If you're new here, you may be interested to know that you can receive all of our latest articles directly to your inbox. Click Here for more info. We promise to keep your email safe and will use it for only this purpose

When we bought our first car in Australia we were pleasantly surprised by the cost and as a car is going to be a likely purchase for most folks immigrating to Australia, I thought I’d write a short entry on new car prices in Australia versus those you’d find back in the UK.

I decided to use a couple of familiar manufacturers and models by way of comparison to help you visualise what kind of car you can get for your hard earned money down here.

Please note that this is not an all-embracing review by any means, but it will give you a general idea.

If you’re really looking for extensive data it’s easy enough to search and compare using the information all major manufacturers make available on the Australian and UK versions of their websites (See list at the bottom of this entry)

As for the car themselves, surprisingly, even European cars are priced very competitively here in Oz.

Doing a quick comparison of the price we paid for the Holden Astra we bought this weekend versus the price of a similarly -spec’d Astra listed on the Vauxhall UK website, it works out that we’re paying over £4000 less for a brand new Astra down under then we would for a similar model back in the UK. That’s nearly 30% cheaper.

Doing a similar price comparison of a Ford Focus using the information published within the pages of the UK and Australian Ford Websites, a 1.8 Ford Focus Zetec in Australia would set you back $27,490 or £10,996.

The same Zetec at time of typing in the UK would cost you £14,245!

An Extra £3,279 to buy, what would probably be the same right hand drive Ford Zetec model but in the UK! Even if the exchange rate gets worse, there’s still big savings to be had on Fords over here to.

It really does make you wonder why we are able to buy European cars (possible cars that may have even been manufactured back in the UK) cheaper over here then they are back in Blighty.

I guess the astronomical amount of tax levied on new car purchases back in the UK might be something to do with it but I’m pretty glad that we are able to take advantage of a more economical car market over here.

It’s also something to keep in mind for those of you contemplating shipping your four wheeled pride and joy down under.

Note – Where price comparisons have been made I’ve used today’s exchange rate of 2.5 Aussie Dollars to the UK Pound so please don’t start complaining about my math if your calculations don’t work out the same

Useful Websites (open on new page):

Ford – UK / Ford – Australia

Vauxhall – UK / Holden – Australia

Volkswagen – UK / Volkswagen – Australia

Honda – UK / Honda – Australia

Subaru – UK / Subaru – Australia

Mitsubishi – UK / Mitsubishi – Australia

Article Popularity: 3%

Since arriving in Australia we’ve been renting a car. We picked up a large Toyota from the airport at Hertz for the first week as we needed something large to carry out six suitcases around.

Then, after the first week we downgraded to a small Toyota Corolla through a company called Bayswater car rental in Perth.

The car from Bayswater has set us back in the region of about $46 per day. As we arrived in Perth just before Christmas and during the six week school holiday period, it meant that we were renting a car during the one of the most expensive times of the year.

This resulted in a premium being added to the normally reasonable rates at Bayswater although the one week specials they offer in Perth (and also Sydney) beat the likes of Avis and Hertz hands down.

I suppose in hindsight it would probably have been cheaper to buy a small run around but having said that, renting a car meant we had a reliable motor to drive around in whilst looking for somewhere to live.

This point becomes even more pertinent now I’m working in the CBD. When all’s said and done the last thing I wanted was for the missus and junior to find themselves stuck, 25 km’s in the middle of nowhere due to an old banger breaking down.

So why am I telling you all this? Well the end result is this weekend we decided to bite the bullet and buy a new car!

Even though the house still hasn’t sold, the sale is immanent and financially buying a new car made a lot more sense then continuing to pay out $1000 a month to a car rental company for a small Toyota hatchback.

Now before I go on, let me give you a little more information about Australia cars.

Many Australians like their cars big. Not in the ‘hey look, my car seats six adults in comfort’ sense of the word but in the ‘you’ll here me coming from 10 miles away’ big.

