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What are the Aus advantages over UK (apart from the sunshine :) ?


Fishenka

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I never saved a penny in my 20's, apart from for short term goals like going on holiday. My parents helped me with the deposit for my flat in 1987. Twenty five years of getting drunk every Friday and Saturday night, and I was thinking about how much I could have saved if I had stayed in on one of those two nights!? I went back to live with my parents in my 40's and saved over 40,000 pounds in a decade. I'm not saving as much as I should/could now, going out most nights.

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I don't particularly like working as a casual on a short term contract, but what can I do? I want a job, so I have to take what is offered. It's actually good money at over $28 per hour, including, I think, $5 per hour towards holiday and sick pay. Since when has there been any right to life time employment, anyway?

 

Some countries do not have a tradition of home ownership, but it IS the way that most people in the UK and Australia like to go. But plenty of people choose to rent, which is good for landlords too, because they get long term, stable tenants.

 

If you cannot afford to buy your own house, or don't want to make the sacrifices necessary to save for a deposit, then why not rent. There's no commitment to a lifetime of mortgage payments, and you can invest any spare cash in other things, the stock market, superannuation, funds.

 

Or you can just build up wealth for the tobacco, alcohol and bookmaking industries!

How would you qualify for a mortgage with short term contracts then. $28 is not very much if trying to enter the housing fray. Would any bank loan on that without considerable assets?

Until recent times we could indeed expect full time employment. Work is a two way process. Both sides need to benefit.

 

While the Anglo speaking world has developed a house buying mentality there are signs of that declining. Especially in the Australian context. Without a degree of intervention by government I would expect the decline to accelerate. The costs are getting beyond Aussie young who are declining in First Home buyers to record lows.

I get the impression government doesn't know the way forward on the issue. A stop in policy that fans price growth would be a start.

 

Nothing wrong with renting. Allows money to be used on other more useful spending than tying up so much in a particular area. Especially now given consideration to cost versus earnings.

 

We do require rent laws as most civilised western have that over the tenant safe guards and greater rights to allow renting to return to becoming a real alternative to the waste of money on way over priced housing.

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Some rent because they have to, some prefer to as it suits their lifestyles and attitudes. People buy perhaps because they want something long term and to stamp their own mark. Neither choice is right or wrong.

 

As long as there is an affordable rental market the situation is manageable. Areas do become terribly overheated and unsustainable unfortunately. The market then has to adjust and some lose out.

 

I was in a losing position in the 90s. It happens; you dust yourself down, pick yourself up and get on with it hopefully a little wiser but often it is just bad luck and bad timing as with most things. That is just life really.

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I never saved a penny in my 20's, apart from for short term goals like going on holiday. My parents helped me with the deposit for my flat in 1987. Twenty five years of getting drunk every Friday and Saturday night, and I was thinking about how much I could have saved if I had stayed in on one of those two nights!? I went back to live with my parents in my 40's and saved over 40,000 pounds in a decade. I'm not saving as much as I should/could now, going out most nights.

 

Lucky you having parents that could help out. These days the burden on parents is so many times greater with the over inflated property prices. How much help would be required to purchase your gaff in Surry Hills today?

Would your parents still have the ability to help fund your purchase if done today, in any meaningful sense?

 

Young quite possibly better going out and enjoying life and rent in a good location and keep options open. Changes must come at sometime as un sustainable.

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Some rent because they have to, some prefer to as it suits their lifestyles and attitudes. People buy perhaps because they want something long term and to stamp their own mark. Neither choice is right or wrong.

 

As long as there is an affordable rental market the situation is manageable. Areas do become terribly overheated and unsustainable unfortunately. The market then has to adjust and some lose out.

 

I was in a losing position in the 90s. It happens; you dust yourself down, pick yourself up and get on with it hopefully a little wiser but often it is just bad luck and bad timing as with most things. That is just life really.

 

Although a house should be a place of residence and not a money seeking process/gamble to be turned over every year or so with the hope of massive profit. We would all be better off moving away from that insanity to something more stable that keeps up with inflation without the massive gains and losses.

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Although a house should be a place of residence and not a money seeking process/gamble to be turned over every year or so with the hope of massive profit. We would all be better off moving away from that insanity to something more stable that keeps up with inflation without the massive gains and losses.

 

I have never known anyone turning over properties in the way you describe. It would make no sense anyway. Even bought as an investment, property is medium to long term.

 

Like almost anything you buy, housing is a commodity therefore at the mercy of the market, supply and demand. Markets are never stable for long, just accept it for what it is.

