decent monthly income???

[Guest aleeves]

Hi All - Just wondered without delving too far into personal info.......how much is a decent income for a family in Adelaide?

 

My wife and I (and my young son) are seriously contemplating a move to Australia and Adelaide is top of the list at the moment.

 

My wife is an office manager and I think could earn $45-$50k a year, my field of expertise (Pharmaceutical Affairs doesnt seem to exist in Adelaide - ho-hum, time for a change anyway!)

 

If we sell up and buy in Adelaide we should be able to afford a reasonable house with a small to average size mortgage but I'm just not sure of the other living costs involved.

 

What would be a decent target in terms of salary (monthly/yearly) when other things are taken into account i.e cost of living, food and fuel costs?? What are you're experiences?

 

Many thanks!

[Hazel M]

Hi,

 

Sorry I cant help with how much a decent income is - as it all depends on what you are used to already over here and what kind of a lifestyle you are used to having.

Someone once said that your mortgage is supposed to be one quarter of your monthly income to have a comfortable lifestyle - although I work with mortgages and from all the income / expenditures i go through with clients very few seem to have only a quarter going to the mortgage!!

 

As for living costs - from what Ive seen, I think its swings and roundabouts some things much cheaper (like petrol) and other things very expensive (like bananas!!). I think it all balances itself out in the end. From what we have worked out I think our income and outgoings will be about the same as here - its just the place thats different, which is why we are going!

 

Hope that helps!

 

Hazel

Hi All - Just wondered without delving too far into personal info.......how much is a decent income for a family in Adelaide?

 

My wife and I (and my young son) are seriously contemplating a move to Australia and Adelaide is top of the list at the moment.

 

My wife is an office manager and I think could earn $45-$50k a year, my field of expertise (Pharmaceutical Affairs doesnt seem to exist in Adelaide - ho-hum, time for a change anyway!)

 

If we sell up and buy in Adelaide we should be able to afford a reasonable house with a small to average size mortgage but I'm just not sure of the other living costs involved.

 

What would be a decent target in terms of salary (monthly/yearly) when other things are taken into account i.e cost of living, food and fuel costs?? What are you're experiences?

 

Many thanks!

[Guest Shy Ted]

Is there any chance someone can post the actual prices of things such as

 

Petrol per litre

 

Electricity and Gas (per unit)

 

Council tax equivalent

 

and any other unavoidable cost of living items you can think of!

 

cheers

[Guest Libby1971]

Petrol is a bit wierd because it changes price every day rising every day. Wednesday / Thursday it peaks and is expensive over the weekend, dropping on Monday/ Tuesday adn then peaking again. Bizarre! Approx $1.24 a something - I think.

 

That's about my sole contribution as I pay the bills, don't read them (God that sounds so careless).

 

Libby

[Guest Shy Ted]

just paid £1.10 a litre for diesel here. Terrible that really.

 

Anyone got Elec/Gas and Council tax equivs?

 

When you take out the 8% + mortgage rate, how does the underlying cost of living comparison look?

 

I stayed with my brother in Adelaide last November and did a study into CoL and although weekly shop wise it did equal out across the board to the UK, big hitting items such as council tax, gas/elec, and other utilities were much cheaper. The only thing that muddied the water was the high mortgage rate.

 

Also, could someone give us their perspective of where the property market is going at the moment? A friend of mine in Oz told me that Adelaide may get sucked into the property slowdown just like everywhere else in Oz. What to do eh?

[Guest Libby1971]

It would be great if Adelaide got sucked into the property slowdown.

 

BUT everywhere else has had their boom period and Adelaide is just approaching hers! Plus, there are loads of poms heading here. SA immigration is actively campaigning to get people here adn that is fuelling the rise in house prices.

 

They are quickly going up. They are no longer the cheaper option and making an easy amount of money is no longer likely unless you are really lucky.

 

Libby

[Guest Shy Ted]

Interesting that. A few Aussie economists are pouring scorn on the assumption that boom must follow in Adelaide in the same way it has elsewhere (WA in particular). I asked the question about influx of immigrants too, and this was also pushed away as being insignificant as so few immigrants are that better off financially to drive the property market on any more than the local indegenous population. I can see the supply/demand scenario, but if properties are unaffordable then they are unaffordable.

 

Further, real estate commentators in Adelaide are reporting a distinct moderation in prices and rentals, which has bought about the predictions of a possible correction in terms of 10% over the next year. If your experiences aer saying different, that really makes me nervous!

 

Comments please!

[Guest soggy]

Hi,

Here is a website that you may want to look at http://www.rpdata.com/news/rp/20080131_ade_prop_owners.html

I have not looked into who they are and any vested interest but worth a read.

 

Simon

[Guest Shy Ted]

Have a read of this site's posts if you want to get a diverse view of what is happening country wide.

 

http://forum.globalhousepricecrash.com/lofiversion/index.php/f9.html

 

I am completely confused! I have a couple of friends who work in Banking in Oz and their brief is 100% keep your money in your pocket, due to the fact that the A$ is massively overperforming and the housing market is overheating.

 

Having been burnt in the UK in the late 80s early 90s, the market conditions in OZ now look disturbingly familiar to those in the UK then (high property prices, high interest rates, overheating economy).

 

What do we do eh? All good fun though, whatever happens, it won't be worse than the UK! How many times do you read in the Aussie press " And they kicked his head like it was a football"? You read it almosy every week now about some hapless father kicked to near death by pissed up feral youths.

 

What the hell! I don't care what the property market does or the dollar does! I'm just gonna go for it!

[Guest macu68]

Nice one Shy Ted, thats our masterplan!!! We are selling everything we own and just going to Adelaide as soon as we sell our house, that might be the only hold up. We know that we will be starting all over again, but what the heck. The worst thing that could happen is we don't like living in Adelaide and we have to return to UK (really unlikely) but if it does we know where we would live and get jobs etc. Looking forward to a positive change in lifestyle. Good luck with it all.

[Guest ROBERT]

Well said that man.A friend of mine is in a coma as we speak.Need to get my kids out of here.

[Guest Roo1]

Depending on your property value and where you live indicates your council tax.

Average payment is $258.00 a quarter.

Gas, like in the U.K depends on the amount you use. Ours averages $0.83 a day and my electricity is working out, on average $3 a day (depends how often I run my washing machine, thats seems to eat it up).

 

We now have Aurora pay as you go here and I've switched to that. Their rates are far cheaper and its worth doing if you have time to go and top up your card at the local newsagents.

 

Judi