Although the cost of petrol is slowly starting to increase, it is still very cheap by UK standards.

At time of typing a litre of petrol cost just over $1.05 so you’d be looking at about 42 pence per litre or less then half the price of petrol back in good old Blighty.

This means that for many Aussies, particularly the younger generations, fuel economy is infrequently a key decision maker when purchasing a new car. In fact it often seems that the bigger and louder the better in many cases.

It’s not unusual to see new cars for sale, from the major manufacturers likes Ford with 6 litre V8 Engines on offer. Comparatively speaking, these monsters burn a similar amount of fuel to the space shuttle at the time of take off and similarly, the roar of the engines sounds great as well so that makes it alright….right?

Great for the rev heads and I think that’s exactly the reason why folks purchase these kinds of cars.

I have to admit, being a bloke who loves his cars, the noise some of these ‘babies’ make when they start up does send a tingle down your spine but I must resist. I must be practical!

Well actually, when it comes down to it. I didn’t have a choice as this car will belong to the missus.

I’m still enjoying public transport at the moment so the more boring practicalities of boot space, safety ratings and colour came into effect with this motor.

European cars are readily available here in Australia and we had a short list of three cars that the missus liked the look of. In no particular order we were looking at the VW Golf, Ford Focus or the New Holden Astra.

Holden for all you non anoraks is the Australian incarnation of Vauxhall. I’m unsure why General Motors decide to use different brands in different continents but Holden is the name that they choose to use down here in Australia.

For those who have driven in mainland Europe; I’m sure you’ll be familiar with the Opel brand used by GM over there. Similarly you’ll find Holden Astra’s, Corsas and Vectras driving down the freeways of the States in Australia.

The car dealerships are the same here as they are in the UK. You get jumped on as soon as you walk through the door but most if not all of the car dealers here are pretty friendly without being to pushy.

We really liked the look of the WV Golf but relatively speaking they were pretty pricey and the boot space was the smallest out of the three.

We’ve always liked the Ford Focus but I’ve owned a Focus in a previous life so we decided to opt for the Astra from Holden.

The car looked good, all the extra’s we were looking for were included as standard and the price was much better then we would have expected to pay for a similar car in the UK.

The process to complete the purchase of our car was pretty straight forward, the extras were selected and the colour (Magma Red) was chosen.

One of the things that we’d not taken into account (and I’m still not sure how big a deal this actually is) was our lack of Australian driving license.

The dealer appeared stumped when the missus presented her UK driving license when her license was requested. Apparently, in order for the car to be registered when it arrives we’ll need an Aussie driving license.

This was on our list of things to do anyway as we could only drive using our Aussie licenses for three months as permanent residents. We’ll just need to make sure we get our licenses sorted out in time for the cars delivery in two weeks.

As a full UK driving license holder, obtaining you Western Australian Driving license is a pretty straight forward process apparently.

You are not required to do a theory or practical test; however you do need to go to one of the test centres to have your picture taken for your license and have your sight tested.

I’d imagine that the sight test probably isn’t a particularly complicated affair, more on the lines of the sight test you do as part of your driving test in the UK.

Unlike the UK licenses, Australian licenses are only valid for five years. After five years is up you need to apply to have your driving license renewed.

I’m unsure why the Aussie driving license is valid for such a short amount of time however at I guess I’d day its down to money.

You need to spend over a hundred dollars each time you renew your license. Still we’ve saved enough on the car to pay for a few hundred years of car licensing so I’m not grumbling too much.

Anyway, back to the car purchase. The form was filled in with a couple of blanks (to be completed at a later time), we were then passed onto an extremely large, top heavy lady (note the use of the word lady and not lovely).

It’s assumed this individual must normally be kept in a cage during the majority of the day, only being released at short intervals to try and lure unsuspecting victims into spending more and more of their money on things they really do not need. Really important stuff like paint protector, extended rust protection warranty, seat fabric protection, exhaust pipe shiner uppers etc.

