Tell me about Sydney/Melbourne

[Pupsiecola]

Hi everyone,

A possible opportunity has come up with a choice of being based in either of these cities. I know Sydney has become eye wateringly expensive. What kind of salary do you reckon you need if not on an ex-pat package, to rent a 3/4 bedroomed house in a nice area close to the city centres? How do you think schooling compares to the UK?

TIA

Im biased as I live in Melbourne, but this is a great city.
European feel, always something going on- festivals concerts etc.

To live here, I think you need about 2.1-2.2 times your UK salary to get the equivalent lifestyle.
Housing is expensive but petrol, public transport and eating out are not.

I'm in Sydney and love it. It is expensive but salaries here are pretty high. As Tracey says, housing is the major cost. It depends how close is close for you but realistically you probably need to budget for $1000-1400 per week for the eastern suburbs, lower north shore or northern beaches. Check out realestate.com.au or domain.com.au to get a flavour of what's out there on your budget. Public transport can be pretty woeful in many places, so a lot of people drive to work in the cbd.

In terms of schools, it's a mixed bag. The good state primaries (called public schools here) are often heavily oversubscribed. Private schools tend to be single sex (not my bag). The Catholic school system is a middle way - you pay about $500-1000 per year and the more popular ones will require you to be practicing Catholics (or at least give the appearance of it!). State high schools in many parts of Sydney (eg eastern suburbs) are awful so most people who can afford it use Catholic or private schools.

Good luck whatever you decide!

I love Melbourne, but am biased as I was born there! I now live in Sydney and find it much, much more expensive. I prefer Melbourne's feeling of order and the inner city neighbourhoods there...I just prefer how it feels. Sydney feels messier to me somehow, but it's beautiful by the harbour and beaches. We found that with 2x our (modest) joint London salaries we felt pretty comfortable in Melbourne. In Sydney we'd struggle on that, but on the plus side DH gets paid way more in Sydney than he would in Melbourne so it balances out. I'd want to earn significantly more in Sydney than Melbourne to achieve the same lifestyle if you are after a reasonably inner city lifestyle. But Melbourne isn't a beachy lifestyle and it can get pretty cold in winter and very hot in summer. Sydney has more of what people think of as an Australian lifestyle. I can't comment on schooling as we're bit at that stage yet.

That's just what I needed. Thank you so much.