In your own imagination, what do you consider the average mortgage?

[MrsFabuloso]

In Sydney, I would say at least $5-600 000. At least!
Where we live now, in the nsw outback it's about I'd say it's about $250 000, which is alot considering how remote we are, but we're a mining town, so I guess people have money, and it's too far away from everything not to live here!

[kimmi]

Speaking of mines and mining towns, I work in one. Moranbah QLD, and you can't buy a house here for under $750000 (My home is in Brisbane, could never afford to buy here, and not sure I'd want to be so far away permanently). The average rent is $3000 per week and these are very modest, country town houses.

All the mining here has really thrown the balance out.

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Considering DP is the only earner our place would be 3x his yearly earnings but that's what you pay around here for a house on a small block, we got our place with land at a good price, was going to cost us the same or more for a tiny block, in town.


Sent from my iPhone, more than likely while I should be doing something else!

[wysiwyg]

I read somewhere your mortgage shouldn't be anymore than 3 times the amount of your combined salary for the year. Our mortgage is 1.5 times the amount of our salary (thank god) but should be ever be blessed with a baby and I dont work, our percentage is going to go right up..

I have often heard the 3 times thing, here and in the UK - when I was working ours was 2 times the amount of salary, now I am not working is more like 5 times! I do think it depends on your lifestyle - we were quite comfortable with 2 times - now I am not working if we hadn't overpaid and had redraw available we would fall slightly short each month (and without Baby Bonus etc we would be really stuck).

[MrsFabuloso]

It's ridiculous isn't it kimmi?! I say 250 000 but that's including houses out of town. In town, within about a 5-10min drive of everything houses are at least probably 400 000. For not that great houses! Luckily for us we are not going to be living here long term and will be moving in 2yrs with DH's job, but the prices of EVERYTHING out here, not just the houses is an absolute joke! Not all of us make stupid amounts of money!

[kimmi]

Considering DP is the only earner our place would be 3x his yearly earnings but that's what you pay around here for a house on a small block, we got our place with land at a good price, was going to cost us the same or more for a tiny block, in town.


Sent from my iPhone, more than likely while I should be doing something else!

ZF, if we ever have kids, we will be in the same position... I just didn't ever realise how much some mortgages really are around the country.

[AnyDream]

I woulda won that guessing game. I was going to say $370K.

The thing to remember with house prices is that many people come into the market with existing property. If you or your family had property before the huge boom then you still only need to pay a small amount to top that up to a dearer property. Think of an old house in Sydney that cost $75K in the early 90s... by the late 90s it's now worth 400K+ and that's before you demolish the house, subdivide the land then put 3x townhouses in the same place. The biggest step is from no property to some property.

[ss_storm]

The average rent is $3000 per week and these are very modest, country town houses.

All the mining here has really thrown the balance out.

Whaaaat???!! That's crazy! That's like 3 months of our rent!

[~Kim~]

Well we have an average mortgage then, but man that would go nowhere in Sydney. I can't imagine most first home buyers in Sydney or Melbourne would have enough deposit to bring the mortgage they actually take out to average levels.

Here in central Australia rent and the cost of houses are huge too....I guess that's why it's an average.

[wysiwyg]

I've never understood the need to have such a huge house that requires you to work so many hours to pay for it, that all you basically do is sleep in it.

Not all big mortgages are due to big houses - alot is due to location and time you get into the market.

[Astrid]

I woulda won that guessing game. I was going to say $370K.

The thing to remember with house prices is that many people come into the market with existing property. If you or your family had property before the huge boom then you still only need to pay a small amount to top that up to a dearer property. Think of an old house in Sydney that cost $75K in the early 90s... by the late 90s it's now worth 400K+ and that's before you demolish the house, subdivide the land then put 3x townhouses in the same place. The biggest step is from no property to some property.

A lot of people are missing that step these days, they are going straight to the family home, rather than starting off with something like a 1 or 2 bed unit.

Gosh reminds me of one of my most hated ads at the moment (might only be a regional one). They are selling the build your own home concept around the theme of impressing your friends, not on liveability, sustainability etc, just about making your friends jealous

[kimmi]

Not all big mortgages are due to big houses - alot is due to location and time you get into the market.

Oh Absolutely... As the saying goes, location, location, location!!

[kimmi]

A lot of people are missing that step these days, they are going straight to the family home, rather than starting off with something like a 1 or 2 bed unit.

Gosh reminds me of one of my most hated ads at the moment (might only be a regional one). They are selling the build your own home concept around the theme of impressing your friends, not on liveability, sustainability etc, just about making your friends jealous

Are you serious... That's sad... Happiness is so much more important than impressing your friends.

[LuluHB]

Definitely this. We sold our last house for half as much again as we paid for the old house which we demolished and the new houswe we built on the land only 4 years before. Part of that was due to the house we built and also the area we were in, but most of it was just plain good luck that we bought into the area just before the boom and sold during the boom.

[Astrid]

Are you serious... That's sad... Happiness is so much more important than impressing your friends.

Just found the ad on Youtube, can't post it as it is a commercial link, not that anyone would want to buy through them after watching it

[nickle730]

Our mortgage is about 3 x our combined annual income. We moved last year and paid almost a $1 million for our property, and we doubled our mortgage. We bought a property on acreage - something we have always dreamed of. For us, the lifestyle and what it means for our kids and for us as a family was worth borrowing the extra money. So far, it has been the best decision we have ever made.

We bought our first house in 1999 and paid $150K for it. We sold in 2005 for $460K (Spent perhaps $10K on improvements). We bought a new house for $465K which we sold for $790K last year (spent approx $40K on improvements). We were lucky to buy in areas which experienced huge growth and that allowed us to be in a position to purchase our current home. I worry that my own kids won't be able to afford to buy into the market when the time comes.

[Miss.September]

I've never understood the need to have such a huge house that requires you to work so many hours to pay for it, that all you basically do is sleep in it.

The big bucks don't buy big houses these days. Our first mortgage for a house and land deal was five years ago for $290000 and that got us an 18 square house (14 square living) on a shoebox block.

It's scary the amount it has hiked in just a few years - we bought our land (less than 1/8 of an acre) at the end of 2005 and paid $120K on the outskirts of Melb and built for $170K. Now the same size house and land is selling off the plan for almost $100K on top of that. Crazy stuff.

[DANNIIM]

There's alot of factors you need to look at. We live in a mining town in WA, moved here nearly 8 yrs ago but we did have our first house still in a country town in QLD, we'd bought that one in 2000 for $120k and sold 5 yrs later for $240k. We then bought a crappy house here in boom town for $240k in 2006 have done a few reno's around $50k worth and the house is now worth $750 - $800k. My husband part of his salary package gets 80% of the interest back each month also so we are only paying a fairly small mortgage. We have decided to buy land and build in another booming town back in QLD spending in total around the $650k which will push our mortgage up high but the rent we receive on our WA property will pay the two mortgages bar about $1000 per month which then makes it very affordable.