Immigration Forum / Australia and NZ / March 2007

I've been in Sydney almost 3 years now (last lived in Ealing) and can
give you my opinion:

Food shopping is not any cheaper than London, and taxes are higher,
certainly income tax anyway. Although NI and VAT in the UK may bring
it closer. There has been considerable tax cutting here. I don't think
the monthly bills are very far apart.

Going to a resort (especially ski-ing or an island) is pretty pricey
too. Gone are the days when we could get a cheap package to Spain.

Stamp Duty in Australia is a lot more than in the UK, although if
you've not owned a property in Australia before you're classed as a
first time buyer and eligible for $500,000, tapered up to $600,000 (in
NSW) and  7K grant too - not dependent on the property price!

The cheaper things are petrol (50p?), insurance (off the top of my
head, 20% or so), house prices, transport (I'd say less than half
London), eating out (byo!) and alcohol (perhaps 40% less for a local
bottle of wine).

However, interest rates and taxes being higher, you are not greatly
better off, and the flight back to the UK costs too!

I'd vote for about the same. If I didn't own a house and was on a
lower wage, I'd say I was better off.