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Nothing wrong with renting. Allows money to be used on other more useful spending than tying up so much in a particular area. Especially now given consideration to cost versus earnings.

 

Like beer, fags, fast cars and faster women.

 

Love the quote from George Best

I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.

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I have never known anyone turning over properties in the way you describe. It would make no sense anyway. Even bought as an investment, property is medium to long term.

 

Like almost anything you buy, housing is a commodity therefore at the mercy of the market, supply and demand. Markets are never stable for long, just accept it for what it is.

 

There's the problem with a lot of people. They aren't buying a house because they like it, like the neighbourhood and see it as a place where they could be happy for the rest of their lives and bring up a family. They see it as an investment, something to make money on. First mistake.

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There's the problem with a lot of people. They aren't buying a house because they like it, like the neighbourhood and see it as a place where they could be happy for the rest of their lives and bring up a family. They see it as an investment, something to make money on. First mistake.

 

Do they...........really? That is the polar opposite of my experience. Most of my neighbours were here when I bought my house 10 years ago.

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Lucky you having parents that could help out. These days the burden on parents is so many times greater with the over inflated property prices. How much help would be required to purchase your gaff in Surry Hills today?

Would your parents still have the ability to help fund your purchase if done today, in any meaningful sense?

 

Young quite possibly better going out and enjoying life and rent in a good location and keep options open. Changes must come at sometime as un sustainable.

 

I don't believe that my parents were able to help me financially, just because they had the good fortune to be living and working in a 'golden age' as opposed to the nadir of today. They both worked hard, did not drink or gamble, though my Dad smoked rollups and did 'The Pools', and had a saving mentality, possibly because they both lived through the depression of the 1930's, followed by the experience of World War Two.

 

Are things really harder today, than at any time previously in our history, in terms of buying a home, getting a job, etc. In 1987, when I bought my unit (for $75,000), I think the interest rate on my mortgage was 17.5 per cent.

 

My share of my parents' estate would have been more than enough to put down a healthy deposit on a home, had I been renting, as I'm sure my own estate will benefit my niece and nephew (not that they are making much of an attempt to 'butter me up!')

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I have never known anyone turning over properties in the way you describe. It would make no sense anyway. Even bought as an investment, property is medium to long term.

 

Like almost anything you buy, housing is a commodity therefore at the mercy of the market, supply and demand. Markets are never stable for long, just accept it for what it is.

 

I know or know of loads that look for short term gain of about three years as an average some more, others less especially in the inner suburbs of Perth. They tend to be more flats, units or town houses and the trend took of in earnest from the late 00's. I guess. Around this time the market went a bit insane with price movement. Of course some hung onto them.

Tax law states one can rent for first year then if owner moves in and calls it principle place of residence can avoid CGT. Or part off depending on time rented and owner occupied.

UK not the same.

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I don't believe that my parents were able to help me financially, just because they had the good fortune to be living and working in a 'golden age' as opposed to the nadir of today. They both worked hard, did not drink or gamble, though my Dad smoked rollups and did 'The Pools', and had a saving mentality, possibly because they both lived through the depression of the 1930's, followed by the experience of World War Two.

 

Are things really harder today, than at any time previously in our history, in terms of buying a home, getting a job, etc. In 1987, when I bought my unit (for $75,000), I think the interest rate on my mortgage was 17.5 per cent.

 

My share of my parents' estate would have been more than enough to put down a healthy deposit on a home, had I been renting, as I'm sure my own estate will benefit my niece and nephew (not that they are making much of an attempt to 'butter me up!')

 

I know interest rates were high but ratio to earnings better and rates in time did come down. Buying a roof over one's head is the most expensive investment most will ever make. As such of course it's never been easy. Just a darn sight more harder in today's climate. As cited short term contracts for close on a quarter of folk, a mortgage set around two earnings{high earnings at that) Areas like yours would be out of reach of all but the well oiled in today's world. I would certainly say we are worse off.

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Do they...........really? That is the polar opposite of my experience. Most of my neighbours were here when I bought my house 10 years ago.

 

Very different market I would suggest from the Perth one. Both neighbours have sold from when I first moved here, one twice. The price went up some 300% and the original owners realised they could cash in and purchase more land/bigger house further out. I've lost count of those that have moved on. Some kept and rented out for amounts that wouldn't have been thought possible pre 2004.

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I know interest rates were high but ratio to earnings better and rates in time did come down. Buying a roof over one's head is the most expensive investment most will ever make. As such of course it's never been easy. Just a darn sight more harder in today's climate. As cited short term contracts for close on a quarter of folk, a mortgage set around two earnings{high earnings at that) Areas like yours would be out of reach of all but the well oiled in today's world. I would certainly say we are worse off.

