I know You don't really mean that. Besides, this thread is in the Help Needed !section and if Scamp doesn't need help then who does ?
Wasn't there some ABC reporter on this forum looking for a story not that long ago ? How about a story about a young migrant arriving here from a civilized European country, his grandiose dreams and the culture shock of landing in a banana republic. The daily struggle for survival in a typical aussie backyard, putting up with red-backs and funnel web spiders and the occasional king brown and tiger snakes crawling from under the fibro rented house. Then after a hard day's work renovating a lovely blue asbestos cottage the constant lookout for stingers,jellyfish, blue-ring octopus, sea snakes, sharks and saltwater crocs while trying to cool himself down at the beach in temperatures of 44 degrees plus. Finally when the sun goes down and he goes to bed thinking that he can now finally relax the Encephalitis and Ross River virus carrying mosquitoes come out to play. We could just call it SCAMP, get Michael Caton to host it and it could become more popular then Backyard Blitz and Hot Property put together.

Scamp, I thought you'd like to read this. Yes, I know…. The other banks won't follow them.

ANZ cuts fixed mortgage rates

http://business.theage.com.au/business/anz-cuts-fixed-mortgage-rates-20080808-3s4w.html

Actually both taxes and pensions are going up Scamp. And I wouldn't bother with burglar alarms, nobody takes any notice of them in Australia. In fact you'll probably end up assaulted by your own neighbors if your alarm wakes them up in the middle of the night too many times.

Tax review to consider boost for pensioners

http://www.theage.com.au/national/tax-review-to-consider-boost-for-pensioners-20080807-3rsv.html

High house prices has little to do with crime rates, most people would be too tired after working long hours to go out and commit crimes. The biggest factor in the increase in crime rate is boredom. Look at all the larger cities in NSW where house prices are much lower the Sydney but crime rate much higher. Soaring crime rates and binge drinking caused by ….. Gen Y of course. Not FHBs worried of losing their home, not struggling investors but lazy no good schoolies getting wasted and smashing everything in site.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/11/2185836.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s2185412.htm

Any small coastal town with no high schools and mostly older population is a nice place to live. What do you care about unemployment ?If you can pay cash for your place then the dole money will cover daily expenses and you can spend your days at the beach. For extra cash you can always go fruit picking with the backpackers a couple of months a year .

So far that prediction of  a 0.5% rise doesn't look good, lets see how September pans out for you.

How do you figure that out ? The average worker could easily afford to buy there on less then a years income. How is that overpriced ?

"Nurses, teachers and emergency department workers in Sydney are being forced to buy houses long distances away from their jobs."

Wow, I'm really sorry for them if they are forced to buy houses. What happened, the rents in the CBD are too high for them ?

"Of the country's top 10 most unaffordable areas, Sydney has six. With a $2 million-plus median house price, Mosman is Australia's least affordable place. The median house price there is 32 times a police officer's annual earnings – and 40 times for a nurse."

Wow again, the average nurse or policeman is priced out of that $2M median house in Mosman. That could explain any corruption happening in the NSW police force, they all want to live in Mosman. No wonder the median price is so high over there and would also explain why someone would need a 40 years Easypay Home loan from the "Police and Nurses Credit Society ".

"On that formula, key workers such as nurses, firefighters, teachers and police officers are effectively shut out of 93 per cent of local government areas in Sydney, meaning they cannot live in many of the communities they serve."

93% of local government area , that sounds like a lot. Sounds to me like they have to use public transport or a car to get to work. That's tough, I really feel for them.

"According to research released this week, more than 80 percent of capital city council areas are too expensive for key workers to buy a house, forcing them to move away and face a hefty commute to work."

So they are shut out of 93% but only 80% are too expensive ? How does that work out ?
Sounds to me like they've started working on the next pay rise.

Now why would I think that about you ? That's not a very nice thing to say. After all you've done your research and you know the weather is different. BTW, did you know the distance between Hobart in the South and the top of Cape York is more then the distance between Holland and Egypt and as such we have different weather between North and South?

Sydney is the world's most unaffordable city, unaffordable to whom exactly ? I haven't seen any stampede on TV so the majority must still be able to afford to live there . Besides, its all relative to your wealth, income and prospects … if you think Sydney is unaffordable for you then it would be silly to buy there, wouldn't it ? There are always affordable alternatives somewhere else, like Tumbarumba for eg.

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=105087144&f=10&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&cc=&c=14751278&s=nsw&snf=rbs&tm=1218012048

Then again, for someone arriving in OZ with no money or job prospects a house in Tumbarumba would be also look unaffordable, at least in the beginning. Would you say that's because the house was overpriced or only unaffordable?

I'm sure you have, I only wanted to bring to your attention that currently the IT guys here are unaffordable and unsustainable. I suspect when they have a wages drop of 50% or more then some businesses will reconsider and if they found it affordable maybe bring back some jobs. But until that time comes they will continue to rent IT guys from India. Why pay silly money for someone to pick his nose and surf the web when for a fraction of that you get someone who comes up with the results ? Don't answer that, it was a rhetorical question.

Is this prediction coming from the same guy who gave the last tip about 2 more rate rises before Xmas ? Man, If I was you I'd go find him, beat him up real good and get my money back.
But hey, I see you you're still dreaming so I don't want to wake you up. Enjoy your dreams while they last Scamp.

Make sure you move to Sydney then. They have some of the most relaxed people in the country because of the relaxation techniques training they do on a daily base, on the way to work and back . The current trends is toward 4 hrs/ day of relaxation and properties as far away from the beach as possible are favored. Something to do with global warming, I think, because the other side of Lithgow seems to be fast becoming a favorite with Sydney workers. You shouldn't have any problem finding lots of properties below cost near CBD and the beaches, up to 50% below market price in some cases.

Seriously thou, You are more likely to arrive here and find that most aussie IT jobs are outsourced to India and the pay is crap. If you 're looking to buy a place you'll have to compete with a dump truck operator, welder or cleaner working on some mine site in FNQ or NW of WA. He'll make 3-4 times your salary and if that's not enough competition you'll also have investors from Asia who are able to buy with cash, outbid you and hold for the long term. Then your choice will be to buy an "overpriced" property yourself or rent one from the cleaner or investor who outbid you in the first place. If only they could read your warnings about the CRASHING property market. Then while you are waiting for that 40% drop he'll be collecting half your income in rent and use it to pay off the property and even buy another one. After a year or two you'll probably get fat up with waiting for a crash, have enough of the nice weather with forty degrees plus, the beaches you were to busy working to enjoy, the nice people who are foaming at the mouth during a road rage attack and you'll miss your family and friends from back home. If your gf hasn't already left you by then you'll pack up your things and return to Holland wishing you never heard of Australia or Google Earth.
But don't give up your dream Scamp, we need more cashed up people coming here to buy or rent. It stops the property market from crashing, pushes property prices higher and keeps the recession away.

cheers

What am I, a not for profit organization ? They can apply for gov. housing or buy their own place somewhere were they can afford it.

You can’t be forced to subsidize your tenant, not even by a tribunal. If negative gearing is gone the tenant will have to make up for it. Based on a 350K loan and median house prices then a 4x rental increase is probably very close to a fair increase in rent. Which is exactly why negative gearing is here to stay.