Thanks to its sun, sea and surf, Australia sounds attractive at the best of
times. In the worst of times, it sounds positively Elysian. Or, as one
British expat observed: “Unemployed in Scunthorpe or unemployed on Bondi
Beach - which would you prefer?”
Last year, a record 23,000 British migrants arrived in Australia. This year,
even more recession-weary Brits are expected to apply to migrate there -
some, perhaps, inspired by Baz Luhrmann’s sweeping cinematic vistas of the
country. Which makes it a good time to ask what you can expect from life
down under.
Let’s start with the good news. Most aspiring migrants assume the Antipodes
will mean warmer weather, more space and a better quality of life. From
where I’m sitting – at a desk overlooking a leafy acre of the Adelaide
Hills, enjoying a very clement 26 degrees – these are perfectly reasonable
assumptions.
I’ve enjoyed the Australian sunshine since 1992, when I left London for Sydney
with a couple of thousand in the bank. I’ve made good hay since then,
entering the city’s property market in 1995 and riding the years of
prosperity. Today, I’m in South Australia, where my wife and I delight in
seeing our young boys growing up, happy, healthy and safe.
As a British expat, I’m often asked what I most like about Australia. Where do
I start? The big cities offer all the civilisation, commerce and culture I
need, yet true wilderness is never far away. Great restaurants are a fact of
life, rather than a special occasion, lovely old British sports cars don’t
rust, and while Anglo predispositions towards humour, energy and asking
questions are seen as symptoms of Pommie madness, they’re appreciated by the
locals.
Perhaps the best news, at least from where you’re sitting, is that Britons who
bring their equity south – however much it has dwindled in the past year –
can usually afford more house than they had back home.
Which brings us abruptly to the bad news. First, being unemployed on Bondi
Beach is a real possibility – if not for you, at least for your new
neighbours. Yup, the credit crunch has hit us too.
Second, the pound, which until recently bought A$2.50, is now below A$2.20.
And finally, the property market, which was still surging this time last
year, is looking patchy, so you can no longer count on capital appreciation
if you buy. Prices are still rising in the Northern Territory and Tasmania,
the least populated states, but elsewhere they’re either falling or
flatlining.
So, what are the pros and cons of the five Australian cities that were most
popular with British migrants in 2008?
1 Perth, Western Australia Rich in gold, iron, bauxite and oil,
Western Australia began the millennium with a mining boom. As this leviathan
slab of Oz spat out valuable minerals and metals, it sucked up managers,
tradespeople, doctors, nurses and policemen – which is why, last year, the
greatest number of migrants from Britain (7,100 of them) arrived in Perth,
the state capital. House prices have doubled in the past six years, but are
heading down now, as economic growth slows sharply.
Nick Sullivan, 27, a recruitment consultant for the mining industry, left
Swindon in 2001. In 2003, with his Australian wife, Brooke, he bought a
two-bedroom 1920s home in Inglewood, a suburb 10 minutes’ drive northeast of
the central business district (CBD), for about £120,000. “We knew property
prices were increasing and, looking back, our timing was great,” he says. He
reckons the house, which has a sun deck, high ceilings and a two-car garage,
is now worth between £300,000 and £340,000.
“When I first got here, I was amazed by how clean it was,” he says. “It was
like being on holiday, what with the beaches and the space and the
lifestyle. On the negative side, the pace of life is a bit slower and the
isolation is a factor for some people. We’re a five-hour flight from Sydney
– in fact, we’re supposed to be closer to Singapore – but the beauty of the
place more than makes up for that.”
As the global economy shrinks, the commodities boom that drove up the price of
property is over, at least for the time being. The analyst Australian
Property Monitors says house prices fell by 3.4% in the third quarter of
last year, with flats falling by 4.2%. Prices are expected to “tread water”
for up to a dec-ade.Nevertheless, with just 1.5m people, Perth remains a
spacious, open city, famous for its beautiful beaches on the Indian Ocean,
and Sullivan says that there are still opportunities for British migrants.
“I keep trying to persuade my parents to come over,” he says. “They might
bring £300,000 to £400,000 with them, and they could have so much more here:
the further from the CBD, the more they could have.
“Take the suburb of Ocean Reef, 30 minutes’ drive up the freeway. They’d get a
huge house, sea views, probably a pool. There are a lot of Brits there, and
I see people with boats outside their houses. They’re living really well.”
2 Brisbane, Queensland Queensland, the other mining state, was the
second most popular destination with British settlers last year, attracting
some 6,000 of them. Many of them made for Brisbane, a Cinderella city of
1.8m that has flourished in the past five years, reaping huge revenues from
mining and a superheated property market.
It also received floods of wealthy retirees, lured from Sydney and Melbourne
by its warmer climes, laid-back atmosphere, generous river, fine beaches and
hilly hinterland. Others headed for the Gold Coast, a seam of high-rises
running along 30 miles or so of beautiful beach. Occupied mostly by
chardonnay-drinking retirees, real-estate speculators and holidaymakers
visiting theme parks and casinos, it may be your idea either of heaven or of
hell, but British buyers remain the biggest overseas investors.
As in Perth, the housing market in Brisbane has become a victim of its
meteoric success. In the third quarter of 2007, prices fell by 5.2%, the
biggest decrease of all the state capitals. Which could be good news if
£400,000 for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom, 100-year-old timber house with
bay views sounds like a good deal. Provided prices don’t slide further after
you’ve bought, that is.