We spent about five minutes listening to her patter and it was interesting to see her strategy, a familiar one used by many sales people. I.e. if you don’t buy the first thing they offer you and then go on to refuse the second thing, would you believe it, if you buy both together (both things that you still don’t want) you get them for half price.

Once we’d sat through the wonders of Holden’s aftercare service, we were then past onto the ‘finance guy’ who’s sole purpose was to try and flog us finance, Holden’s car insurance and anything else that might increase their margin.

We politely declined each of their kind offers, quickly paid the $500 dollar deposit and made our way out of the showroom. The car turns up in two weeks.

As always, I’ll provide more details around getting insurance, applying for our driving licenses and all that other good stuff as and when we get them.

Article Popularity: 4%

Bugger, I’ve just been checking through our Archive and I’ve just realised that last Wednesday the 17th January, Gettingdownunder turned one!

Since making the first post way back then, quite a lot of stuff has happened in my life.

I guess the biggest and most obvious change is the fact that I’m now writing new Blog entries whilst residing in sunny Perth. A little different then Bradford in the UK I must say.

We’ve launched our forums which appear to be getting well used and I hope that some of these Blog entries provide a useful introduction and insight to life down under.

Feel free to post a comment in relation to any of our posts. I love reading your feedback and welcome any suggestions on ways in which I can make this Blog even better. Read the full story

Article Popularity: 4%

The Yarra Valley is located a short 90 minutes north-east of Melbourne, the capital of the southern Australian state of Victoria, and is an idyllic destination for a day tour or weekend getaway.

The Yarra Valley’s rolling green hills are brimming with vineyards, boutique wineries, orchards, cheesemakers and quality restaurants, and the whole region is quite simply a gourmet’s delight. Whatever your interests, Melbourne’s Yarra Valley has something for everyone.

The Yarra Valley is home to many excellent food and wine festivals. In January, raspberry lovers can enjoy the Kinglake Raspberry Fair, while May offers the Kellybrook Cider Festival and the Grape Grazing Festival. In November, the Victoria Strawberry Festival is held in Seville and the Country Harvest Festival is held at the Warratina Lavender Farm. In December, the Victorian Cherry Festival is held at Wandin.

The Yarra Valley is home to at least 23 wineries which are open to visitors and where you can sample their award-winning produce. The wineries range in scale from large operations such as Rochford’s Eyton and Tarra Warra Estate to small boutique wineries such as Ainsworth Estate in Seville and Warramate Wines near Healesville.

If history interests you, the historic Yering Station-Yarrabank winery near Yarra Glen claims to be the first vineyard established in Victoria.

Pioneer history can also be experienced with a visit to Gulf Station, an early farm in Yarra Valley now managed by the National Trust.

Lovers of Australian animals can pack a picnic lunch and visit the world famous Healesville Sanctuary to view a large variety of native animals including kanagroos, wallabies, wombats, emus. echidnas, goannas and platypus.

On a sunny day the Healesville Sanctuary is a great place for a picnic, and there are plenty of picnic shelters for damper weather. Opposite the Healesville Sanctuary is the Galeena Beek Living Cultural Centre, where you can learn more about the cultural heritage of indigenous Australians from the Melbourne region.

Healesville is delightful country town nestled in the Dandenong Ranges and is a haven for lovers of art, crafts and cafes, making it the perfect place to while away a relaxing day. Healesville is surrounded by charming picnic places, including the Maroondah Reservoir Reserve, which has barbecues and bush walking tracks along the Badger Creek. Visitors of a literary or historical bent can visit the magnificent two hectare Singing Gardens of early Australian author C.J. Dennis, located near Toolangi. C.J. Dennis lived in Toolangi from 1915 until his death in 1935, and wrote his famous work The Sentimental Bloke there.

