Today is my 11th day in Sydney, and a day before I officially commence work. It has been a hectic period, scrambling to sort out all the administrative and living stuff.
The Sydney (and Australian, in general) property market is harsh. Real estate prices are so expensive – I would venture to say that square-foot for square-foot, the prices here outclass Singapore’s by several leaps.
To put things in perspective: A one-bedroom apartment in Chatswood (a suburb about 20 minutes from Sydney city centre) commands a rent anything between AUD$350-400 per week - not even furnished except for basic built-in's and a stove (required by law). The same unit could probably sell for roughly AUD$400-500 thousand. Even without currency conversion, I cannot think of a single equivalent one-bedroom apartment in Kuala Lumpur (is there even such a thing?) that could command MYR$1,500 per month – you could practically rent an entire terrace house in Petaling Jaya with that amount.
And the worst part is, it is not as is people are being scared away from the high rental rates. For every apartment advertised for lease that I inspected, an average of 3-4 others were also inspecting the same place, with the hopes of securing a lease. It's a landlord's market here, and it scares the shits out of me.
To my friends and relatives back in Malaysia: Do not rant about expensive real estate. I can assure you, the Australians’ problems with ballooning real estate prices are far greater…
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