How are things in the UK now

[Guest Chelseadownunder]

Hi all in the UK,

We have been here 6 months now and I am interested to know how things are back in the UK. Are house priices still falling? Is it still doom and gloom & redundancies etc.. I guess it must be harder now planning a move to Adelaide due to the exchange rate droping so much. Is this stopping some of you coming over?

Steve

[Guest mayjess]

Hi there,, yes house prices have fallen quite significantly. Hence why I will have to rent mine out to come back to Adelaide, redundancies are still happening, luckily not to myself & hubby, but the organisation I work for have got a lot of volunteers on their books now for ppl hoping to gain paid employment eventually off them.

money is quite tight for lots of people, but doesnt feel miserable where I am, just the weather is miserable!

Has`nt put me off coming to Adelaide, cannot come just yet anyway due to eldest doing her A levels!

 

Mayjess

[Guest GIPSY]

Hi

Yes house prices are falling and redundancies are all over the place, I think the Woolies closure was a big kick in the teeth, but I did have a friend who worked in head office right up until the end, so maybe I felt it more than others through him.

The exchange rate is very poor if you are on your way out - luckily we secured a forward contract when it peaked last October, but we have friends who had sold their house but at the last minute the guy offered them £15k less, after they had already dropped the house by £40k so they decided to pull out as this combined with the poor exchange rate, this meant that they would have an awful lot less to play with.

I suppose it depends on the individual as to whether it would stop them emigrating, but it is a bad time when taking the financial factors into account.

Hayley

[Guest Lisado]

Things are pretty pants. House prices are failing but they are selling near me (not mine but the houses are cheaper than mine grrr). I work for a law firm and my firm plus many others (all the biggies) have been hit with redundancies. Mind you - its only a handful of lawyers, the rest of the job losses are in libraries (not mine though) IT, kitchen, secretaries - basically the support staff - which doesn't surprise me

 

I think the country is a worse lace to live than before. Schools are going downhill, no discipline, etc. Kids have no repsect for elders or each other. Policticans seem so corrupt - huge expenses thing going on over here at the moment We are also obsessed by bloomin celebreties and it drives me mad. Health & safety has gone mad as well!

 

Basically I am just fed up with the entire place and it is my driving force to get me to Adelaide. I know it isn't going to be perfect but gotta be better than here. I want my kids to have the life I had when I was younger - I don't want my wee girl to grow up looking like a stick thin, sefl-obsessed celebrity - I want her to have fun and enjoy everything.

 

Gosh - I'm ranting, sorry

 

Lisa

[Guest the4hopes]

Hopefully things can only get better then!!!

[Guest caoimhe]

Hi

The exchange rate is very poor if you are on your way out - luckily we secured a forward contract when it peaked last October,

 

Ohhh you are so lucky you made that choice, we were offered a forward contract but were affraid to commit as the contracts weren't signed on the house...wish we had of had the guts as we have lost $40,000. We left our money at home and now just bought a house so had to change it 2 days ago...the rate we got was $2.01 to £

[Anne B]

Some indicators say house prices are still falling and others say they have risen slightly (over the previous month) so who knows. Either they have bottomed out or else there is a bit of a pause in the drop (the spring effect) before they start falling again. We have put our house on the market this week (at a realistic price) and have one viewing lined up for tomorrow (frantically cleaning at the moment!).

 

The media have calmed down a bit with all their doom and gloom. Haven't seen Robert Peston on the BBC for ages! Obviously jobs are still being lost but everyone's got used to it now. I think it was a big shock to everyone 6 months ago that the bubble had burst. Apparently job losses have been greatest in traditional manufacturing areas, such as the midlands, north east, the north in general and also the south west. The south east has had casualties but not so many. There are no obvious signs around here that life is any different, the shops are full, the cargo planes where my husband works are fuller than ever with goods from China and India. People don't seem to be buying new 4WDs any more, the latest trendy car around here is a Fiat Cinquecento.