3 Sydney, New South Wales In 2008, New South Wales attracted 4,000
Brits, the third-largest number. Unsurprisingly, most settled in Sydney, the
harbour city that epitomises the Aussie dream. On a good day, few
metro-polises in the world can rival Australia’s de facto capital for its
combined natural beauty, capitalist fervour and Riviera glamour. But there’s
a telling murmur doing the rounds: if you’re not living beside the water,
why live in Sydney?
More than 4.2m people are squeezing into smaller living spaces and the
pressure is starting to show, not least in bad tempers, lousy public
transport and crowded roads – some pay as much as £50 a week in tolls to
negotiate the slew of new tunnels and highways on their way to work. Piling
on the agony, the state government is piling on new taxes.
After 12 years of speculation, property is the most expensive in the nation
(the median house price is £257,000), but there’s now an across-the-board
correction: the third quarter of 2008 saw 1.7% shaved off house prices and
1.1% off flats.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though. For £245,000, you can buy a small
two-bedroom flat. This sounds comparable to London, but it’s in desirable
Bondi and has a balcony with Pacific Ocean views.
4 Melbourne, Victoria Victoria received 3,200 British émigrés last
year, swelling Melbourne’s 3.8m population. Home to some of the nation’s
biggest manufacturers and industrial in aspect, Melbourne is unfairly
derided as Sydney’s ugly sister, but properly regarded as a city of culture,
great shopping and good humour.
Susan Swann, 32, and her boyfriend, Oliver Horn, moved from London three years
ago. “I’d never been to Australia, but Oliver worked for Foster’s and the
company made him a good offer to relocate,” she says. “We arrived in
Melbourne in December, and it was fabulous. We went straight into summer,
only it was a proper summer, which was a real novelty.” Swann found a new
job in PR and was soon doing the “Australian lifestyle thing”, enjoying
sport, eating out and “being surrounded by people who were friendly,
welcoming and interested”.
Earlier this year, the couple bought a house in fashionable St Kilda at
auction, for what Swann says was “a good price”. Although reluctant to
reveal what that price was, she says it would have only bought her a
two-bedroom flat in Barons Court, west London, where she was living before.
“Now we’ve got a three-bedroom Victorian semi with polished floors, period
features and a garden,” she says. “And we’re five minutes from a beach. I
know Australians think Melbourne beaches are rubbish, but they’re great. I
should know – we go running on the sand every morning.” The Melbourne flat
market continues to be oversupplied and volatile, but at present house
prices have hit a plateau – certainly a result in this climate.
5 Adelaide, South Australia I’ve already declared my interest in
Adelaide, capital of South Australia and the fifth most popular destination
for Brits (2,450 arrived in 2008). Five years ago, I effectively swapped a
two-bedroom miner’s terrace in Sydney’s inner west for my present home: a
four-bedroom 1870s villa with an acre of land, on which there is a stone
cottage dating to 1859. It cost £175,000.
Luckily for me, furious mineral exploration, the world’s biggest uranium
deposit and a general dawning that something was seriously out of kilter
have meant house prices have doubled since then. But that still makes it
only £440,000 for a large property 20 minutes’ drive from the central
business district – which, even by Australian standards, is underpriced. Or,
as a mate from Melbourne recently commented: “Jeez, you blokes are giving it
away.”
Adelaide is a city people end up in, rather than choose. For some, this big
country town of 1.1m is just too small. But folk like me appreciate its
intimacy, elegance and the fact that it’s only 20 minutes from the beach or
a winery in the hills. That mining boom hasn’t yet happened, but sectors
such as defence could keep the job market steady.
In the three months to September, Adelaide house prices nudged up by 1.2%
(prices of flats hit a plateau). Some of this unseasonal growth is down to
people bringing their buying power in from the eastern states and, yes, from
overseas.
Bonzer deals
Despite the weak pound, you can still find value for money down under
Queensland - £724,400 In Raby Bay, Brisbane, No 28 Nautilus Drive is a
waterfront home with glorious views directly up Columbus Canal. The
912-square-metre home, built in the late 1990s, has five bedrooms, three
separate living areas, a media room, a deluxe kitchen and three bathrooms.
Outside are a three-car garage and a swimming pool. LJ Hooker; 00 61 7
3286 2500, www.ljhooker.com.au/cleveland
New South Wales - £242,200 This two-bedroom flat with 56 square metres of
living space at the south end of Bondi Beach, Sydney, has sensational
Pacific Ocean views. The flat, in a 1960s block, would benefit from an
open-plan renovation. It is near the trendy delis, bars, cafes and surf
shops of the area, with easy access to the famous Tamarama coastal walk. Nexus
Estate Agents; 00 61 2 9416 7800, www.nexusea.com.au
South Australia - £450,800 Semi-rural living in Bradbury, 30 minutes’ drive
from central Adelaide. This four-bedroom, three-bathroom, four-garage home,
built in 1993, is set in seven acres; as well as 275 square metres of living
space, it has a large deck and an outdoor hot tub. Equestrian extras include
a tack room, a hay-storage area and fenced paddocks. Ray White; 00 61 8
8391 6866, www.raywhite.com
