Just was wondering what major area (Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne) had the cheapest cost of living in Australia. Mostly when it comes to real estate prices. I know thats not very specific, but I was hoping someone could provide me with a general idea. Also what are the positive/negatives of each city/area. Hopefully I posted this in the right area. Thanks.

i dont think the right area, but Perth's housing is cheaper than brisbanes, sydneys, melbournes and im not sure about adelaide.

1. Sydney
2. Melbourne
3. Canberra (government town)
4. Darwin (government town)

All cities are by far the highest income earners and also have the nations' highest living costs.

##Canberrans on average have the highest incomes $$$$

### Melbournians fare better than their Sydney counterparts, as their incomes are the same, but real estate not as expensive as Sydney.

( Hence Melbournians have more disposable income: theydress, eat, and socialise better, drive more expensice cars and live in larger homes ...than do their Sydney counterparts ).


5. Brisbane
6. Gold Coast Middle of the range incomes and cost of living



7. Perth Middle income but with low cost of housing !!!
8. Adelaide



Look its really hard to say. Depends what your looking for.

Just to kick and live an easy life, then Perth and Adelaide hands down!!!

But if you are a professional and aspire to drive an "Audi" and live in some funky and stylish European style neighbourhood then Melbourne, hands down.

Sydney is more touristy and more racially and socio-economically segregated.
Rich Asians on its north shore and poor Middle Eastern factory workers in its western suburbs.

Ir your rich, Sydney is wonderful, but if your income is average Sydney is a hell hole !!!


Fastest Growing cities: Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne

Fastest Shrinking Cities: Sydney and Adelaide

More Australians leave Sydney because they can not afford a nice quality of life there.

Adelaide is a beautiful city, but unfortunately, in this age of globalisation and rationalism, Adelaide has lost many companies to the east coast. Plus, its a city in a desert with no water, for no more growth.

Eh what's that about Sydneysiders being up themselves? :|

Staminous, Adelaide is not located in a desert, it is located right on the coast. The deserts are some hundreds of kilometres north of Adelaide. Nor is Sydney or Adelaide shrinking, in fact both cities are growing even though Sydney may not be growing as fast as Brisbane or Melbourne, or Adelaide as fast as Perth or the Gold Coast. Quite a few companies that have moved out of Adelaide in recent have moved west to Perth as well, not just east to Sydney, and in recent years some companies have begun locating their "local" offices here, as well as call centres for some IT companies such as EDS.

yep, SGIO doesnt have an office in perth anymore, you have to mail your claims to adelaide.

Ryan, What sort of job do you have or want, do you have family, do you want a yard out the back, do you want to rent or buy ?
if you simply want the CHEAPEST city and nothing else pick Adelaide and Perth, but if you want a descent job/career/some action go to the eastern side of the country. Bris, Mel and Syd are all great. Syd has best opp of $ / career and you can get chewed up and spat out quick, Bris is booming but still small but cheap to live in and Melb is in between with a very excellent balance of the points above.

Bris is not a 'backwater' anymore like some people call it. Syd is a pleasant city to live and not a hell hole and Melb is not factories and blue collar like some people call it.

I didnt know Syd was shriking staminous, I thought it added more people than anywhere else in the last 10yrs, just slowed down a bit in the last couple. The place is still doing alright from what I can see, I agree with you about some of your other points but your a bit in your face arent you !!

Anyway, i dont think you can go wrong with any Aust city really, but my heart lies with MELBOURNE :)

Wouldn't perth be expensive in terms of food and other goods that need to be transported? I'm pretty sure I heard that.

no, retail stores have the same prices as interstate on most retail stock (coles, woolworths etc)

Adelaide is a beautiful city, but unfortunately, in this age of globalisation and rationalism, Adelaide has lost many companies to the east coast. Plus, its a city in a desert with no water, for no more growth.

You seem to be an expert. Afterall you use big words that you obviously understand, such as 'rationalism' and 'desert'. Well, while you quite clearly know a lot of what you talk about, I much prefer the thoughts of someone like say.... Dr Peter Cullen, who i'm sure you know, being an expert on deserts and water, who seems to argue that SA is quite capable of holding a population of 2 million with the water resources it has.

Hey Staminous,

http://www.urbanaustralia.org/images/blah.jpg

Love from Sydney.

^ LOL it's come back out to play!

lool!
btw wat does w00t mean?

w00t is geek speak for cheering woo, as in happy.

