sam11480 Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 Hi there Hope you can help. I am looking for a run down of monthly living costs in Victoria. I.e Elec, Gas, rent/mortgage-is there an equivalent to council tax that we have in the UK? Anything else I need to budget in? Does Medicare come out of salary or do you pay it separately? I am moving to Victoria in next few months and trying to get my head around the monthly outgoings. Many thanks for any advice! Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetBlast Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 If you rent council tax is included and not a seperate bill you pay. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 (edited) Medicare is funded by your tax. It is 2% of your Taxable Income. There is also a Medicare Levy Surcharge which is an extra charge for high income earners who do not have Private Health Insurance, The other utilities really depend on size of the property, where you will live, how many in the household etc so hard to generalise about without knowing more details. Edited June 1, 2019 by Parley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam11480 Posted June 2, 2019 Author Share Posted June 2, 2019 Hi Parley Thanks for your reply! We are a family of 4. We will be renting approximately $400 per week-3 bed house. Looking for a Mornington Suburb such as Rosebud. It seems that council tax is included in rent and so aside from gas/elec/groceries/phone/ internet/insurance I wonder if there is anything else I'm not factoring in? Kindest regards, Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam11480 Posted June 2, 2019 Author Share Posted June 2, 2019 Hi Jetblast That's great to know. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 (edited) If it helps, comparing my time in the UK a couple of years ago and my life in Melbourne now, I find the cost of living about the same. Some things are a bit dearer and some things are a bit cheaper, but it balances out - with one exception, which is the cost of housing (buying or renting). So if you look at what you spend now and adjust it for your rent, you'll be about right. However if you're looking at the Mornington Peninsula, then you'll need to allow for higher public transport or petrol costs as you're a long way from anywhere. TBH if you don't already have a job lined up, it's risky to settle that far out of town - it's just too far too commute to the north or west of Melbourne, so you're cutting yourself out of half the job market. For a young family on a limited budget coming to Victoria, I'd say Geelong would be a much better choice as a place to live and work, if you want to live close to the coast. A lot of young families are moving inland to Bendigo, but it depends what kind of work you do. Edited June 3, 2019 by Marisawright 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammy11480 Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 11 hours ago, Marisawright said: If it helps, comparing my time in the UK a couple of years ago and my life in Melbourne now, I find the cost of living about the same. Some things are a bit dearer and some things are a bit cheaper, but it balances out - with one exception, which is the cost of housing (buying or renting). So if you look at what you spend now and adjust it for your rent, you'll be about right. However if you're looking at the Mornington Peninsula, then you'll need to allow for higher public transport or petrol costs as you're a long way from anywhere. TBH if you don't already have a job lined up, it's risky to settle that far out of town - it's just too far too commute to the north or west of Melbourne, so you're cutting yourself out of half the job market. For a young family on a limited budget coming to Victoria, I'd say Geelong would be a much better choice as a place to live and work, if you want to live close to the coast. A lot of young families are moving inland to Bendigo, but it depends what kind of work you do. Hi There Marisa Its nice to meet you. Thank you for your reply. I hadn’t thought yet about Geelong so will check it out thanks. Looking at the distances it seems a suburb like Rosebud to Melbourne and Geelong to Melbourne are similar distances ( approx 75 km). Is it just that Geelong is a more direct route? I’m a teacher with two little ones so looking for the best Primary Schools. Thanks, Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 (edited) 44 minutes ago, sammy11480 said: Looking at the distances it seems a suburb like Rosebud to Melbourne and Geelong to Melbourne are similar distances ( approx 75 km). Is it just that Geelong is a more direct route? No, I wouldn't recommend commuting from Geelong to Melbourne, though some people do commute to Western Melbourne from there. The point is that Geelong is a large city in its own right, and there would be jobs there too. The advantage of Geelong is that housing is much cheaper, and everything is much closer together, so there's potential to live not too far from the beach and not too far from the city centre and have all the amenities you need. It's less congested than Melbourne too with a slightly more relaxed pace of life. Migrants often overlook the smaller cities in Australia but Geelong has a population of over 250,000 people - it's almost the same size as Newcastle in England. Edited June 3, 2019 by Marisawright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevsan Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 There are literally hundreds of 3 beds in your budget across the mornington peninsula, so that shouldn't be a problem. the train line (currently) terminates in Frankston, and the express takes 50minutes into flinders street in rush hour. I live in Langwarrin and it takes me an hour to commute into the CBD roughly. If i was living further down the bay, i wouldn't go much further than mount martha if i needed to commute. However as a teacher, i assume that this is less of an issue for you as you (in theory) work anywhere!??! - unless you have a work location already lined up? The only big thing missing from your list appears to be transport costs - Car, bus etc etc, especially as you go further down the bay, transport options become less and therefore more expensive. plus school fees - even state schools have camp fees, levies etc that can add up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 On 03/06/2019 at 22:52, Marisawright said: No, I wouldn't recommend commuting from Geelong to Melbourne, though some people do commute to Western Melbourne from there. The point is that Geelong is a large city in its own right, and there would be jobs there too. The advantage of Geelong is that housing is much cheaper, and everything is much closer together, so there's potential to live not too far from the beach and not too far from the city centre and have all the amenities you need. It's less congested than Melbourne too with a slightly more relaxed pace of life. Migrants often overlook the smaller cities in Australia but Geelong has a population of over 250,000 people - it's almost the same size as Newcastle in England. Lots of people commute from Geelong to Melbourne. There are direct train services to the Melbourne CBD from several Geelong suburbs as well as the stations in Geelong itself. It's definitely an easier commute than from the Mornington Peninsula. That said my own preference on relocating included finding a shorter commute than the one I had into London - so I wouldn't necessarily recommend moving to Geelong if you are planning to work in Melbourne. The house prices are definitely much more affordable in the Geelong area however and so for many people that's the deciding factor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 On 03/06/2019 at 06:16, sam11480 said: Hi Parley Thanks for your reply! We are a family of 4. We will be renting approximately $400 per week-3 bed house. Looking for a Mornington Suburb such as Rosebud. It seems that council tax is included in rent and so aside from gas/elec/groceries/phone/ internet/insurance I wonder if there is anything else I'm not factoring in? Kindest regards, Sam Water usage. When renting water rates are paid by the Landlord the same as with Council Rates but (unless your property doesn't have individual metering) you do have to pay for the water usage. That said it's not a big bill just one that's not in your list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Collett Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 Hi Sam. Maybe have a look at Highton and Belmont, which are suburbs of Geelong. https://www.realestate.com.au/rent/in-vic/list-1 Best regards (from a resident of Highton). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.