Post: #1

http://news.yahoo.com/calling-americas-b...41817.html

Post: #2

Plumbers and electricians here make more than Doctors. I'm not even kidding. If you go into medicine then plumbers, electricians and other tradies will out earn you at minimum till you hit your 30's. That's how high demand is for these trades/fields. Some of the kids at school have dads who struck gold starting their own small business in these aforementioned fields. One of my friends parents owns real estate in the 2-3 mill range all up and pays $50g's a year on their two kids education, all from a single income on her dads ONE MAN small business as a fucking pest controller.

Post: #3

I've heard about these great wages before down under. Seems as though for the first time in American history, you may see people fleeing America in search of better opportunity.

Post: #4

Yeah. I met lots of Australians and New Zealanders in South America who didn't have a college education but were able to travel the world somehow. I guess they get paid pretty well relative to the cost of living.

Post: #5

This won't be settled just yet.

The trade unions won't take this lightly, I know many a plumber on $200k+ working 55 hour weeks. They will not want to hop off the gravy train at all.

Wait this out a bit before you start packing your bags.

Post: #6

(04-02-2012 10:55 AM)speakeasy Wrote:  I've heard about these great wages before down under. Seems as though for the first time in American history, you may see people fleeing America in search of better opportunity.

It's already in effect.

I have never seen so many Americans in perth as I have now. The front runners are already here, having left the U.S. for greener pastures.

Though our housing bubble is yet to crash and that may have outward population flows.

Post: #7

State and national governments here in Aus together with our central bank having been working there asses off propping up the building industry for about a decade now.

New home buyers get big cash bonuses (up to $30k) to build. People buying first homes get cash as well. The governments will also match dollar for dollar people saving to buy a home if they lock up the cash for that purpose only. As long as you can demonstrate the means to pay off your mortgage it is very simple to buy a home without ANY savings at all - I have several friends who have done so.

As a result the building industry and property market is artificially propped up. Prices are over-inflated, some say 20-40%. You can have a brand new home built for almost the same prices as a 20-30 year old home.

Personally I have the cash to put a deposit down without the bonuses, but refuse to buy while prices are so inflated. I keep waiting for the burst, it will come when the government and central bank can longer keep interest rates in check. So many Australians are over-extended on their mortgage, with maxed out credit cards. A merge 1% increase in interest rates will push many to the brink, foreclosures will follow and At the height of the Europe Debt Crisis there was a ripple through the property market, homes were being looked over at auction in record numbers and new home construction dipped brifelly. However things are getting back to business for now.

If you are a young single tradesman from the states or anywhere else it would most likely prove worthwhile taking a punt on coming to Australia could well prove worthwhile. I would act now, get your foot in the door. I do however think it is only a matter of time until the bubble bursts. It will not be catastrophic, maybe just a gradual deflation, but the industry will take a hit and there will be lay offs as a result.

Post: #8

For the record, the Cash Rate in Australia is 4.25% (with 4.5% being considered a neutral stance), so we're running a very mildly expansionary monetary policy. Nothing like the U.S right before the GFC. However, the Big Four banks in Australia have been increasing their interest rates independent of the RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) which is a cause for worry. Australia is in the middle of a huge housing bubble. Everybody knows it, but nobody knows when it will pop. Our mortgage debt to GDP ratio is higher than the U.S.

I largely blame it on the ease at which investment properties are bought, mainly by the Baby Boomers and well off Asians and Indians. The laws here promote financing multiple mortgages at once using equity in your first home(s) more so than other countries. It's become an obsession for certain corners of the Upper and Upper-Middle class to own multiple homes. One of my teachers currently owns six investment properties altogether in a trust with his siblings. People collect all these investment properties for their own fiscal security, but it drives prices up like crazy, especially because we're not building enough houses.

I feel sorry for my fellow young Aussies considering the difficulties they'll face buying their first home here, thankfully I won't be among them.

Post: #9

I don't feel for my fellow young Australian's. If they are smart home ownership is deliverd on a platter at present. Most however are dumb and overextend themselves - buying McMansions well beyond there means with the same thought they give to choosing between a BigMac and McChicken.

Agree on the investment property craze as well.

Those approaching retirement age are becoming distraught to see there superannuation fund shrink after the stock market retraction, imagine the hysteria when all those with retirement savings tied up in property see the value plummet. My parents rely quite a bit on owning there own home for retirement but at least they have some diverse investments.