The Yarra Valley Regional Food Trail allows you to independently explore 14 ‘farm gate taste and buy’ gourmet experiences and 11 ‘pick your own’ produce farms. With more than thirty top quality eating places dotted throughout the Yarra Valley, there’s plenty of gourmet experiences to choose from. And all that is before you even consider the Yarra Valley’s world-renowned wineries!

Whether you love fine food and wine and abundant fresh farm produce, are seeking a relaxing, therapeutic or romantic getaway, or are inspired by natural beauty and want to walk through towering eucalypt forests, an unforgettable experience awaits you in Melbourne’s idyllic Yarra Valley.

Miguel Scaccialupo writes regularly on Outback Australia Tour topics, including Alice Springs Tour destinations and Yarra Valley Tour itineraries.

Article Popularity: 7%

As I mentioned on Friday, we were waiting for a formal offer to be made on our house.

It was supposed to be made at around 4pm so I made sure my diary was free for the latter part of Friday afternoon.

At 4pm – nothing! Diddly-squat, so I waited, checking through my e-mails, conscious of the fact that I needed to pick junior up from nursery before 5:30.

Then, at about 4:20pm, we got the call.

The chap from Halifax estates pipes up with something on the lines of ‘well, we have an offer and its a little lower then we were expecting’.

My stomach sunk to the floor when he confirms that the offer will be £12,000 under the asking price.

Prior to taking today’s call, myself and the missus had agreed the minimum we would accept, in fact we’d agreed and stuck to this figure from the day we were awarded our Visa’s and it’s formed a pretty key part of our ‘plan’ I.e. If we don’t get this much for the house we don’t move.

With this key point in mind, the declined the offer.

The chap from the Halifax remained upbeat saying he thought it was just a ’shot across the bow’ to test the water. He also asked what the minimum figure we would accept for the property, which I told him.

I also give him an idea of what kind of figure we would accept. Most importantly I told him not to disclose any of these figures to the buyer.

He confirmed that he would go back to the buyer and advise we were looking for something nearer the asking price and happy with this, he went on his merry way.

It was about 4:25pm by this point; I hung around for another 25 minutes without another update. At 4:50pm I tried to call the branch.

Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring, ring ring, ring ring…no answer (very often the case with this branch).

So, off to pick junior up from nursery, 5:20 still no updates so back on the phone again…

Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring…you get the idea….

The buggers had gone home for the night and I was livid.

To me this is basic customer service. I couldn’t believe that they had decided to go home for the night without giving us a formal update. Even if the update was that there was no update, this would be better then nothing.

What was the buyers reaction to our decline? Were they going to make another offer? Had they decided it was out of their price range?

Who knows, we didn’t and after over 24 hours of emotion and anticipation there was nothing we could do until the branch opened on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning came. One of our son’s nursery chums had a birthday party at one of these wacky warehouse type places so we were all out of the door on the way to ‘Geronimos’ at about 9:45am

Shoes off and away he went with all of his little buddies. Time for a cuppa and a call back into the Halifax.
The chap who I had spoken to the previous night was on the phone but thankfully became available just a few seconds after his colleague answered our call.

He came on the phone… So what’s happened?

‘Hello sir, well we tried to call the buyer to advise that her initial offer had been declined but were unable to get in contact with her. We’ll be giving her a call later today’.

Phew! OK, the service was still crap (he could have phoned me on Friday night to let me know this) but not being able to contact the buyer was a reasonable enough reason for things not to have progressed at the kind of pace that we wanted to on Friday night. At least the buyer hadn’t been scared off!

Another plus point was the Halifax chap also confirmed that the buyer had referred to her initial offer as being a ‘provisional offer’ which indicated she might have a little more cash to come.

Relatively content with the update, I let the Halifax chap go on his way and I updated the missus.

Time went on, the kids played (I never knew a three year old could sweat so much) and hotdogs/chicken nuggets were eaten.

Back home for Saturday brunch (Sausage sarnies) and back to the waiting game.

