Now i have some house hunting areas you have all helped me with, i'm after the cost of living compared to Sydney.

Can you help me out on prices like,

Groceries
Childcare
Cars
Fuel
ELectricity
REnt

ETC

Also anyone thats moved from SYDNEY to ACT, have you found it cheaper, the same? better worse?

Thanks just putting together info on what to do.

EM
DD1 3yrs
DD2 8.5mths

Em,

All these depending on a lot of things, but I will do my best for you:

Groceries - $200p/f for DH and I.
Childcare - no idea but I think it is about $50 upwards per day???
Cars - very much the same as Sydney as I have always researched Syd. prices when buying a new car.
Fuel - $1.39/l at the moment. I use about 1 tank a week. Remember it only takes about 40 mins to get from one side of Canberra to the other.
Electricity - can't find my last bill but I think it is about $200/quarter and Gas is around the same in Winter (we have gas ducted heating)
Rent - totally depends on which Suburb you want to live in, how many bedrooms, unit or house, etc. Check out allhomes - there is a rent section on their website or Saturday and Wednesday 'Canberra Times.'

Hope that helps.

Having just moved here from Lake Macquaire we are discovering the differences.

Petrol was about 15 c dearer when we first moved down here but it has coincided with massive hikes everywhere.

Groceries are roughly about the same except I have found milk costing about $1 more for a 3L.

Haven't has to pay for any utilities yet so don't know about that yet.

Rent we pay $295 p/w for a 3 bd in Holder which I believe is quite reasonable, not having to rent for 5 years.

Don't have any childcare expenses as I am SAHM. Preschool is cheap if you go government I think $50 a term.

Playgroup fees are cheaper. No zone fee.

Hope this helps

Jane

Groceries cost the same. If you shop at Woollies/Coles they are identical. Vegies and fruit tend to be more expensive as we almost never see $1-$2/kg fruit and veg. Meat varies between butchers, as you'd expect in a city.

Rent is slightly cheaper but it depends where in Sydney you are comparing it to. $300pw will get you a cheap-ish 3br in most of Canberra, $400pw will get you a great house!

Electricity and gas I can't comment on, being a Canberran... Try to get a house with gas heating. Heating is essential! Air conditioning is over rated, evap cooling or a couple of fans are all you really need for a few weeks in sumemr.

Petrol is much the same but we do not have weekly cycles (eg Tuesday's cheap in Sydney) so you fill up whenever you feel the price is cheap. Prices jump a day or three after Sydney so if you have a friend in Sydney to warn you (like I do) it helps!

Buses are cheaper here as they aren't zoned. Preschool is all but free.

Daycare ranges from $50-60 a day depending on what's included (eg lunch & nappies).

I'm considering moving to Sydney soon because I think living is cheaper there!

HTH

Alice

I can't really compare prices since it's so long since I actually lived in Sydney (1989), however I *have* spent nearly a year in Sydney in 2000/01 and visit there reasonably regularly.

I would like to say tho that now that we have our DD, there is NO WAY IN HELL we would be moving back there from Canberra - IMO the "rat race" factor in Sydney is huge, plus because real estate is so exe everyone has to spend their lives working to pay it off! Living expenses on a weekly or monthly basis might be more in Canberra (esp with winter heating) but the easier lifestyle more than makes up for it!

Steph
DD Alex (March 04)