Comparison - cost of living Australia (out of interest)

[MangoTango28]

Random post, no real purpose but I find cost of living fascinating around the world. Always have. I have been reading posts about increasing costs in the UK and was keen to compare it to Australia where I live (orginally UK)

People are always saying to me how expensive they believe Australia to be but I don't see it that way to be honest. Food is sky rocketing though at the moment (lettuce and berries are off the shopping list for the foreseeable!!!)

I have been redoing our figures ready for a finance planning meeting (need to sort some extra insurances) and done a breakdown of our costs and thought others may find it interesting (or maybe I'm strange?!) I have converted to GBP based on Google conversion . I am not gloating just thought and interesting topic discussion .

We are 30. No kids (yet)

Monthly avg costs
Joint earnings per month after tax (avg) = £7190

Mortgage = £1146
Rates = £55 (more next year)
Electric = £85
Gas = £17.25
Water = £100
Contents insurance = £25
DP phone = £17.25
My phone = £46.93
Car 1 Insurance = £30
Car 1 Registration = $43
Car 1 Petrol = £114
Car 2 Insurance = £17.83
Car 2 Registration = $36
Car 2 Petrol = £40
TV subscriptions = £20
Spotify = £11
Food Shopping = £450

Leaving approx disposable income = £4936

Disposable is spent on savings, days out, hair, beauty, clothes , all the crap!
Possibly one or two items I may have missed that will come to me!

Last year we saved really hard for our house deposit whilst renting. We were lucky to be able to put a big chunk (DP does do lots of overtime )and this year has been doing up the house .

Is anyone suprised by the cost comparisons at all or as expected compared to where you live?

You have £5k disposable income and won’t buy berries???

At over £7 a small pack - absolutely not!

I was out in Aus recently (originally from there, now London) and was rather shocked at the price of groceries and also eating out. Quality of food eating out v poor compared to pre covid too. E.g. Cucumber in supermarket 3.50 aud, I pay 40p here. Regardless, our jobs don't really exist in Australia so comparisons of cost of living are fairly pointless for us as a family and I try to steer away from them. Maybe more relevant if you're a nurse, teacher etc.

Where in Australia are you that they are £7 a ok. Way cheaper than that here in Brisbane. $3 at the markets.
While I do agree prices are certainly rising, I'm no worried yet and we only have a third if your income with 2 teenagers.

Your right - definetely been a quality shift since covid and eating out. Most places really struggling for chefs (seems worldwide) and it's a shame when you want to support businesses but not really pay for something you could make better at home !

ah cucumbers yes ... they are ridiculous too!
cauliflowes got up to $8 recently to!
I have definetely converted more to frozen since I moved (started as backpacker) and now in the habit.

DP job is fairly average salary but it's the overtime really bumps it up and helps us alot .
My job pays a lot more in comparison to what I earned previously.

We use to live in oz. So expensive for food and relatives use to say the same, food in uk so much cheaper. Everything else similar. Ambo cover and Medicare of course made it more expensive than UK. Dont get me started on Dr. And prescription costs in Oz though!! So lucky to have NHS here.

68% of OP's income is disposable. That's ... nice.

WA last week ! ;(
I find the news really conflicting as they are saying housing will drop but I just see people over paying to the max still around us - no sign of a drop!

Compared to my Australian relatives your income is high and your mortgage is low! So I’m not entirely sure your household budget is particularly representative.

in heinsight maybe should have left salary out and just concentrated on cost of living but thought full transparency for the topic of discussion ...

On “Wanted Down Under”, families were always surprised how much and everything cost in Australia compared to the UK.

Really? :/
I thought our mortage was middle of the road really compared amongst friends...

None of my Australian friends pay less than the equivalent of £3000 a month on their mortgages but they live in the Sydney area. Meals out cost around double the U.K. for the equivalent quality. Pay is more but doesn't make up for the higher cost of living there

Yes I am WA (other side)
We know lots of people that moved over from Sydney as mortgages just arnt possible. I havnt been so can't comment on cost of going out but have heard similar ....

We did put a decent chunk down on mortgage making it a lot cheaper than our rent which had risen to £1500 per month! The place was falling apart aswell!

Cost of living is dependant on earnings.

So things may seem cheap in 1 country but that's compared to what people earn in the UK. It may seem expensive to people who live in that country.

I think there is the 'Big Mac' index - a comparison to see how long it takes the average person to earn the cost of a Big Mac in that country.

It's got to be hard to compare true cost of living.

But if they can expect to earn more money, then the comparison changes.

Where do you live that gas and electricity are so cheap ?

Western Australia
based it on average $300 per 60 days (electric)
and $90 every 3 months (gas)

We lived in Oz for years but returned to UK about 20 years ago - prices were rising but still cheaper than the UK. DH had to go back for his DMum's funeral in 2009 and couldn't believe how much prices had gone up, then we were back in 2011 and were 😮. Eating out was ridiculous - we used to eat out 2-3 times a week because it was so cheap but in 2011 prices had gone haywire. Also, house prices in Sydney are as bad as London. We sold our house in 2002 for 390,000 AUD. It was sold again in 2017 for 1,200,000 AUD. And the house was nothing special - 1960s fibro, although on a decent sized block.

I have to say, your mortgage seems very low.

My DP's came over for a holiday in 1989 and we're very tempted by a lovely block of land, about 2 acres, on Evans Lookout Road in the Blue Mountains that was on the market for 6000 AUD. Bloody wish they'd bought it now!

Definetely - that's a really interesting comparison. I just find the topic overall interesting and been deep diving with all latest increases and world madness.

Do you have life insurance OP? If not, it might be best to get some lined up.

Oh wow I bet you are kicking yourselves but hey what's ment to be!!!

I like cooking so we eat out about once a week (somewhere nice - because the not nice isn't much cheaper haha!) and maybe one takeaway . I find it's harder to grab a cheap bite out, no weatherspoons types which are fab in my opinion just for the basic meal treat.

Our mortgage is for $530,000 after our deposit so nowhere near Sydney prices (est $300,000)
Its over 30 years but plan to pay it sooner hence the finance meeting aswell - we fixed it for now with the low rate on offer and plans for kids etc ....

This is what sparked it off really, sorting this next week in finance meeting as we only just got the house. Really need it sorting!

Good stuff 😬

Enjoy your new house!

I'm in Australia. I'm incredibly shocked how low your expenses are. I'm regional QLD & rates alone are double yours.

Also your income is sky high compared to most average Australian households. Add no kids & you've very different income & expense ratio to the average family.
Which is why rising costs aren't bothering you as much. I felt the same in the 2000's even when interest rates were rising rapidly. We had a largi-ish mortgage no kids, 2 decent incomes & plenty of disposable income to not worry about increases.

Cost of living is getting worrying. We've almost paid our mortgage off & live frugally but even on good wages with two kids it's getting more difficult every week. In Brisbane we know lots with near mil mortgages. It's tough.