gemstone Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Hello, Ive been having a look on domain and realestate as well as the bank home loan pages and have started to panic slightly about the repayments and prices of the houses. My husband and I are 30 and 33 and have just been granted a 175 visa we are planning to move to melbourne. Sadly we have never owned a home in this country but we have rented for the last 4 years. The deposit has always been a major issue. We have a small amount of money saved for Australia. Can anyone please tell me their experiences of buying and repayments in Australia. We are going to Melbourne. My cousin lives in Brisbane and has been there 3 years but they have rented the whole time so have no idea what to do. Would really appreciate any advice you may have. Thanks Gem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Welcome. If it was me I would be renting for a while as you may find that you wish to live in another area than the one you choose initially. Generally the further out you move the cheaper the housing and a lot of people buy house and land packages. However there are reasonable smaller houses on the market, when I say reasonable in the $300,000 plus bracket. We have quite a few of these where I live but they are not large houses although they have larger than average blocks of land for the present time. 10% deposit is the norm when buying and realestate.com.au has a calculator for home repayments on loans. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jtrd Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Also it may be worth waiting for a bit, Aussie house prices are reaching their peak so you'll be buying at the top of the Market and as said previously take your time and work out where you like, there's no rush. Best of luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brightonbee Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Housing market in Melbourne seems to be in the doldrums. House prices not increasing and more properties than in the last two years are being passed in at auction - meaning that they are not reaching their asking price. Sure there are a few bargains out there [ i saw a property for sale in NSW reduced by 100k! ] but you would need to be here and doing a lot of research. New build apartments are everywhere in melbourne - I'm wondering who is going to buy them. i have always rented for at least two years to get to know an area. I thought the district i live in now was perfect. Living here, there is no way I would buy. My advice: keep your money in cash, savings rates are great here or in Uk or offshore and wait to exchange rate improves.:wideeyed: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevemalbec Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 I'd definitely wait for a while. Prices are falling in Melbourne. Any cash you have put it in the bank and earn 6-7% interest and rent for a while. Find out where you'd like to live and buy in a year or three when prices have fallen. If you're interested in a property forum I'd recommend http://australianpropertyforum.com/index/ I've always bought property (to live in and as investments) but when I get my visa I'll be renting. All my contacts over there have either sold their investment properties or wish they already had. Not a good time to buy when you can probably buy much cheaper in a few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JK2510 Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 We are renting and will continue for the forseeable future. We could afford to borrow around $500k but I begrudge the ridiculous repayment of $750+++ per week! I'm more than happy to pay someone's else's for the next year or so and watch and see what happens in the housing market! In Perth it's sooo slow-like watching paint dry. I have seen houses up for sale for over 6 mths ++ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landv Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 I can totally relate to what you say. Firstly, I wouldn't buy right now as prices are likely to come down a lot more in the future. Secondly, if you rent you could save the difference in a high interest savings account as to what you would pay on mortgage repayments, the house we rent costs $380 a week, if we were to buy the same house, our repayments would be around $800-$1000 a week, so we're doing exactly that, hence building up a big deposit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevemalbec Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 I can totally relate to what you say. Firstly, I wouldn't buy right now as prices are likely to come down a lot more in the future. Secondly, if you rent you could save the difference in a high interest savings account as to what you would pay on mortgage repayments, the house we rent costs $380 a week, if we were to buy the same house, our repayments would be around $800-$1000 a week, so we're doing exactly that, hence building up a big deposit. I think that sums it up pretty well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Irmaal Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 It is housing buble here in Australia-we are now standing on a top and a few years later you could by everything half of todays price. Remember 2008 market crash? Since then housing prices in Melbourne jumped 50-100%. Now Stock markets are crashing again, this time US has a debt deleveraging and this crisis will reach every corner of a globe. Australia's housing buble is the bigest and the last in the world and is finaly starting to burst. I think real house prices here must be ten times less of today prices-like in US. It is ridiculous to pay for a trash 1-2 bed appartment $300K. It shoud cost no more than $50K and prices will go to the real mean sooner rather than later. Just keep your cash safe and wait 3-5 years-you could probably buy at least five properties for this money that you want to spent today buying just one crapy house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevemalbec Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 It is housing buble here in Australia-we are now standing on a top and a few years later you could by everything half of todays price. Remember 2008 market crash? Since then housing prices in Melbourne jumped 50-100%.Now Stock markets are crashing again, this time US has a debt deleveraging and this crisis will reach every corner of a globe. Australia's housing buble is the bigest and the last in the world and is finaly starting to burst. I think real house prices here must be ten times less of today prices-like in US. It is ridiculous to pay for a trash 1-2 bed appartment $300K. It shoud cost no more than $50K and prices will go to the real mean sooner rather than later. Just keep your cash safe and wait 3-5 years-you could probably buy at least five properties for this money that you want to spent today buying just one crapy house. I'm not sure if prices will fall this much, but I despair when I read about Brits arriving and looking to buy immediately. I've always bought rather than rent, but when the market is so obviously going down big time, why not rent, get 6-7% interest on your cash (effectively paying your rent) and save yourself 10s of thousands when you do eventually buy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 I have just come back from 1 month in Australia on our reccie, its a buyers market now, from what i can see and have been told is on its way down, many re-pos now and feel sorry for the people on the end of them. on our return we will rent for a while so we can snap up a bargin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belaroy Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 I am in the UK at the minute and will be moving early next year to the Illawarra region, NSW. I personally will be waiting to buy. First and foremost is to rent in an area to see what is like. I could think of nothing worse than buying somewhere then really disliking it and being stuck there. Also I agree houses are well overpriced. I don't think it helped with loads of British going overthere with £'s to spend and being able to afford to pay more and still feel like Kings and Queens, thus bumping up the prices. I watched a 60 miniutes show the other night about people not being able to pay their mortgage and it being better to rent. There was a couple with 2 kids ( might have been 3), Wife was laid off and Hubby made redundant so had to get a lower paid job. They had a 5 bed house on 1 acre. It was quite clear they had overstretched themselves from the beginning and now had to put the property up for auction but not one person had even gone to look at it. Anyway they were making out it was better to rent than buy ( that was the slant put on the report). I think the bubble will burst soonish - there is a ceiling to what people can afford and not everyone works in the mining industry. A friend of mine tried to sell their house at an Auction just 2 weeks ago (in OZ) all but 2 houses were passed in - unsold. That in itself tells the whole story- it is only worth what someone is prepared to pay. Wait and see what happens with the market, nothing happens to you and you may just get a better house in a better area for less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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