4 ms·

Check the 2011 rankings. Perth comes in just after the usual Norway and Switzerland usual suspects. I don't know how it can be fixed, but Australia's insane c

by brc 15y ago

Check the 2011 rankings. Perth comes in just after the usual Norway and Switzerland usual suspects. I don't know how it can be fixed, but Australia's insane cost of living explosion needs to be sorted out. I suspect most of it is real-estate related (ie, the pub needs to pay huge rent so passes it on in beer costs). It used to be that someone in the UK or USA could sell their house and move to Australia and live the good life. Now that same strategy would see you living a crappy life in a bad suburb. Several of my friends have recently made the decision to move to the USA where they can. The economy isn't great, but the cost of living can't be beat if you do have a job.

tjmc 15y ago
It's partially real estate, but I think it's also a combination of a tight labour market distorted by big mining wages and a "captive audience". Perth (and Darwin) are so isolated that the hospitality industry seem to get away with murder. The good news for HNers - there is abundant work here. If you know people outside the tech scene, they could do a lot worse than get a working holiday visa and visit Australia whilst the US or UK economies improve.
- bane 15y ago
  In the States we'll just drive further out and try to urban sprawl our way out of high housing prices...usually with miserable traffic problems as a result. Any idea why Australia, with more than ample land, and relatively small population doesn't attempt the same? (not saying it's a good idea, but interesting to notice at any rate)
  - brc 15y ago
    Usually urban planning restrictions and poor roads stops too much outward flow. Having said that, I do believe Perth is spreading fast enough. However new suburbs that are constructed are rarely considered 'affordable' suburbs. They are usually shiny new estates with big houses.
  - jacques_chester 15y ago
    > Any idea why Australia, with more than ample land, and relatively small population doesn't attempt the same? Our land and planning laws are amongst the most complicated and restrictive on Earth. A comparable economy is Texas - but Texas has very light land release rules and so housing prices there have remained, in real terms, much more reasonable. Additionally, almost all of our major cities are wedged between the ocean and hills or mountain ranges.
  - eddy_chan 15y ago
    Outside of the large cities infrastructure is almost non-existent. The national highway network is horrible compared to the US, the rail network is even pokier. Hospitals and schools are of a much lower standard as well government just doesn't have the money to build this stuff. Secondly, large businesses who provide employment don't want to be based outside of large cities because there's no talent so you get this problem the net migration is to the large cities forcing up real-estate prices and labour costs. It's this vicious catch-22 - how can you attract people and businesses to regional centres without investing in infrastructure yet where's the demand to build infrastructure if populations of said regional centres is declining not increasing. It's 2012 and the drive to urbanization (especially mega cities) has never been greater than now and yet to solve some of Australia's structural economic problems we need to attract people away from big cities by creating self-sustaining (in the sense it provides adequate opportunities for its own population) regional towns with fast rail links to major cities. It's an impossible feat with the system of Government we have now which fosters basically a 2 party system where both are slightly right of centre and stuck in their echo chamber of mediocrity.
eddy_chan 15y ago
hehe sounds like my life, moved back from San Francisco to Sydney last year and whereas I used to live a 15 minute bicycle ride from work in SOMA I now live 35 minutes train ride from Sydney CBD to hold my housing costs at the same level. "Eating Out" has all but disappeared from my life because to get equivalent quality restaurant food, it's about double to triple the cost of SF. I drink a lot less beer too now don't know whether it's good or bad. I suspect you're right, all the 'nice stuff' and discretionary leisure activities are in the expensive areas so we're all paying indirectly for the insane price of real-estate. Even though I have a mortgage I'm really hoping prices stagnate in absolute $ terms so our real standard of living can catch up again.

by brc 15y ago

tjmc 15y ago

It's partially real estate, but I think it's also a combination of a tight labour market distorted by big mining wages and a "captive audience". Perth (and Darwin) are so isolated that the hospitality industry seem to get away with murder. The good news for HNers - there is abundant work here. If you know people outside the tech scene, they could do a lot worse than get a working holiday visa and visit Australia whilst the US or UK economies improve.

bane 15y ago
In the States we'll just drive further out and try to urban sprawl our way out of high housing prices...usually with miserable traffic problems as a result. Any idea why Australia, with more than ample land, and relatively small population doesn't attempt the same? (not saying it's a good idea, but interesting to notice at any rate)
- brc 15y ago
  Usually urban planning restrictions and poor roads stops too much outward flow. Having said that, I do believe Perth is spreading fast enough. However new suburbs that are constructed are rarely considered 'affordable' suburbs. They are usually shiny new estates with big houses.
- jacques_chester 15y ago
  > Any idea why Australia, with more than ample land, and relatively small population doesn't attempt the same? Our land and planning laws are amongst the most complicated and restrictive on Earth. A comparable economy is Texas - but Texas has very light land release rules and so housing prices there have remained, in real terms, much more reasonable. Additionally, almost all of our major cities are wedged between the ocean and hills or mountain ranges.
- eddy_chan 15y ago
  Outside of the large cities infrastructure is almost non-existent. The national highway network is horrible compared to the US, the rail network is even pokier. Hospitals and schools are of a much lower standard as well government just doesn't have the money to build this stuff. Secondly, large businesses who provide employment don't want to be based outside of large cities because there's no talent so you get this problem the net migration is to the large cities forcing up real-estate prices and labour costs. It's this vicious catch-22 - how can you attract people and businesses to regional centres without investing in infrastructure yet where's the demand to build infrastructure if populations of said regional centres is declining not increasing. It's 2012 and the drive to urbanization (especially mega cities) has never been greater than now and yet to solve some of Australia's structural economic problems we need to attract people away from big cities by creating self-sustaining (in the sense it provides adequate opportunities for its own population) regional towns with fast rail links to major cities. It's an impossible feat with the system of Government we have now which fosters basically a 2 party system where both are slightly right of centre and stuck in their echo chamber of mediocrity.

eddy_chan 15y ago

hehe sounds like my life, moved back from San Francisco to Sydney last year and whereas I used to live a 15 minute bicycle ride from work in SOMA I now live 35 minutes train ride from Sydney CBD to hold my housing costs at the same level. "Eating Out" has all but disappeared from my life because to get equivalent quality restaurant food, it's about double to triple the cost of SF. I drink a lot less beer too now don't know whether it's good or bad. I suspect you're right, all the 'nice stuff' and discretionary leisure activities are in the expensive areas so we're all paying indirectly for the insane price of real-estate. Even though I have a mortgage I'm really hoping prices stagnate in absolute $ terms so our real standard of living can catch up again.