 

You may be right about this precise moment in time but markets are cyclical. If the price of anything rises to an unsustainable level the market will have to react and adjust. Most of us though just need a home to live in and have to cut our cloth. Are younger people worse off than when I and my friends were in the 70s and 80s? Most seem to have cars, smart phones, home cinemas etc. I don't think there was so much to spend your money on when I was young so in that sense we were better off I suppose.

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Very different market I would suggest from the Perth one. Both neighbours have sold from when I first moved here, one twice. The price went up some 300% and the original owners realised they could cash in and purchase more land/bigger house further out. I've lost count of those that have moved on. Some kept and rented out for amounts that wouldn't have been thought possible pre 2004.

 

300%! Over what period? Sounds like a local bubble to me. Clearly that would not be sustainable if widespread.

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300%! Over what period? Sounds like a local bubble to me. Clearly that would not be sustainable if widespread.

 

Well we are told by our betters that it is not a bubble. Done a private deal at the time. Previous owner, an engineer aged 52, had been unemployed for two years. He needed money to finance a bigger dwelling he was building. As we are inner city it likely went up by a greater amount than outer suburbs, but I agree it is not sustainable. The period of time is 13 years but I don't detect much of a rise in the past few years to be honest. At least not without expensive alterations which a few near neighbours are doing to add value. I fully expect little will be under a million dollars within a few years. Don't approve at all. We wouldn't get a flat for the price we paid for the house back then now.

In my opinion is has impacted greatly on the quality of life here. Indeed earnings went up as well but nothing like the amount of housing. Not forgetting everything else did as well.

 

The process of buying and selling is called flipping. Rather common with town houses and flats around the inner city locations.

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I don't believe that my parents were able to help me financially, just because they had the good fortune to be living and working in a 'golden age' as opposed to the nadir of today. They both worked hard, did not drink or gamble, though my Dad smoked rollups and did 'The Pools', and had a saving mentality, possibly because they both lived through the depression of the 1930's, followed by the experience of World War Two.

 

Are things really harder today, than at any time previously in our history, in terms of buying a home, getting a job, etc. In 1987, when I bought my unit (for $75,000), I think the interest rate on my mortgage was 17.5 per cent.

 

 

Yes, they are harder. By every measure housing is generally less affordable now than at any time in the past. Your parents had it tough, young people today have it tougher.

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300%! Over what period? Sounds like a local bubble to me. Clearly that would not be sustainable if widespread.

 

One fact my wife told me today (she sells new house and land packages) was a largish plot in her sales area which sold for $700 in 1970 is now on the market for $240,000.

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Do they...........really? That is the polar opposite of my experience. Most of my neighbours were here when I bought my house 10 years ago.

 

Agree that most of our friends and the area we live seem happy with their lot and you don't see many properties on the market. I think it's the belief in younger people that everything is looked at with an eye to making money. Property, stock market. At one time people used to buy stocks and shares in a company because they cared about what it was doing and had an interest in it. As well as maybe thinking they might make a bit of money long term too. Now you have people buying and selling shares in anything and everything, sometimes as a job, on a daily basis where they have to balance the books at the end of every day. They have zero interest in what the companies do, as long as they think they might make a profit.

 

A lot of people look at the property market the same way. We are never going to be in a position to do it but I know a few people who buy property not because they like the house, area or whatever, but because they think they might make a profit in a couple of years.

 

We had some friends who lived in the same area as us and wanted a bigger house. They thought moving down the road 10km, into a newly developing suburb, make some profit and then move back again into the suburb they liked into a bigger house would be a solution.

 

It never happened for them. Sure the houses where they bought went up but the houses in the suburb they were moving from went up even more. They never got to move back and ended up in a suburb they didn't really like that much. In a bit bigger house though.

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But $20K isn't enough for a deposit - you may need 25%, which would be $75K.

 

There was also an article I read where the young writer calculated that if he saved everything he spent on 'leisure'/his social life he would amass $58K over 5 years. Still not enough for a deposit for a property within commutable distance of where he works in Sydney.

 

 

Thats not not true though.i know plenty of folk that have got mortgages in last few years with less than $20 000 deposit. If you have a good saving history behind you and meet some of the banks requests, a mortgage is easier than you think.

 

owning houses in my opinion is a asset. Rent basically covers mortgage repayments and place is being paid off by people renting it.

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