Then, at 2:28pm on Saturday the 29th of July we got the call. It was a revised offer! More importantly it was at the bottom of the range that we’ve always said we’d accept!

Now lets just take a few seconds out here. When we planned to sell the house we always had the original asking price at one end of our scale and the lowest price we’d accept if desperate at the other.

Between these two prices would be multiple reductions over a period of weeks to enable those who had shown an interest but couldn’t afford the full asking price to have renewed interest at a slightly lower price.

Only if we were still here at Christmas would we make the final reduction to the lowest possible price we’d accept.

Since putting this faultless plan into action, we’d noticed that the housing market wasn’t as buoyant as we’d expected. Offers that had been made previously were massively under the minimum we’d ever consider selling for.

So here we were, still with a house being advertised at the same price it was advertised for on day one. With a house that hadn’t been re-advertised at one of our incremental reductions.

Here we were at the end of July with an offer we originally said we would only consider if we were still here at Christmas.

What did we do? We bloody bit their hand off, that’s what!

At the end of the day, if we were selling our house for millions then the difference in the top of our range and the bottom could be into the tens of thousands.

With our little home the difference in the top and bottom of the range was into the thousands and we’ve had enough hanging around now. The buyer was also a first time buyer (with a lot of financial assistance from her folks) so no chain = more control over when we need to vacate.

So we accepted their offer with a smile and toasted our new buyers with a glass of champers that very night.

There are still a few more hurdles that we need to get over before we can fully relax. The buyer needs to get a mortgage sorted and then we need to exchange contracts.

Once contracts are exchanged then we can fully relax and I can hand my notice in at work.

Oh yes. I’m sure the Halifax disclosed to the buyer the minimum figure we’d accept just so they could get the sale. Nothing to prove this but just a thought!

Anyway, mustn’t dwell on this. Things are finally starting to happen again so bring it on.

Article Popularity: 4%

Tourist attractions in and around Perth

Weeks or even months can pass in Perth without substantial rainfall. One of its main attractions are its beaches, located along the city’s coastal suburbs. Perth’s beaches are not as developed as becahes in other Australian cities.

Perth City

The centre of Perth is located on the northern bank of the Swan River, a part of the River known as ‘Perth Water’ and roughly comprises three parallel sections.

The central business district, close to the river, runs along St Georges Terrace and Adelaide Terrace and is the historical core of the city. It includes Government House and several office towers. Parliament House is on the hill to the west looking along St Georges Terrace towards the Darling Scarp.

The retail district, which has its focus on the Hay and Murray Street Malls. These pedestrian malls are interconnected by arcades and walk through shops. Over time the number of hotels in this area has declined, with new hotels being built at the eastern and western ends of the city. Forrest Place, connecting Wellington Street and Murray Street, is a popular meeting spot, and is the site of political rallies and public events. Closed to traffic and redeveloped in the mid-1980s, it is flanked by the Commonwealth Bank and GPO buildings on the west, and the Forrest Chase retail development on the east.

The entertainment and cultural precinct, known as Northbridge commences at the point where the railway land cuts through the city. It extends for at least four blocks north, and is bound at the east by the Library, Art Gallery and Museum, and to the west by the northern suburbs railway.

Kings Park Perth

Kings Park occupies 1,000 acres (4.06 km ²) of the crest of a large hill (Mt Eliza) overlooking the CBD.

Larger than New York’s Central Park (843 acres (341 ha)), Kings Park contains Perth’s botanical gardens as well as tracts of natural bushland.

During spring, Kings Park bursts into a world-class display of wildflowers, which is a popular tourist attraction. In August 2003, the Lotterywest Federation Walkway was opened in Kings Park. It is a 620 m long elevated walkway through the treetops, providing a remarkable bird’s eye view of the park and gardens as well as sweeping views of the Swan River.

Perth is a relatively green city, with an abundance of parks and tree-lined boulevards.

