The REAL Cost To Live In Australia 2024

[@B0r0]

Here in Victoria we have a 150sm house, we have solar. Here are our costs. $85 a month for Electricity we also charge an EV with that. We dont have gas. Our water rates are $100 a month, our council rates are $120 a month. Our insurance house and contents $150 a month and we get free flood protection. Our internet is $44 a month NBN 25/10 unlimited. I also watch soccer, being a Middlesbrough FC fan, getting up at 5am really sucks and its just as bad as going to bed at 4am. (This info was valid from May 2024) no Termite inspections, our house is 100 years old. So no petrol as we have an EV and we do around 23,000km per year (over the last 2 years) car insurance $1200 and rego $700. Services are $245 every 15,000km. a 90 minute train ride to Melbourne is $7.20, in fact you can travel from anywhere in Victoria to Melbourne for 7.20 one way. For my phone I use Aldi and get 5gb for $17 a month. We have 2 dogs and it costs a fortune, one puppy has medical needs and takes 5 tablets a day. but the food we spend is approx $200 a month. We cook half and buy Saviourlife dog food. Reg is $44ea a year.

[@budawang77]

As you have explained, if you’re smart you can save a lot of money. Buying an EV if you aren’t required to do a lot of long distance driving is smart. Solar is a no brainer. Public transport in Victoria is great. Growing your own veggies can save money. Australia doesn’t have to be very expensive.

[@timrichmond1161]

Home and contents insurance, the big thing to remember, how much would it cost if your house needed to be rebuilt, all construction costs have increased, so if you do have a low value for the replacement of the house, then you may need to regularly, say every two years, re-adjust the cost and therefore the insurance value

[@jamiekirkpatrick3634]

automatically increased by a certain ^ every year, also some like AAMI have a complete replacement option

[@seachangelezzie]

We are on the coast about 100km north of Sydney, and pay about $3,400 a month fo4 a mortgage on a 3 bedroom, 2 bath villa unit. Your mortgage repayments seem incredibly cheap!

[@JoshAnderson-fn5yp]

Awesome thorough breakdown, all the info we needed to know and great to see the family in a video again!

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@davidmackenzie5971]

Have a look how hard it is other other side,housing and rentals is in a bad way, Hospital beds are short due to the influx of people into the country to live. Traffic is terrible so forth

[@gbreslin6635]

I recommend you get a solar hot water system on the roof. That will reduce your electricity significantly, particularly if you turn off the electric top-up heater when the water temperature is ok.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

The solar runs the electric water heater, isn't that enough?

[@gbreslin6635]

@@ThatJohnstonLife My view is that when running the electric water heater, the power usage is high, like an electric jug. Anything with a heater element uses lots of energy and it's what you use rather than what you make with solar that is the big difference. I am an environmentalist at heart but I believe you should use your solar to save money, not to be green. To be green is when, hopefully, the current Government will be around long enough to have the balance of our supplied electricity green. To go too far, the reason EV's are not covered in solar material is because of the weight and the relatively small amount of electricity made compared to usage requirements. The real advantages are regenerative braking (with little brake wear) and high energy-use efficiency. Then you charge your Tesla (leaders in efficiency and reliability, my opinion) at night when the coal power stations are stuffing about with relatively light loads. They still have to burn coal at night. You won't know this but back in the Conservative Bjelke-Peterson (sp) days of Union wars in the power sector, our radio station asked the populace to turn on something with a power bar (like a jug, heater hot-water system etc) for them to register the change in energy usage in order to determine the support for some issue.

[@mrsturnbull4698]

@@ThatJohnstonLife no get it to do the heating the power for lights cooking the lot it way cheaper.

[@suku420]

Loved the video and costings! Thanks

[@reefmangogomez]

Hi Mate! Which video should I watch for the Childcare Subsidy explanation? Loved your videos! Hoping to migrate there next year! :)

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Search on the channel. Pretty sure it has child care subsidy in the title

[@darrylcullen2409]

Hi Mate, are you sure about the water costs? Generally they are only paid four times a year, not monthly. Your $500 a quarter sounds possible, but I don't think thats monthly

[@gidonteff245]

As someone with ADD I have to say I realy appriciated this video

[@marcinakamartin619]

Ross another amazing movie thanks! What is the name of the shop where membership costs 60 dollars per year but you have 8 cents discount on fuel? Costco?

