Itching to move to Oz but feeling disheartened by reports of how expensive life has become there? Don’t despair – recent reports reveal the cheapest places to rent down under and bargain spots where city beach homes won’t break the bank. We pick out the headline facts for you…
Melbourne is currently the most affordable city to rent a home. It helps that it is Australia’s most liveable city too…
Relocating foreigners arriving in Oz with an unlimited budget tend to head to the bright lights of Sydney, and why wouldn’t you. Fortunately, the Land Down Under has other exciting cities, where properties are more affordable, both to rent and buy.
So where to start? How about Victoria, the most affordable state to rent a home in 2024, according to a report by Oz’s leading property data provider. This represents a significant turn-around, as the south-eastern state was the second least affordable for renters in Oz as recently as 2016-17.
This improvement in affordability reflects the slower pace of rent growth in its capital city, Melbourne, since the pandemic. At the same time, Melbourne was ranked Australia’s most livable city in 2023 and boasts the most diverse economy in the country. Current rents in Victoria are low relative to much of the country, despite households having relatively high incomes, confirmed the PropTrack Rental Affordability Report 2024. At $550 per week, median advertised rents in Melbourne are $50 lower than Brisbane in Queensland and Perth in Western Australia.
Western Australia is the second most affordable state, said PropTrack. This is followed by South Australia, where the median rent of $540 per week makes its capital Adelaide the second cheapest capital city after Hobart (Tasmania). The median rent across all state capital cities is $600 per week. In Sydney, $750 for a house and $680 for an apartment makes it substantially more expensive than elsewhere in the country.
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Beach homes for all budgets
Vaucluse, one of Sydney’s wealthiest suburbs.
Few places do beach suburbs like Australia – it’s the type of location most foreign residents dream of having and suits the country’s outdoor lifestyle to a tee. Being close to a vibrant city centre, with its amenities and entertainment, while also having a golden beach on your doorstep to enjoy at weekends and after work comes at a price though. The country’s most exclusive suburbs are concentrated in the Sydney metropolitan areas of Northern Beaches and Eastern Suburbs. There, typical median prices of homes in suburbs like Vaucluse, Rose Bay and Palm Bay range from $5million to $10million.
Fear not, Australia’s other cities offer more affordable options, where $500,000-$700,000 will comfortably get you a lovely urban house by the sea. For the best choice head to Adelaide, home to six of the top 10 most affordable beach suburbs, according to research by PropTrack. Four of these are in the Adelaide-South district, namely O’Sullivan Beach with a median house value of $556,549, Christies Beach ($619,982), Sellicks Beach ($647,276) and Seaford ($657,172). Adelaide’s other two bargain suburbs are Taperoo ($588,323) and Osborne ($622,160), both in Adelaide-West.
Top of the list of affordable beach suburbs is in fact Tiwi ($521,119) in Darwin, Northern Territory, while Western Australia’s Perth takes second and fourth respectively, with Golden Bay ($533,733) and Safety Bay ($579,186).
Lower budgets could opt for something smaller and head to Darwin, where Nightcliff and Rapid Creek are Oz’s two most affordable suburbs for apartments, with Larrakeyah and Fannie Bay also ranked in PropTrack’s top 10. Median prices for each are $380,828, $389,811, $432,105 and $480,615 respectively. Other suburbs to consider for good value apartments include West Beach, Semaphore and Henley Beach South in Adelaide-West, Thorneside in Brisbane-East, Werribee South in Melbourne-West and Deception Bay in Moreton Bay-North.
Favourable exchange rate
Meanwhile, the expense of moving to Australia has been eased a bit in recent months thanks to nothing more than exchange rate movement. As of today (March 13, 2024), the pound is six per cent stronger against the Australian dollar compared to a year ago and nearly seven per cent (6.89 per cent) compared to two years ago. Based on the current rate £1/$1.93, this makes a $550,000 home around £18,000 cheaper than in March 2022.
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