Swan Bells

The Swan Bells is a bell tower siting on the edge of the Swan River. It is a copper clad structure representing the sails of a ship.

It houses bells from the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, which were gifts from the United Kingdom to the people of Australia on the occasion of Australia’s 200-year anniversary of colonisation.

The Swan Bells was opened to the public in 2001.

The government of Western Australia took a significant amount of criticism for creating the Bell Tower; it was said that the significant funding allotted for the project (millions of dollars) could have been better placed into the health and education systems, and that the structure could have been better designed aesthetically.

The Perth Convention Exhibition Centre

The Perth Convention Exhibition Centre opened in September 2004. Situated on the river foreshore, only a short walk from the CBD, the Centre is WA’s only purpose built convention, exhibition and meeting centre. It can cater for functions of up to 2500 delegates.

The Centre is expected to attract increased tourism for the state. It is jocularly referred to as ‘The Hayshed’, because of its flat and extended design which originally was intended to resemble a gum leaf.

Perth Mint

Perth Mint is the oldest still-operating mint in Australia. One of two legal tender mints in Australia, the other is in Canberra.

It is open to the public 7 days a week and includes displays and the Perth Mint Shop which buys and sells precious metal proof quality gold and silver coins, bullion, nuggets and jewellery

Islands off the coast of Perth

There are a few islands off the coast of Perth, notably Rottnest Island, a significant tourist attraction.

Other nearby islands include Garden Island (home to a naval base), Carnac Island, Seal Island and Penguin Island. It is possible to walk from the mainland to Penguin Island at low tide. All of these Islands are ‘A’ class nature reserves with restricted access.

The deep shipping channel between Perth and these islands is called Gage Roads, the site of the America’s Cup yachting challenge in 1987.

Fremantle

The historical port city of Fremantle is located at the mouth of the Swan River, and is home to many attractions including Fremantle Prison and the mammoth newly-constructed Western Australian Maritime Museum. Located on the dock at Victoria Quay, the museum houses ‘Australia II, the yacht which won Australia the America’s Cup in 1983. Also in Fremantle is the Maritime Museum shipwreck galleries, with recovered artifacts and part of the hull of the shipwrecked Dutch ship Batavia, from hundreds of years ago. A more recent vessel, the Oberon class submarine the HMAS Ovens has been retired next to the Maritime Museum.

Fremantle (or ‘Freo’ as the locals call it) is renowned both locally, nationally and internationally for it’s easy-going, laid-back lifestyle. Cafes are the heart and soul of Freo, and one cannot visit Fremantle without going to the Fremantle Markets, before having one of the many varieties of coffee on the city’s infamous Capuccino Strip – South Terrace. There are numerous arts and crafts stores to suit all tastes and budgets. Fremantle is well-known for its local Arts scene.

At nightfall, Fremantle is a music-lovers’ paradise. Venues such as the Fly by Night Club and the Newport Hotel offer intimate, but venerable paradises for concerts, other events, or merely chilling out. Fremantle showcases the best in local and international talent. In addition, Fremantle offers many opportunities for clubbing with venues as the Harbourside, Millennium and the Metro.

Other must-see attractions include the Fremantle Arts Centre, as well as the historic precinct around the Round House – Western Australia’s earliest remaining building.

The Aquarium of Western Australia

Perth is home to Australia’s largest underwater walk-through aquarium, AQWA (The Aquarium of Western Australia), at Hillarys Boat Harbour, about 20 km North of Perth.

AQWA first opened in 1988 as Underwater World, but changed its name in 2001 to emphasis it’s links to Western Australia and to avoid confusion with the Underwater World in Singapore, has over 400 species of marine life including fish, sharks, fur seals, sea dragons, turtles, crustaceans and stingrays in a natural like environment.