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

That's the one

[@jonathanadnitt7704]

The Movieworld yearly local pass also includes Wet and Wild, Sea world and Paradise country.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Makes it an even better deal

[@sapiens7821]

I would only move to Australia if you can afford the high cost of housing and living expenses. It’s a lovely place to live if you can afford it. If you’re on a low income you will struggle to find a house and rental. The competition is fierce and many homes are bought sight unseen in some cases. Everywhere is becoming too expensive as the cities like Brisbane are sky rocketing in price. It’s a shame as a Brit been here 10 years. You can no longer live where you want as it is based on income and asset wealth. I’m on $100,000 a year and consider myself poor and cannot afford to live in the cities or by the beach. Pushed to a regional area isolated, lack of infrastructure, things to do, low cost housing equals a dog box in Australia. I should be grateful I have a house. As many people are struggling. It’s crazy the value has gone up I wouldn’t pay the price for what there asking but people do. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the median house prices in places like Brisbane to go over a million plus dollars. I can already see the poor are getting poorer and the affluent skilled migrants and Aussies are getting richer. A real widening social gap is happening. Everyone is fighting to get on the property ladder, invest as they know the prices will keep going up. For those on low incomes left behind fighting for the scraps

[@tanthaman]

Nonce

[@marianjeffrey8684]

That's the same everywhere. If you are on a low wage, it doesn't matter what country you are in life is tough, not just Australia.

[@dman1875]

I lived in Australia. And my parents own a house in Perth. Basically, you have to be a boomer millionaire to live like this guy. The new generation will not be able to afford this. These costs are out of control.

[@OzPozzy278]

How much does CCP pay you for writing such comments?

[@dman1875]

@@OzPozzy278 haha, not enough mate.

[@KellBelle65]

I thought he was just a whingey putz who brought his gb gloom to down under. Not sure for what purpose. It's as if he's trying to drive the prices up or drive others away.

[@arokh72]

I would suggest you are living a more luxury type of lifestyle, by Aussie standards. So living in a smaller house, or apartment, in a different suburb, in a different city even, or even regional vs city, can be quite a bit cheaper. In terms of car costs, it's worth noting for anyone coming over, NSW, for example, charges rego based on vehicle weight, I think Victoria is similar.

[@gerrym75]

No, Victoria is even across the board. It is cheaper in regional areas though.

[@jj-87ro]

Only $1,000 per year for home and contents insurance? I pay double that and my house is half the size and that's with a discount as my car, etc. is insured with the same company. I recon you're dangerously under-insured and would not be able to rebuilt, if you had to, at today's prices of labour and materials.

[@rl7586]

My electricity bill is zero 6.4 KW Solar and Hybrid Hot-water Your water bill is so high, because Grey and Black water costs a lot We have Town Water and a bio cycle system which doesn’t need maintenance and so the water bill is only about $100 a quarter Greetings from the Tableland near Cairns Great Climate up here as well Temperature 10to30 degrees Living at 850m above sea level

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

I probably need a water tank

[@CAUTIOUSLYJOYFU]

I just spend $482 on groceries 7 days ago I’m already running low on stuff, unless your making over 90k a year have no mortgage or finance Australia is not for you

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

What are you buying for that much?

[@Glenn-ei3xp]

How many are you feeding?ffs. You living on caviar?

[@santannalucas]

Do you count ciggies as groceries?

[@CAUTIOUSLYJOYFU]

@@Glenn-ei3xp just drinks and junk food add up to $200 Per week, I got 5 mouths to feed, meat costs anywhere from 100-150 per week than you gotta add in frozen goods, cheese etc if you wanna do a proper shop unfortunately that is the kind of money you gotta spend

[@Glenn-ei3xp]

@@CAUTIOUSLYJOYFU mate that’s 10k a year on junk food. It’s called junk for a reason. It’s easy enough to chuck a chook and some spuds in the oven, boil up some corn on the cob, nuke a bit of frozen veg in the microwave and you got a great feed for 5 that’s costs Bugger all. You’re complaining about spending $482 on groceries, but you’re tossing half of that money away

[@terrysimpson6761]

I also can’t see how your diesel is only $50 a week I ran an imax diesel and that’s a small engine but didn’t use it much to run it on $50 a week. Certainly couldn’t use it for work every day.. also Brisbane here.

[@benj6244]

Your family look very happy mate. We're expecting a household income of $250-300k but that would be in Sydney which seems expensive from what I can see. Good to see some generally pricing info thugh.

[@pjmoody]

I think you mean per quarter (3 months) on most of the utilities you have mentioned. Thanks for sharing

[@jeffoff7795]

I hope so.

