3 ms·

I live in Sydney Australia, so to me these prices look fairly reasonable in comparison. To give some of you non-aussies an example... The average price for 2

by se85 14y ago

I live in Sydney Australia, so to me these prices look fairly reasonable in comparison. To give some of you non-aussies an example... The average price for 2 bedroom victorian era terraces (hundred year old plus buildings) with next to no real land except the land the property sits on in sydney can be anywhere from 800k (AU) to millions of dollars. Our interest rates are also higher then US.

bobbles 14y ago
I live in a block of flats in a suburb near North Sydney and one of the 2 bedroom flats like mine was sold for $695,000 AUD. It's completely ridiculous. (The flats are pretty bad quality) Meanwhile a friend of mine just south of Newcastle bought a 3 Bedroom house with double garage & front and back yards for just around $400K... It's tempting to just start doing the commute with a difference like that
- se85 14y ago
  Yep, I actually migrated from a small country town out west to sydney BECAUSE of the commuting. Now i'm thinking I just need to move to a country that isn't so ridiculous when it comes to living costs.
nl 14y ago
According to [1], apartments in the Sydney City Center are $11K/sq m. If my math is correct, that is around $1000/sq ft. Outside the city center the prices are roughly half that (so a little more that San Francisco). According to the same data source, average weekly pay is around $1064. [1] http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country=Australia&city=Sydney http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country...
- bmunro 14y ago
  But if you compare figures for both cities from the same site: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=Australia&city1=San+Francisco%2C+CA&city2=Sydney http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?coun... You'll see that prices for just about everything are higher in Sydney. Except apples, oranges and tennis court hire. Salaries are slightly higher in Sydney (according to that site), but not enough to make up for the increase in costs.
  - se85 14y ago
    This is correct. Its definitely not a 1 to 1 comparison because of the crazy cost of living here. Theres also the jump in the amount you get taxed (disregarding additional things we have to pay for such as private health care/medicare levy, superannuation, etc), so even if you were earning say 100k a year, you automatically lose a quarter of it before you ever see any of it. Most people I know that live in the city do not have a salary that exceeds 50k a year, so all of this plus the cost of housing is leading to several generations of renters instead of home buyers. I dont actually know a single person in the city that has a mortgage, everybody seems to be renting because few people can afford to have a mortgage in the city. I can only speak from my experiences knowing the people I know, but I know many people from all walks of life, so i doubt my view is that biast. I pay as much in rent for a 1 bedroom apartment in the sydney than I would with a mortgage for a 3 bedroom home well outside of the city. Heres another example of how expensive things are here that always makes my blood boil - a bottle of coke is going to cost you 4-6 dollars at your typical convenience store. When i was last in San Fransisco 4-5 years ago, It cost around a $1.50 including tax.

by se85 14y ago

bobbles 14y ago

I live in a block of flats in a suburb near North Sydney and one of the 2 bedroom flats like mine was sold for $695,000 AUD. It's completely ridiculous. (The flats are pretty bad quality) Meanwhile a friend of mine just south of Newcastle bought a 3 Bedroom house with double garage & front and back yards for just around $400K... It's tempting to just start doing the commute with a difference like that

se85 14y ago
Yep, I actually migrated from a small country town out west to sydney BECAUSE of the commuting. Now i'm thinking I just need to move to a country that isn't so ridiculous when it comes to living costs.

nl 14y ago

According to [1], apartments in the Sydney City Center are $11K/sq m. If my math is correct, that is around $1000/sq ft. Outside the city center the prices are roughly half that (so a little more that San Francisco). According to the same data source, average weekly pay is around $1064. [1] http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country=Australia&city=Sydney http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country...

bmunro 14y ago
But if you compare figures for both cities from the same site: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=Australia&city1=San+Francisco%2C+CA&city2=Sydney http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?coun... You'll see that prices for just about everything are higher in Sydney. Except apples, oranges and tennis court hire. Salaries are slightly higher in Sydney (according to that site), but not enough to make up for the increase in costs.
- se85 14y ago
  This is correct. Its definitely not a 1 to 1 comparison because of the crazy cost of living here. Theres also the jump in the amount you get taxed (disregarding additional things we have to pay for such as private health care/medicare levy, superannuation, etc), so even if you were earning say 100k a year, you automatically lose a quarter of it before you ever see any of it. Most people I know that live in the city do not have a salary that exceeds 50k a year, so all of this plus the cost of housing is leading to several generations of renters instead of home buyers. I dont actually know a single person in the city that has a mortgage, everybody seems to be renting because few people can afford to have a mortgage in the city. I can only speak from my experiences knowing the people I know, but I know many people from all walks of life, so i doubt my view is that biast. I pay as much in rent for a 1 bedroom apartment in the sydney than I would with a mortgage for a 3 bedroom home well outside of the city. Heres another example of how expensive things are here that always makes my blood boil - a bottle of coke is going to cost you 4-6 dollars at your typical convenience store. When i was last in San Fransisco 4-5 years ago, It cost around a $1.50 including tax.