Following the closure of the Atlantis Marine Park in Yanchep, Underwater World was the home to performing sealions and dolphins. In late December 1999 all of Underwater World’s dolphins died, with forensic tests revealling that the cause of death was deliberate poisoning. AQWA is also used for rehabilitation of injured or sick sea creatures, mainly sea lions, turtles and seals.

Whiteman Park

Whiteman Park is situated in picturesque bushland 25 minutes North East from the City Centre, it forms the western boundary of the Swan Valley wine region. The Park covers an area of more than 42 square kilometres (16 mi ²) with nearly half of this classified as high value conservation bushland or wetland. The Park also protects the southern portion of the Gnangara Water Mound – a large underground water source that supplies up to 40% of metropolitan Perth’s drinking water.

The Park takes its name from Mr Lew Whiteman (1903-1994), a prominent local identity and enthusiastic collector of artifacts. His family settled in Guildford from England in the late 19th century and Lew acquired some land around Mussel Pool in the 1940s. This, and other land held by a variety of private owners, was purchased by the State Government in 1978 and combined to form Whiteman Park.

All native wildlife in the Park is protected and more than 100 bird species have been identified. Along with 32 reptile, 7 amphibian and 8 mammals. The Caversham Wildlife Park, containing over 2000 animals and birds of 200 different species, recently moved into an area of park near the Village. There are also a number different collections of transport and machinary equipment as well as working historical tram and Rail lines

Swan Valley Wine Region

The Swan Valley wine region is approximately 16km East of Perth and is Western Australia’s oldest established wine region. It is home to over 35 wineries, many of which have restaurants or cellar-door facilities that are open to the public. Bus and boat tours of the swan valley run regularly from the city.

Perth Beaches

Relatively warm water and mild to large swells make beach-going a popular activity during the warmer months of the year.

Perth’s Indian Ocean beaches stretch for 30km north of the Swan River. There are also inshore beaches along the Swan River at Crawley, Nedlands, Peppermint Grove and Mosman Bay on the north shore, and Como, Canning Bridge and Applecross on the south.

Swimming beaches include the popularCottesloe , near the Cottesloe train station, City Beach, Swanbourne Free Beach, which has nude bathing, Scarborough Trigg and Hillarys.

Article Popularity: 10%

An article from “the age” makes interesting and in some instances slightly worrying reading for someone looking at moving his whole family lock stock and barrel to western Australia.

The long article covers how successful Perth and Western Australia as a whole has become in recent years, how business is booming and how companies can’t recruit enough staff resulting in high earning opportunities for the right roles.

The article goes onto say:

They’ve had booms in WA before, of course, but nothing like this. That’s because previous booms were centred on one resource, affecting the handful of companies that were digging up that particular rock. It was nickel in the 1970s, oil in the 1950s, gold in the 1890s. This time around, demand is hot for a raft of commodities — LNG, oil, nickel, gold, zinc, coal and aluminium — and WA has them all

Now I don’t mind booms and the associated skill shortages because hopefully this will mean that some of the skills I’ll be going out to Western Australia with may well be in demand.

The thing that concerns me a little in this article is the fact that people seems to be flocking to Perth because of this ‘boom’ and the inherent opportunities to earn a half decent income. This is impacting house prices and land availability.

Paradoxically space is at a premium in Perth and WA as a whole. Demand for land is so intense that people are camping out for days to get their hands on a tiny parcel of the latest release — behaviour never before contemplated in WA. Would-be home buyers are increasingly discovering that For Sale signs go up in front of houses only so the agent can place a Sold sign over the top.

The article also goes onto say that there is also a chronic shortage of rental accommodation — an increasing problem for a state desperately trying to tempt workers from the eastern states and overseas. Terry Swift, a recruitment agent of 20 years’ experience, says people are willing to come to WA for work. “But they are also getting a surprise when they find out what housing costs here are now,” he says. “There’s a shortage of rental properties and there’s hardly a house available for sale. This has caught everyone by surprise.”

Bugger!

