Cost of living figures

[dangoopatwal]

Thanks Karen for the useful information. Can you please provide some more information. we are a family of four, myself, my husband and two kids. How much is the rent for a 3 BR apartment/House in Sydney. Is the Year 6-7 and Year 2 schooling free in australia or we have to pay.

How much will be the food charges for a family of four.

Thanks

Originally Posted by kaz101

Hi everyone,

For those of you already in Australia do you want to share you basic cost of living figures?

Say the State you are in, area if you want to, and the number of people...

South Australia, South East (Mount Gambier), 2 adults - per month:

Food - A$550
Electricity - A$70
Gas - A$65
Water - $62 (if renting this may be paid by the landlord)

Regards,
Karen

[kaz101]

Originally Posted by dangoopatwal

Thanks Karen for the useful information. Can you please provide some more information. we are a family of four, myself, my husband and two kids. How much is the rent for a 3 BR apartment/House in Sydney. Is the Year 6-7 and Year 2 schooling free in australia or we have to pay.

How much will be the food charges for a family of four.

Thanks

For house rent please see the property links in the 'PLEASE READ...' sticky post since that depends on location, style etc.

No idea about schools but if you search through the posts I think that this has been asked before.

For food please see the information on this post since I think that someone has recently posted about Sydney (I don't live in Sydney).

Regards,
Karen

[Annabel Candy]

Real Estate and The Property Market

All new expats to Australia should be eligible for the first home owners grant so that is a nice welcome. It is currently about $14,000 for an existing house and $21,000 for a new one. It does expire in June 2009 but most sources say the government will continue it after that date.

On the down side, some pundits believe this grant is what is propping up the Australian housing market which is remaining resilient compared to the 20% drops in the US and UK housing markets. Hence, if you sell up in GB, USA or NZ your house money may not go as you would have hoped. Unless things drop here in the future of course. Time will tell.

See First Home Owners Scheme for more information.

My husband, who is a real bear, says that $14,000 is nothing anyway if the value of your home goes on to drop by 20% and that it certainly true. It is definitely a case of buyer beware.

Good Luck with all your travel plans!

Annabel Candy

[Hopefuljock]

Originally Posted by kar-kier

When I was moving to WA, i couldn't find a thing on cost of living, so now I'm here I thought I'd share - family of 4, Mandurah (50 mins south of Perth on coast) PER MONTH

Rent - 4 bed, 2 bath, huge garden, very close to beach - $1360
Food - $800 - we use markets & supermarket
Electric - $100 - moderate
Gas $40 - water and hob only
Car insurance - $53
Contents insurance - $25
Petrol - 3.8l, V8 Commodore - $200
Mobile - $50 - pre-pay Vodaphone

Think that covers most things - anything else just PM me!

Thanks for that, I'm hoping to move to Mandurah by the end of the year - is it as good as it looks on the internet?

[JT850]

Originally Posted by wbg

Hey, I've lived in Perth (Western Australia) most of my life, this is how much I'd expect to pay for the following (of reasonably decent quality):

Mens pants AU$70-150
Mens shirts AU$40-150
mens shoes AU$100-200

Sorry, can't help much with the womens or kids clothing or daycare fees

I am sitting in Montreal, just having been sponsored for a position in Carnarvon WA and I was wondering about cost of living there??? Also any tips with regards to being able to find out about rentals/furnished, or how I go about getting information that might help me? It's my first time to Australia, but excited about being sponsored. Still there is so much to find out about!! Just throwing this out there to see if anyone knows anything relevant to Carnarvon!! cheers!)

[kaz101]

Originally Posted by JT850

I am sitting in Montreal, just having been sponsored for a position in Carnarvon WA and I was wondering about cost of living there??? Also any tips with regards to being able to find out about rentals/furnished, or how I go about getting information that might help me? It's my first time to Australia, but excited about being sponsored. Still there is so much to find out about!! Just throwing this out there to see if anyone knows anything relevant to Carnarvon!! cheers!)

Have you been through the 'PLEASE READ...' sticky post towards the top of the forum?
That has links to rentals.

Most of the sticky post has info to get people started - Dolly's posts have lists to get you started before you move here and afterwards too

I doubt we'll have cost of living for that particular place but other places are mentioned so see of there is somewhere in WA already listed.

Regards,
Karen

[mamacubed]

Originally Posted by dangoopatwal

Thanks Karen for the useful information. Can you please provide some more information. we are a family of four, myself, my husband and two kids. How much is the rent for a 3 BR apartment/House in Sydney. Is the Year 6-7 and Year 2 schooling free in australia or we have to pay.

How much will be the food charges for a family of four.

Thanks

Public schools in NSW do require temporary residents to pay a fee (I don't know about PRs.) It's 4500/year for primary and 5500/year for high school. I found this info on a web site (search for Temporary Visa Holders Education Fee)

[The Brit in Aus]

Being an ex accountant, I can't help but record figures, so here are my last year totals:

Redlands area of SE Brisbane, 5 bed house, with heated pool.

Annual (monthly) Costs
$6,690 ($558 pm) Car (Running costs for 2 fully owned cars - 3.5ltr and 2.0 ltr )
$2,078 ($173 pm) Clothing
$3,835 ($320 pm) Education ( 1 child at private school)
$1,572 ($131 pm) Electricity (All electric, no gas)
$7,192 ($599 pm) Food & Supermarket shopping (2 adults and an 11 yr old small eater)
$550 ($46 pm) House Insurance
$576 ($48 pm) Internet 10Gb pm at 1512k speed
$2,294 ($191 pm) Medical & Chemist
$1,002 ($84 pm) Phones (inc free calls all over Australia and UK)
$2,028 ($169 pm) Rates (Water and Council)

[The Brit in Aus]

Originally Posted by mamacubed

Public schools in NSW do require temporary residents to pay a fee (I don't know about PRs.) It's 4500/year for primary and 5500/year for high school. I found this info on a web site (search for Temporary Visa Holders Education Fee)

NSW and ACT are the ONLY two States that charge Temporary Residents for public schooling.

All other States treat most temporary residents the same as Permanent Residents and Citizens.

[Tony L]

melbourne is roughly 2 x the expense of London with the exception of house prices and petrol

Originally Posted by kaz101

Hi everyone,

For those of you already in Australia do you want to share you basic cost of living figures?

Say the State you are in, area if you want to, and the number of people...

South Australia, South East (Mount Gambier), 2 adults - per month:

Food - A$550
Electricity - A$70
Gas - A$65
Water - $62 (if renting this may be paid by the landlord)

Regards,
Karen