global gypsy wrote:Cost of a Ford Focus:
£9,338 in Australia
£9,401 in New Zealand
£12,866 in the UK
Not sure where you got this mate, unless this is only for Ford Focus and the new one. Cars are actually more expensive in Australia, to tell the truth, specifically the second hand ones, they depreciate very slowly because of good dry climate, no salt on the roads, etc. You can find 20 year old cars in perfect condition. But you may be right about the new ones, which are cheaper for some makes. I have never had an intention of buying a new car so I do not know.
But how about the relative purchasing power across these countries? Costs should be compared against what you earn, right?
Correct. The buying power in Australia is better but again depends what range of products you are referring to. Certainly, property is of a lot better value. It is very cheap to eat out but it is more expensive than in the UK to do grocery shopping at the supermarket. In fact, you can eat out all the time and not to bother doing any shopping. It works about the same or maybe even cheaper (saves you your precious time for shopping and cooking at home).
Utilities are a lot cheaper, pertol is A$1.10 per litre, which is about 40p. But other things, like Spam white goods, for example are a lot more expensive than in the UK. Say, you can buy a top class washer dryer in the UK for under £300. Here it is minimum A$1100 (almost twice as expensive as in the UK) and the range is very limited (I am only aware of Electrolux, such brands like Hotpoint, Indesit are not known here)
In general, salaries are slightly smaller but engineering salaries are much higher than those in the UK. An engineer earns here about A$120000, which is £56460. In the UK an engineer earns something like £35000 I think...