Yet another question about living in Australia...

Actually a few more...
Sorry for posting so much but, y'know, no one is forcing you to read it I guess.

Anyway, I'm looking throught the classifieds for houses in Adelaide and the surrounding suburbs and it seems that all I'm finding are tiny cottages...for 600,000 dollars.

A$ I'm sure but still...HOLY SHIT!

Is home ownership a common goal for you guys?
How do you swing *that*?

I really wasn't prepared for 6 bills...jesus.
Where do all the waiters and dishwashers and garbagemen live?
I've heard there aren't many slums...I'm confused.

On a slightly different note but still will a tone of astonishment:
What is this that I'm looking at?
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=Adelaide+SA,+Australia&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=image

It's a map I know, but it appears to be lush waters and lakes dotting an area I thought was mostly desert.
Look around a bit...there apears to be water all over the place in there. I'm wondering why there are no civilian outposts or large metropolitan areas in these interior green spaces? Is it a trick of the lens? A seasonal anomaly?

And what's up with everything looking like someone dragged a grater across huge swaths of the continent.
Is this from past glacier movement or what?
Any geology buffs kind enough to explain this to me?

thanks again!

 

Alright, here goes. Can you dig it?....

$600,000 is becoming a pretty average house price in most upper market and middle class suburbs in Australian cities. These are obviously the sorts of places that everyone wants to live because they're close to the city and the like. But, in most cities, you can still score a pretty decent place for around $350,000 or so if you're willing to live further away from the city (and therefore have a longer commute to work etc.) Although, to be honest, in a lot of places, a $350,000 will be located right in the middle of a massive concrete sprawl.

Apparently, home ownership is the dream of all Australians. At least, according to our politians. Up until recently, owning a home was a pretty reasonable goal for most people, but this generation looks like it'll be the first generation in our history to rent for the rest of their lives.

With their parents. Or in a share house with 2 or 3 other people. Doing either/or is pretty common. Ive only just taken my first flat by myself recently. But, also, waiters and garbage truck drivers usually make pretty good money here, because of the skills shortage.

I dont know if we were looking at the same map, but when I clicked on it, the green area shown denotes the parkland in Adelaide. Inner Adelaide is bound on 4 sides by parkland and botanical gardens. It's pretty nice and it breaks up the endless sprawl of the city. Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have the same thing. But, it's not really a huge lush area like is shown. It's really just an area of trees and grass that is usually dead or dying from lack of rain. It's not that big either. As an example of the map's scale: You can quite easily walk from Keswick Terminal to Norwood South, crossing the entire inner city. It takes a little while, but even if you stopped for heaps of breaks, you'd still do it in a half day at the very, very most.

I dont know too much about geology, but, apparently, Australia is one of the "oldest" continents on earth. Im not sure how this works or really what this means, but apparently, what it has done is given the landscape here a lot longer than other places on earth to form. So, after billions of years of rain (it didnt always used to not rain here....apparently) and wind, most of our geological features have been eroded to the point where they're pretty much insubstantial compared to anywhere else on earth.

Hopefully you can follow what Ive scrawled up here ok. It's been Eurovision Semi Finals Night here tonight, so my typing ability is probably slightly dulled by the many bottles of Coopers Pale Ale I have consumed while watching it this evening.

Anymore questions, just shout out!

Best wishes,

Aaron.

 

Australia was once part of South East Asia and our aboriginals originally come from that area but evolved pretty differently from any other race on Earth. I love our aboriginals because they are really special people.....rarely found on this dustball of ours



Australia a melting pot of everything!

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Simpson+Desert+Conservation+Park,+Australia&sll=-26.578702,138.202515&sspn=2.814796,4.048462&ie=UTF8&ll=-26.219519,137.875671&spn=1.411849,2.024231&t=h&z=9

Whoops.
Here's the real thing.
Simpsons Conservation Area with it's bizarre kilometers wide 'scratches'. Also large green areas.
looks interesting. and empty.




NFSTD,
Anyone been to Port Lincoln?

 

Generally real estate on the net is the more expensive stuff. The bottom end of the market generally does not need a great deal of advertising to sell.Also country areas other than the coastal areas are generally more affordable than the capital cities but if you are considering a capital city then Adelaide is probably a better choice.

 

Right! that's where I'm was looking.

I mean, I'm looking all over: Darwin, Perth, that German Valley area near Adelaide...Newcastle...Port Lincoln everywhere really...but I'm starting to focus around the green Adelaide area. I'm hoping something turns up for under 300,000 or I might as well buy a house in San Francisco.

Good point about the advertised stuff, though!
Same goes for jobs I would imagine.

I kinda figured the housing market can't be as bad as what I'm seeing. I mean there's just no way that the prices can be *that* out of reach for long...because no houses would be sold!

The market would have to correct itself at some point.

My big fear now is whether I'll be able to go five years without an arrest! It's never been a big problem in the past but relocating is a fairly big investment and I would hate to see it ruined over a bar fight or a shred of a roach or something ridiculous like that.

 

Hmmm....Im not too hip to the real estate prices in Adelaide, but, if they're even close to what is expected in all the other cities in the country, then there isnt much of a chance of finding a place for under $300,000 on or near the parklands. Those areas are pretty flash, and they're also so close to the city that they're in a fair bit of demand.

You could probably find something for that price in or around Port Adelaide, but.......the tradeoff being, you'll have to live in Port Adelaide.

 

share houses and renting are common for young people.

doing a quick search, I found a 1-bedroom unit for $305,000 in Broadbeach - which I'd say is a pretty pricey area. you should be able to find a good deal if you just look around enough.

by the way, the american dollar is only slightly more valuable than the aussie one at this point. AU$600k = US$575. just fyi.

 

Check this site out:-

http://www.realestate.com.au/

I am looking to rent a flat in Perth in Oct