[@Phiyedough]

It does sound horrendously expensive compared to here in Croatia. It does not appear that a UK state pension would give you an adequate income to live in Australia.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

I'm not sure of a country where a UK state pension would give you an adequate quality of life on it's own

[@mrsturnbull4698]

As an Australian born here and I live in Tasmania its cheaper here than on the mainland but you need a profession like doctor nurse or trade like building etc. We are small Island not like mainland we have four seasons and snows up in Highlands. at moment nearly 10am 7c might get to 10c its Winter. If you like cooler weather its good here but yes expensive compared to Europe. So be careful if you want to come here learn about the place the suburbs country areas which i live in its better we have good life in retirement here. But at moment there is not enough adequate housing in most states and buying a house will cost a lot more than say Italy or Spain Portugal which have nice prices.

[@ThatTaRaGiRL]

WOW. There goes my dreams of moving to Australia 😂 EXPENSIVE (and I'm from about 20 minutes from the Capital in Upstate NY) I'll take a backpacker's deal, at least PARTIALLY live my dream, then juat move south here in the US. The weather was one of the reasons that Australia seemed so great. And the more laid back people, the beautiful beaches etc etc etc. Anyway, thanks for the video! 😊

[@mamasita65]

my work mate was from america he loves it here then there been here his family 7 years not as much crime either to u country

[@criticalthinkersrule]

Council rates are not based on the value of your house - they are based on the budget for the council's expenditure. House values are used to work out how the payments are distributed. If your property goes up by the average amount for the council area then none of your rates increase is based on value increase - only on an increase in how much money the council needs to raise.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Thanks for that. I hope this is the case then when my next set of rates come through

[@gerrym75]

They are totally based on your house value. What do the you think the "Capital improved value" is?

[@jimbrien1112]

The council rates are worked out based on the Land value only . the actual house value or size makes no difference ..

[@gerrym75]

@jimbrien1112 Thanks for clarifying . My comment above is incorrect, but the point I was making is that it's not simply whatever the council needs for their budget as the op seemed to state.

[@jimbrien1112]

@@gerrym75 yes you are 100% correct it all comes down to the council needs an extra 20 million to cover it's costs so the rate payer is going to have to cover that cost by the proportion of there land value.

[@tranthanhtung362]

Hi, I saw you have a GWM in the video, can I ask if that car is worth it ?? I am planning to buy 1

[@Yoza33]

I pay $1610 a year in home insurance in New Zealand without the contents insurance. The cv value of my home is only 320k.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

expensive

[@lannblade]

Great video, hopefully I am able to do the move in the near future!

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Best of luck!

[@tanthaman]

No

[@PS1-1]

Hey Ross great videos. My wife and I with our two boys are moving to Hervey Bay from Uk soon. Just wondered if you had any info about bringing our cars with us!?! Cheers.

[@bradg7701]

Look at Australian customs site. It's not a problem if they're private vehicles, but only 1 per adult.

[@turbostyler]

You lucky guy, hervey bay is gods country.

[@RoyalFroggyFriends]

Biggest hurdle in Australia is getting into the housing market. Your remuneration is negligible. I am in the top 5 percentile but can afford a mean house in any of the Ausie cities. If you onwed a house in 2020 consider yourself very luck and rich.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Yes

[@OzPozzy278]

I mean you can still find a diamond in the rough tho

[@turbostyler]

Man I wish my moreton bay rates bill was that low. I pay just shy of 800 a quarter at warner. On 1.5 acres.

[@graw9833]

Great video sir! Appreciate the video, very well informed. 😌

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Glad it was helpful!

[@sandramariegray7894]

Glad I live in Perth.

[@thrusta100]

Why? Isolated, still expensive asf..

[@FPLMattDay]

@@thrusta100it’s beautiful with incredible weather and the best outdoors life , Underrated gem but property is rising but still cheaper than Brisbane

[@chrisfuller1184]

So do I and it’s not any different here if not getting worse!

[@robbiesheppard3280]

You live in Queensland , very different to the biggest city in Australia 🇦🇺 which is Melbourne state of Victoria with the weather more like the UK and one could say Melbourne is similar to London. Very different to Brisbane which is a third tier city centre compared to Melbourne and Sydney.

[@lutontown5923]

That third tier youve all decided to come and move here😂.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

You make Melbourne sounds great champ, thanks

[@arokh72]

Though there are only 240000 people in it, Sydney is still the biggest city in Australia. Also the most expensive.