Now I keep a watchful eye on the rental situation in Perth, realestate.com.au is one of my favourite haunts and there still appears to be a large number of rental properties coming on to the market on a weekly basis. I guess were probably looking at the best of what could potentially be a bad situation really.

If we weren’t moving to Perth now (say if we were to move out in two years time) Western Australia may well be very different and less affordable places to live. House prices in Perth already seem to be on the rise by 30% plus in some areas!

As I’ve mentioned before, I guess comparatively speaking, house prices in Australia are still pretty good compared to what they are over here in the UK, I just hope we get there in time to take advantage of them

Article Popularity: 4%

Skilled migrants who have been granted visas under the general skilled migration visa categories are achieving significantly higher levels of labour market success than ever before, the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Senator Amanda Vanstone and the Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Julie Bishop MP announced today.

A major evaluation of these categories has confirmed good results and has also identified some areas where targeting to the needs of the labour market can be enhanced.

The independent evaluation of the general skilled migration categories has been conducted by three of Australia’s leading immigration experts, Dr Bob Birrell, Associate Professor Lesleyanne Hawthorne and Professor Sue Richardson.

Australia already has the best skilled migration programme in the world, but we cannot afford to stand still, Minister Vanstone said. Read the full story

Article Popularity: 4%

Australia has led the worldwide real estate boom and enjoyed record price increases over the past three years, but as 2006 gets underway many fear that the recent success of the Australian real estate market is not sustainable.

While the Australian housing market may well face a short period of economic adjustment, there are still ways to profit from the real estate sector in Australia. Real estate investors examining the market just need to look a little further afield than Sydney!

Perth in Western Australia is one city where real estate prices remain affordable and where demand for quality accommodation to buy and rent is increasing which is creating an exciting micro property investment market opportunity ripe for exploration in 2006.

The reason for Perth’s sudden popularity from a real estate perspective springs from the fact that the city is enjoying a period of economic advancement led by a vast improvement in employment prospects. Local residents in Perth are benefiting from better paying employment and an abundance of opportunity, and the city is attracting a steady flow of inward migration as job seekers move to the city to take up offers of employment.

Historically Perth’s real estate prices have lagged well behind those of Sydney and Melbourne for example, and the average home finance sought to purchase in Perth is around 30,000 Australian dollars less than the average mortgage taken out elsewhere in Australia. The lower priced accommodation is attracting more interest from investors from across Australia as well who are all seeking a housing market with legs left to run. Furthermore the real estate sector in and around Perth is enjoying interest from international real estate investors who can see the long term prospects available.

As demand for accommodation in Perth increases as the city welcomes new residents, so the prices being charged for rental housing are on the up as well. Anyone who purchases real estate to let out in Perth right now can cash in on this boom in rental rate rises and retain their property while the predicted period of property price growth develops.

Across the rest of Australia many first time home buyers have been temporarily priced out of the housing market as property prices have exceeded affordable levels. While the market readjusts over the short term there are fears that a rental accommodation crisis is looming in some of Australia’s most popular cities such as Brisbane and Sydney. This concern is of course leading to sharp increases in rental rates being charged by landlords who are well aware of how valuable a commodity they own.

While this is an unfortunate situation for those caught in the rental trap it is a perfect situation for an investor seeking immediate returns on real estate investments in Australia. Anyone who makes a real estate investment purchase in Australia with the intention to let out that property will not only make a strong income currently but they will continue to enjoy property price growth over the longer term as the market readjusts and begins to grow again in Australia in the medium term.

And finally, if you’re interested in the real estate market down under and are not an Australian citizen, overseas buyers are free to own real estate in Australia that has been granted permission for sale to foreign purchasers; and you can rest assured that the purchase process will be straightforward because it is so well regulated in Australia.

About the Author

Rhiannon Williamson writes about overseas real estate investment and specialises in the analysis of property market trends and opportunities. To read more information about real estate investment in Australia click here.

Article Popularity: 3%