Sydney is not as un-affordable?

A lot of people (including myself) believe Sydney is becoming expensive to live in.
I found this great map, that shows Sydney is not that bad compared to its peers like London, SAn Francisco, Shanghai and so on. Map is here. In fact, Sydney is CBD is 128 in the world from "affordability point" and Western Sydney is affordable at 574!

 

What makes Sydney unaffordable for many is their entitlement attitude of where and what they must buy. I've been hearing Sydney is unaffordable long before the current boom cycle.

You can still buy 2 bedroom 1 parking units 12km from the CBD for 500k.

 

That is true. I was surprised to see that majority of Chinese cities are unaffordable. I have been told so by a lot of my friends and coworkers from China. But I written it off as entitled attitude as well. Turns out, nope, these cities are expensive to survive in...

 

I think the post was about cost of living more generally. Obviously, to some degree sydney must be affordable, as there are people managing to afford it.

A better question might be, is the city affordable enough to support a diverse range of people and occupations.

 

Yep, just replying from a property pov

With regards to diverse ppl being able to afford to live in Sydney, well seems so. Doesn't seem to be short of all walkes of life around the joint when I go out.

 

It seems the city is affordable enough. They compared a number of locations in Sydney. Obviously, the wild west was affordable. The issue with Sydney is clear when you compare it to some of European capitals.

If you look at Berlin or Paris (ignore London for now), the affordable and unaffordable pockets are distributed throughout the city. This way the haves mix better with the have nots, it doesn't create such an obvious divide as in Sydney. Sydney "latte" line is an interesting thing.

 

When you click on Central Business District (wt?) it brings up Western Sydney. Let's face it, Western Sydney is where the normal people on normal incomes live.

 

@Angel dear, have you forgotten your glasses? Try zooming in, whole world of possibilities opens up.

 

In terms of REA , alot of cities in China have boomed. I've realised returns of over 100% in 6 years or so. But the thing about China is most people get alot of help from their families . Many even buy apartments for their kids.

 

CBD = 71% of income to rent
Easter suburbs = 56% of income to rent
Inner west = circa 50% of income to rent
Western Sydney = 32% of income to rent

 

Yes, provided expectations are realistic.

I know of property owners with houses/semis etc in very good suburbs with rents at the bottom end of the market. They are very affordable, 2-3 bedrooms and in close to original condition. Non-main road locations, near shops, schools & regular transport to the city.

I have checked the most recent lettings for some of these and they are still below $700/wk near Cremorne. They have recently had a coat of paint, but have 20+ year old kitchens & 1970's bathrooms.

These are rare (isolated examples) but still contribute to the stats for average rents in at area.

Most of these places are in cotton wool until a developer makes a reasonable offer.

 

Oops, no, I missed the zoom buttons.

The data makes a LOT more sense now. This also explains why I couldn't find Paris

 

500k for a 2br is still too much for someone starting out.

Once you factor in rates, body corp etc it comes to a bit over $600 a week.

Doable if you're on over 80k....
Dangerous if you're on anything less.

 

I guess the current low interest rates is the saving grace.
My first home loan in 2005 was for a 200k loan and I think the interest rate was not too far off double the current interest rate. I was on about 45k.... That was really hard, couldn't get ahead.

 

I guess it also depends how much deposit you're putting in. Can always buy further than 12km from the CBD . At 23km away you can get 2 bedders for 400k. If that's still too expensive for folks then time to improve your income/spending habits and or leave Sydney imho.

 

Or at 17km (by road) - linky @ $375k

 

The difference with other major cities is that the commute is much shorter as public transport infrastructure are much more developed. Who wants to live 20km from the CBD if they work in the CBD? Who wants to spend 1h± commuting?
So if you want to stay within 1h Max of commute, yes Sydney is still expensive unfortunately.

 

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, these mega cities are not only affordable for ordinary ppl, there are actually well beyond "middle-class" reach, what ppl often find is that families from both sides are contributing large amount of deposit for their kids to be able to afford to buy. even these kids bought the apartments, the repayments are still huge........

for families already live in these cities for many generations, there are different stories.

 

A lot of cities do suffer from transport issues though. Lets compare!
All departures 8AM weekday. All picked to be more or less within short commute to rolling stock.

London: 20KM commute from Epsom to City = 1h23m


Berlin: 20KM commute from Falkensee to City = 1h20m


Moscow: 20KM commute from Khimki to City = 1h



Sydney: 20KM commute from Merrylands to City = 1h


Brisbane: 20KM commute from Lawnton to City = just under 1h


Paris: 20KM commute from Beauchamp to City = just under 1h


Seems to me all cities are comparable. In fact Australian cities seem to do well. Berlin and London are the worst!

 

That is exactly what I have been told. I don't think this is sustainable. I have seen historically a couple of places where prices become runaway due to economic boom, and this quickly reverses after the boom tapers off. Tokyo, Moscow, Dublin and Spain are examples that come to mind.