Living costs in Australia

Are you planning to move to Australia from the United Kingdom? You should definitely read our price-guide through Australian prices of groceries and necessities to learn about the actual food prices and real estate costs in different parts of Australia. The price level of food and basic goods, as well as general level of life in this destination is different to the one in Great Britain. It is important you will get familiar with the discrepancies so you know what to expect and can get prepared for some changes.

Is the food in Australia cheaper or more expensive than in the UK?

Nowadays, a lot of Britons plan to leave the UK for good and try to work out if it is worth to relocate. Whether it's Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne or Perth , it is always good to estimate your future expenditure (and maybe negotiate a higher salary with your future Australia employer).

Australia is one of the 10 best countries to live in. It is known for its friendly citizens. Because of Australian economic boom, the live standard is increasing with high speed. What is more there are also a lot of natural resources in Australia, which are exceptional on the world scale. On the other hand the crime rate has been decreasing for last few years and Australia is now also very save country. It is definitely place with bright future, and many would like to be a part of it.

Food prices in Australia

Many of you already know that Australia is in the top five countries in terms of life standard, but one can not guess that it also means higher living prices and higher costs for many goods and services.

Going to live in Australia, one has to be aware and how important it will be to find a job as quickly as possible without going in debt and despair, because the cost of living in Australia is really high. So, to begin with (an aperitif) we offer you a list of some key food products, needed by your family for a normal living.

Of course, you can find these products in Australia at a lower price, but you have to walk on the markets and visit small shops, so we present to you the opportunity to immediately visit one of Australia's most well-known supermarket. So what the cost of food and chemical products?

According to Woolworths supermarket – July 2013

Cost of food in Australia - 05.07.2013

Bakery costs
	White bread	$1
	Wholemeal bread	$0.6-0.8/100g
	flour	$1/KG
	cereals	$0.4-1.5/100G
Diary costs
	eggs	$4.99/12pcs
	butter	From $2/250G
	Full-fat milk	$1.00/L ($3/3L, $2/2L, etc.)
	Skimmed milk	$1.00-2.50/L
	Yoghurt	$0.5-1.5/100G
	cheese	From $10/KG
	Sour cream	$0.5-1.5/100ML
	Cottage cheese	$3/200G
Meat/seafood costs
	Chicken breast fillet	$8.99/KG
	Chicken thigh	$4.99/KG
	Mince beef	$8.00-12.00/KG
	Mince pork	$12.00/kg
	bacon	Av. $14.00/KG
	ham	$8.00-20.00/kg
	Fresh salmon	$30.00/KG
	shrimp	$17.00/KG
Fruit costs		Price for 1KG
	apples	$2.50
	oranges	$2.70
	bananas	$1.99
	strawberries	$16.00
	watermelon	$1.75
	cherries	$19.00
Vegetables costs		Price for 1KG
	potato	$3.00
	tomato	$4.00
	onions	$2.50
	cucumbers	$4.00
	pepper	$6.50
	lettuce	$2.00
	broccoli	$3.98
	mushroom	$11.98
Beverages costs
	Mineral water	From $0.63/L
	Fruit juice	$4.99-5.49/3L
	Coca-cola	From $1.50/L
	beer	$3.50/375ML
	whisky	Grants scotch whisky $52.00/L
other costs
	Instant coffee	From $3.00/100G
	tea	$4.00/100pk
	rice	$2.09/100G
	pasta	From $1.00/500G
	ketchup	$3.20/100mL
	Vegetable oil	$4.79/2L
	sugar	$1.39/KG
Chemical products costs
	Shower gel	$5.00/500ML
	soap	$2.89/4pk
	shampoo	From $3/500ML
	Dishwasher tablets	From $5.36/30pk
	toothpaste	From $3.15
	Toilet paper	$5.00/12pk

Immigration to Australia will definitely make you happy over the lower gas and diesel costs.

Gas prices in Australia
Unleaded $1.50/L - £0.9
Premium unleaded 1.60/L - £0.96
Diesel $1.44/L - £0.86

Cost of petrol in Australia

Product	North of River	South of River	East/Hills	Metro Average
ULP	138.9 AUD	138.7 AUD	142.4 AUD	151.1 AUD
PULP	147.9 AUD	149.5 AUD	151.4 AUD	161.3 AUD
Diesel	143.9 AUD	144.5 AUD	142.5 AUD	150.2 AUD
LPG	65.8 AUD	64.9 AUD	64.8 AUD	70.5 AUD
98 RON	154.8 AUD	156.4 AUD	157.3 AUD	167.2 AUD
B20	144.9 AUD	144.8 AUD	144.6 AUD	145.6 AUD
E10	149.1 AUD	148.3 AUD	148.6 AUD	149.4 AUD
P100	167.1 AUD	167.1 AUD		168.1 AUD

Read also - What's the shipping cost?

Life costs

Basically, the cost of living in Australia is comparable to the prices in the UK but instead in £, you have to count in AUD – Australian dollars. The average weekly cost of renting an apartment is between $ 250 - $ 450 depending on the location. You can certainly find much cheaper deals by living and sharing the house with someone else  and just having your own room.

The medical insurance depends on the type of visa and it costs about $ 300 per month for a family.

Internet costs are about $ 60 per month. There is a wide range of wireless internet connections (including prepaid options) which is a bit more expansive, about $ 50 - £100 depending on the size of downloaded data.

The  mobile phone calls are not cheap, both pay as you go and one year contracts. This can be explained by the fact that, apart from their western good-developed part of the country, Australia is enormous and operators had to spend considerable amount of money to cover the entire land.