[@robbiesheppard3280]

@@arokh72 Melbourne's population was 4,875,400 at the country's most recent census in 2021, while there were 18,700 fewer people in Sydney, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) which returns Melbourne to the mantle of Australia's most populous city, a title it last held in 1905

[@arokh72]

@@robbiesheppard3280 fair enough, matters not, they both suck in my books haha, but then I live out bush :)

[@Coooeee]

You need to report what different professions earn otherwise there's no reference to the cost of living.

[@deechrishome]

0:54 water at $465? 😮

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Per quarter

[@yozr8195]

So for all ! How much ? Do 80k a yer good for 2 person?!

[@stevenbalekic5683]

Wow, are Queensland council rates really every month? In South Australia we pay about the same amount but only quarterly...so roughly just about $1400 a year. And water is also quarterly and only about $250...so about $1000 per year

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Sorry, rates and water are quarterly

[@arnolddavies6734]

No, he’s got that wrong. Council rates are every quarter.

[@markb3146]

Mate, Rates and water is per Qtr not per month in our neck of the woods.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Yeah nah, even I make mistakes

[@workforyouraims]

how much do you think it would be the bare minimum to live on melbourne or sydney, for a single guy. a very small apartment but not very far from the city, so there is public transportation and to not need having a car, eating only at home, gym membership and and occasionally drinking some coffee at a bar or other cheap entertainments. Thanks.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

How long is a piece of string? Too many variables to give an accurate answer. Earn as much as you can and weirdly enough if you really want to live there, you'll find a way. Or you won't like it, and you'll move somewhere else for cheaper. Quality of life is all about the happiness you have from where you live. You can find that anywhere

[@seachangelezzie]

The average rental price for a 1 bedroom apartment in inner Sydney is $600 per week. That does not include utilities or internet. The average full time salary in Sydney is $108K. Monthly public transport pass is around $135, and average gym membership is $70 a month.

[@kjlovescoffee]

You spend $465 a month on water? That's almost 8000L a day - you must have a leak! Mine's about $70 per quarter!

[@nairarabila720]

Yep. Install a tank!

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Sorry, I meant a quarter

[@DigiDriftZone]

What’s that in GBP? :)

[@peterwood2633]

Wow egg prices are getting on for nearly half that of NZ! How are you received as a brit in Aus? You hear theyre buddy buddy with kiwis but not brits?

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

They're buddy buddy with people they like. If you're a cock they want nothing to do with you. Pretty universal if you ask me

[@Gordon_L]

Your council rates are expensive there , 2.5 X what i pay , my land valuation which is based on unimproved property value came in at $355 k this year . When property values greatly increase in a short period of time , councils adjust the rate in the dollar that landholders pay , i.e. a 25% increase in value in one year should not translate into a similar increase in rates . 1:19 council rates are NOT based the value of your house ( like the U.S. ) they are based on unimproved land value .

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Thanks for the info. I hope that's the case when my next rates come out

[@HarmonysAdventures-rg5eh]

What belt level you at mate? Bjj is awesome

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Always a white belt

[@blacksheepev4519]

Question here about Costco. Do they sell diesel over there? Here in 🇨🇦 they only sell petrol Cheers

[@turbostyler]

Yes they sell diesel over here. Oddly enough the lowest grade petrol has 10% ethanol, or you can buy premium without ethanol. But they don't sell the lower octane petrol without ethanol.

[@aussiemoolay8589]

ooooofff... thank god I'm in WA with cheaper rates then. power $130 per quarter, $250 per quarter for water and $120 per quarter for gas. $1.60-$1.80 for diesel.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Thanks for sharing the prices

[@pranavvhankate2079]

Mate what do You do for a living?

[@paulm5000]

I'm 3mins from the end of the vid and know nothing about the cost of living in Australia. Spurting out the prices of this and that in AUD means nothing to anyone outside Australia. I guess you are aiming this at people overseas. An idea of average income and an exchange rate at the start would have been a help.

[@sa2591-p5d]

Yeah a few of those costs should have been qtr’ly.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

I make a lot of mistakes

[@GoldCoastExplorer]

Costs have doubled everywhere 🏖🏖

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

They're sure going up

[@Lost.aussie]

It should say , the cost of living in qld " one of the most wanky states" .. every state is different , wages are the same but in Queensland living cost alot more

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Bit of a long title

[@bjtaudio]

Living in Brisbane is expensive.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

It's not cheap

[@bobbyray9834]

I love this sarcasm 😂😂

[@azralewis5320]

I want to move to Australia

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Do it

[@davidmackenzie5971]

Please tell the people about lack of housing and rentals, also hospital beds due to the Imagration of 690 k last year alone or is someone paying you to promote Australia. There are more and more starting to live on the streets. Please look into it