Whoa people :) Thanks for all the replies. i'm Canadian and not considering a move anytime soon, just thinking down the road. If I did it would involve me serving with some branch of the Australian Military (Air Force or Navy. Canadians and Aussies can transfer to each others militaries). I would be single so family wouldn't matter yet, and I surf so I would have to be within a 30 min drive of a decent break. Looking at prices on Aussie real estate sites are pretty scary though :eek2: Anyways guys hope I didn't start a civil war amongst y'all :runaway: Thanks for the replies

Adelaide is the australian hub for empty bottle and can recycling. Dont diss it.

5c in SA, cant go wrong.

I've never seen that 5 cents adjusted for CPI, which is a disgrace. It should at least be 10 cent by now. Stingy government.

Yob, I heard they are seriously looking to increase it to 10c...

oh, and Staminous - "bleh"

in that case i can fund my trip to SA on cans and bottles

Whoa people :) Thanks for all the replies. i'm Canadian and not considering a move anytime soon, just thinking down the road. If I did it would involve me serving with some branch of the Australian Military (Air Force or Navy. Canadians and Aussies can transfer to each others militaries). I would be single so family wouldn't matter yet, and I surf so I would have to be within a 30 min drive of a decent break. Looking at prices on Aussie real estate sites are pretty scary though :eek2: Anyways guys hope I didn't start a civil war amongst y'all :runaway: Thanks for the replies

I'm in the RAAF - if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

I'm in the RAAF - if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks NEO. I'm not in the military yet (my application is in though and being procressed) but it looks like that's where I will be headed when I graduate from uni in June. The thing is though the Canadian military is notorious for bueracracy that can delay the time of acceptance. Wait times from the time your application has been submitted to offering of a posistion seem to be anywhere from 6 months to 36 months. It seems like the military doesn't even want you here in Canada. It can be quite discouraging. :bash:

The thing is though the Canadian military is notorious for bueracracy that can delay the time of acceptance. Wait times from the time your application has been submitted to offering of a posistion seem to be anywhere from 6 months to 36 months.

Don't think that is native to the Canadian Military. It's the same story here. My process took 9 months, which at the time I thought was ages but I have been since told that is actually very short. Plus, I went through aircrew entry (direct) so it is much shorter, as they recruit 20 or 30 at a time. A lot of graduate entry jobs can be really slow, as they recruit as little as 2 or 3 at a time.

I've heard plenty of stories of it taking up to 2 years.

Seems like a smart idea to immigrate - I'd always thought about immigrating overseas to the UK but it is next to impossible - until I joined the RAAF and I found out this secret that it is really really easy for us. Of course now I've decided I love Australia too much to ever immigrate! (You might find the same about Canada after serving in the military there). There are stacks of ex RAF members in the RAAF. They're coming over in droves.

Well Ryan speaking from plain facts, Sydney is very expensive compared to the rest of Australia, even the 'cheap' areas are expensive. It depends on what type of living you want, eg house etc. You could consider the central coast which is about 45 mins from Sydney which is cheaper. It depends on the lifestyle as well Sydney is very fast paced so its not for the faint hearted, but it probably one of the most beautiful cities on earth even with its 'big city faults'.
My advice just look at what you would like to have, we can help you with any aspects as we all live in each city.

haha, dont 45 mins from sydney!!!! thats forever.

haha, dont 45 mins from sydney!!!! thats forever.
Compared to a 2-3 hour commute that many face every working day in Tokyo and several other large cities, 45 minutes is pretty decent.

Sydney 45 minutes from the Central Coast!? Are you a real estate agent there or something? Maybe 1am on a tuesday. It takes that long to get to Sydney just from Hornsby, and often longer.

no, retail stores have the same prices as interstate on most retail stock (coles, woolworths etc)

When I was living in Tasmania groceries we're far more expensive, also my In-Laws had just come back from holidays and they said the same about Darwin

Sydney 45 minutes from the Central Coast!? Are you a real estate agent there or something? Maybe 1am on a tuesday. It takes that long to get to Sydney just from Hornsby, and often longer.

Well from my place (Castle Hill) it does take that long. It depends where you live :) Obviously if you are south then you have to cross the city so add another 45-1 hour. It doesn't matter though the world revolves around me :bleh:

Cities like Perth and Adelaide and to a lesser extent Bris are very different cities to Syd and Melb. They are just so much smaller and quieter which means that many people who move east have unrealistic expectations of what a city actually is and are dissapointed when they find out what its like. In most big cities of the world if you can get to work in less than 1 hour you are happy !!!