 

The exchange rate is obviously really bad at the moment, but with base rates at only 0.25% you can't really expect sterling to be a desirable currency. Savings accounts are paying next to nothing so savers and pensioners are really losing out. The euro exchange rate is bad so it is predicted that a lot of people will holiday at home this year. The A$ rate is awful, but who knows where it will be when we are ready to move over. If it is still bad then we will leave our money in the UK until the exchange rate improves, and rent in Adelaide. Luckily we have always kept a bank account in Australia so we already have some money there which will tie us over for a while.

 

We have had some lovely spring weather over the last few weeks, after a very long cold winter, so everyone seems to be feeling more positive.

 

The worst thing this week has been Chelsea losing in the Champions League semi final to the away goal rule, when they should have had 3 penalties. The only consolation is that we don't have to face the possibility of losing 2 years in a row to Manchester United in the final !! And we've still got the FA Cup final coming up!

[Anne B]

Policticans seem so corrupt - huge expenses thing going on over here at the moment We are also obsessed by bloomin celebreties and it drives me mad. Health & safety has gone mad as well!

 

Basically I am just fed up with the entire place and it is my driving force to get me to Adelaide. I know it isn't going to be perfect but gotta be better than here. I want my kids to have the life I had when I was younger - I don't want my wee girl to grow up looking like a stick thin, sefl-obsessed celebrity - I want her to have fun and enjoy everything.

 

Gosh - I'm ranting, sorry

 

Lisa

 

I totally understand what you are saying about the UK but don't expect Australia to be any better. When I lived in Adelaide in the 90s there was a big scandal with politicians abusing their expenses, so basically politicians are the same the world over. Some are good, some are bad, they are all up to the same scams.

 

Health and safety is an issue in Australia too - lots of public events don't happen anymore because the organisers can't get liability insurance. Everyone is so paranoid that someone is going to get injured and then sue them.

 

As for celebrity culture, I'm sure people aren't so obsessed with it in Australia partly because they are outside more and doing things instead of being stuck indoors watching the TV (but they still have Big Brother and similar rubbish). I know you can't get totally away from here but why not just turn off the TV more and stop buying the papers and magazines. You won't have British TV when you get to Adelaide so maybe try and wean your daughter off it before you go.

[Guest lynne]

House prices have stopped going down.

 

Things seem to be improving where we live. Houses are selling. Young people (first time buyers) are now getting morgages, which before no one would give them one. Some basic things in supermarkets have been reduced. Petrol prices are stable.

 

 

So hopefully in a couple of years things will be much better.

 

 

I think Adelaide has alot more of the recession to come.

 

My husbands business went quite for a few weeks but now hes got too much work.

 

People are not taking there holidays abroad but staying in the UK. This helps the UK and keeps the money in the country. We are having alot more Spanish people coming to England for a holiday.

[Guest graandjac]

Chatting to someone selling in the yuk, the problem now is the fact the government have put a hold on the stamp duty on houses under £150,000 , so any one in the region of £150,00 to £175,00 value are only getting offers of £150,000 when many have already dropped by 10's of thousands. Think that makes sence:p, speaking to friends and family we are 100% sure we made the right choice as all they talk about is doom and gloom and how "we did the right thing", a good friend has worked at Nationwide since leaving school (18 years) got laid off last week , it seems no job is safe.

 

Yes is not paradise here but although we are ment to be in a recession here the whole feel to it is so different, not the doom and gloom.

[Guest Nick11]

Yes people are more cautious here - but I certainly don't sense the doom and gloom here in oz.

Maybe its not hit us yet.

[Guest Chelseadownunder]

Hi Anne B

Very good point about Chelsea. Yeh we probably would have to penaltys with Man U and lost. Lets hope the FA cup goes to Stamford Bridge!!

Gutted to see the Pound drop below 2.04 as this suport held for so long. It may now become the resistance that we cant break above for some time unless we have some market moving news. (Interest rates up in the UK or down in Aus etc..) This is not financial advice just meant as observation.