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

I totally agree that migration isn't helping ease housing issues. But I don't think completely stopping skilled migrants coming here is going to fix it either. The government needs to do more to actually help people, rather than scapegoating people who are looking to contribute to Australia in search of a better life

[@rl7586]

Too many coming on Student Visa, but don’t really study here That’s why the number is high as well backlog from COVID

[@zhaofengzheng2923]

In my opinion, there is no "best mortgage". If you need a mortgage to afford a house, you shouldn't buy a house.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Gonna stop a lot of people buying property then

[@darrenashley126]

A lot cheaper than Victoria, I'll just hide under the covers.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Stay warm mate

[@mckaypaterson2519]

Show the real cost of excessive immigration for the inhabitants. Low income Australians living in tents in major Australian cities' parks and along side roads, because they cannot afford the rents or loan repayments! I've witnessed this while travelling around my country.

[@davidmackenzie5971]

Thank you for telling it like it is mate 🤠💯❗

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

I agree that there is a housing issue, but the problems with the housing system are not solely caused by migrants. Negative gearing, lengthy home building processes? Why doesn't the government do something to actually help people living it rough, rather than shoving the blame onto a group of people who on the whole contribute more financially to the system than cost?

[@Hellfire99666]

People also forget that during covid a lot of people from the south moved to Queensland because of the relaxed rules which has also caused a lot of problems for renting/buying here

[@Smart_Tamaha]

DAM, I should have moved to Australia instead of Canada from the UK.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Loads of people enjoy Canada too

[@Smart_Tamaha]

@@ThatJohnstonLife Thank you for making me happy and satisfied.

[@PeacefulTraveller888]

Sounds like you are complaining about living in Australia. Surely you could go home to the UK if you dislike Australia❓🤔

[@DebbieSun-wr2jk]

One good thing about Australia if you are disabled or just can't find work you can claim not a bad benefit carers get more than pensioners and you can claim it for the rest of youre life lol

[@timb8595]

$220 a month for phone 😮

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

A year

[@jed2055]

I've been binge watching your videos working forward from 3 years ago and got to here tonight; your gender scan vid, so still heaps to go. Unfortunately that won't happen. In one of your previous vids I was called "nosey" for viewing it. I am interested in how a young family is settling in a new country (both my wife's dad and mine were British). I like to see how you two handle a very active and spoiled 2 year old while navigating a "new" culture. I guess it's also about what you are doing along the way but now according to you I'm a pervert! Now that is one "weird" way to increase viewers. As a father who has raised 3 good kids to adulthood and guardian of 4 others still at home, with the youngest only 8yo and another on the autistic scale, I resent your comment and inference. Def. not a way to gather in the sheep. I have jumped ahead to this vid (not viewed) to say sadly, I won't be "perving" anymore. That'll do me Johnston family. I think you picked the right country and the best of luck on your journey.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

It was a joke mate, calm down

[@danielsmall5078]

So same cost as canada lol

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Thanks for the comparison

[@Lyn4817]

If you under insure, your toast if you need it.

[@Dilmahteabags]

You have a consumption issue.

[@SamanthaSmith-tv1jl]

Relatively cheap compared with uk

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

There's always somewhere cheaper and somewhere more expensive

[@kyungshim6483]

You don't sound Aussie. Brit I would guess.

[@shazza160]

You’ve become an Ozzy. Talk like rapid gunfire.

[@robbiesheppard3280]

P.S. The cars he drives are very fuel inefficient and they are not electric ⚡️ move with times…

[@Myrtlecrack]

Is it cheaper to run an electric car than the petrol equivalent per kilometre?

[@budawang77]

@@Myrtlecrack Yes, it's cheaper if you charge from home. Even more so if you have solar.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Electric utes are expensive and shit. Times need to move quicker before I'll get one

[@budawang77]

@@ThatJohnstonLife In my opinion it makes a lot of sense to get an EV as a second car for mostly city driving. Particularly with the relatively inexpensive but high quality Chinese EVs we are lucky to get in Australia.

[@Liam25025]

Electric cars are a load of shit

[@lovechineseforeverever2]

AUSTRALIA IS ONE EXPENSIVE MUFF

[@Lokkodog]

Australia is over rated ..used to be good...shame

[@des668]

You speak too fast and boring. I gave up after 30 seconds.

[@architection610]

Australia is a horrible country with no freedoms, everything is banned, very boring, high taxes, low salaries, huge housing costs, over reaching laws.

[@ThatJohnstonLife]

Where would the ideal country be?

[@architection610]

@ThatJohnstonLife not sure but certainly not Australia