put out strong feelers on the job situation before i moved though - any former employers you can look up who have Aussie offices? It's all about contacts and will help you get a feel . Sydney has more finance jobs - but is very expensive housing wise and travel around the city is a real pain, like London. As a new migrant without good income you will have to compromise on your quality of life.

 

Melbourne is a much better laid out city and cheaper in terms of housing. There may be" fewer opportunities" ( i still believe you largely create your own oppportunities in life ultimately) but you would be able to live a better lifestyle on less money.

 

I would also say Melbourne has a more friendly feel (not that i've lived in Sydney) and is quite a stylish city.

 

Nothing to add to this really, except that I agree 100% and I think it is a very accurate, fair assessment. It should be a sticky post and compulsory reading for all prospective immigrants!

Edited June 24, 2014 by Marisawright