Living in the lucky country or......are we afterall spoilt?
Memang terasa saat ini apa2 ,kebutuhan se-hari2 naik, begitu juga yang aku
rasakan rumah yang kami beli 17 tahunan yang lalu
sekarang dipasaran melonjak 3X.Properti , rumah hunian disini arealnya lebih
gede ketimbang di Amerika. Wide open spaces...
memang aku rasakan ketimbang misalnya di Jerman (dimana aku pernah tinggal),
banyak taman2 luas yang teratur rapi dan bersih,
ini dapat ditemui disetiap kota diAustralia.
Kenaikan keperluan hidup se-hari2 ini diakibatkan a.l. karena nilai tukar
dollar Aussie lebih tinggi dibanding dengan US $. Saat ini
rate-nya 1Aus$= 1.03US$, selang beberapa waktu mencapai 1A$=1.10 US$. Mungkin
juga nilai tukar terhadap rupiah akan naik juga.
Ngak salah lah, aku sering katakan Australia bak.....heaven on earth. Yang
patut di banggakan yalah santunan terhadap kemaslahatan
rakyatnya bisa dikatakan tertinggi di dunia, social security no 1.
SDA Australia melimpah ruah, hasil export ini bernilai ber-billiun2 dollar
setahun-nya , semuanya kembali untuk merawat kemaslahatan-nya rakyat banyak,
bukan di tilep oleh pemimpin2nya. Pikir2 bila dibanding dengan Indonesia benua
Australia itu bukan apa2-nya, SDA,SDM di Indonesia melimpah
ruah, tapi "berkat" mismanagement makanya negara jadi deldel duwel, yang kaya
...tambah kaya yang miskin ....makan sekali sehari sudah dibilang mujur.
Harry Adinegara
Subject: Living in the Lucky country comes at a cost.
Living in the Lucky Country comes at a cost
October 19, 2011, 4:23 pm By Michael Yardney Yahoo!7
For me, there is no question that we are indeed a very lucky country – many
would even suggest we are "spoilt".
*
Michael Yardney is a director of Metropole Property Strategists who create
wealth for their clients through independent, unbiased property advice and
advocacy. Michael has often been called Australia's leading expert in wealth
creation through property and his opinions have been featured in major
newspapers and magazines throughout Australia.Full Bio »
Sydney and Melbourne both now have the dubious honour as two of the top ten
most expensive cities in which to live according to the Worldwide Cost of
Living 2011 Survey, conducted by the Economist Magazine's Intelligence Unit
(EIU.)
And while some media outlets are having a field day with the negative
implications such as the rising cost of living, more families struggling
financially, households increasingly experiencing mortgage stress and so on;
others are criticising the magazine suggesting the Economist Intelligence Unit
is an oxymoron and should be renamed.
I know I've often disagreed with some of their assessments of Australian
property, but I am happy to agree with a different report, their Global
Liveability Survey, which anointed Melbourne as the world's most liveable city.
One the best thing about winning the top spot is that Sydney must be envious
only ranking 6th, with Perth and Adelaide ranking joint 8th and Brisbane
lagging the other Australian capitals ranking 21st. (More from Michael Yardney:
Where Are Property Prices Heading?)
What they were measuring
Back to being amongst the most expensive country to live in...firstly lets
understand what they were measuring.
To measure the cost of living the EIU looked at "point of sale" prices for more
than 160 everyday consumer items in 140 major cities around the world, and then
ranked each city according to its cost of living.
According to this study, Sydney and Melbourne ranked sixth and seventh as the
most expensive places to live, while Perth and Brisbane just failed to make top
ten status, coming in at 13th and 14th place. This is in stark contrast to a
decade ago, when Sydney and Melbourne were ranked as the 71st and 80th most
expensive cities, and Perth was in the 91st position and Brisbane was 93rd.
Two major reasons
There are two major reasons why a city's cost-of-living index will change over
time: exchange rate movements and price movement.
The report explains that the remarkable rise in the cost of living in
Australian cities over the last decade, came at a period in which the value of
the Australian dollar has moved from around 50 US cents to passing parity with
the US dollar.
Essentially, if the local currency strengthens or inflation pushes up the price
of goods increase (both of which have occurred here since over the last
decade), the relative cost of living will also rise. (More from Michael
Yardney: Treat Your Property Investment Like A Business)
There's no sugar coating it
There's no sugar coating it...the cost of living and property prices are
expensive in Australia, but for a good reason when you consider our general
economic wealth, our ever expanding population and all the new development
struggling to keep up with the escalating demand.
However rather than focusing on the prospect of paying more for the Australian
way of life (which, let's face it, won't change the price of our groceries or
real estate), perhaps we should take a different perspective.
You probably believe in the old adage - you get what you pay for – right?
The lucky country
So doesn't it go without saying that if you want to live in what most people
perceive as "the lucky country", then you're going to have to be prepared to
pay for living in the best place on the planet!
In other words, we need to be prepared to pay more for our higher standard of
living comes at a premium. For the privilege of enjoying our relatively clean
environment, low unemployment, stable economy and larger homes clustered around
major coastal cities.
Now while we might feel a little hard done by and, on occasions, whinge about
the significant increase in house prices, rents and our grocery bills, consider
the residents of those countries that came in last. (More from Yahoo!7 Finance:
Six Investing Rules From The World's Top Investors)
We are spoilt
Would you really like to reside in the likes of Pakistan's Karachi, the
cheapest place to live and work where the cost of living is less than one-third
of that of Tokyo? Or what about the infamous Indian cities of Mumbai and New
Delhi, where poverty is rife and the rate of homelessness is through the roof?
Rounding out the bottom ten on the cost of living index are cities dotted
throughout the troubled Middle East and North Africa, with the low cost of
living in these parts driven by a mix of weakened currencies, low levels of
development and, in some cases, price controls and subsidies in staple goods.
For me, there is no question that we are indeed a very lucky country – many
would even suggest we are "spoilt". After all, we enjoy a glut of wide open
spaces, comparatively clean beaches, jobs for those who want to work, homes
with all of the modern conveniences we've come to expect, excellent investment
opportunities there for the taking and a world leading economy.
At the end of the day, I guess you really do get what you pay for!
Oh - one last thought...
If we are widely recognized as the most liveable country in what is fast
becoming an increasingly inhospitable world, would-be residents will be beating
a path to our door and we'll end up with a big Australia after all.
Where are we going to put all those people?
Don't get me wrong – I think we need a growing population to support our
economy and replace our retiring Baby Boomer workforce. In the words of a
famous past Prime Minister – we must populate or perish.
Christopher Joye, director of Rismark estimates that Australia will likely have
to absorb 2.3 million additional households over the next 15 years alone. BIS
Shrapnel estimates that this translates into a new home building requirement of
about 3 million properties once you account for demolitions and the historical
share of unoccupied homes (e.g., holiday houses, etc).
There is no doubt that this substantial increase in population will bring with
it many social, political, infrastructure and environmental concerns.
The fact is that our politicians must make some hard decisions and start
investing in improving our infrastructure so we can have the sustainable growth
that will ensure we remain the lucky country. (More from Yahoo!7 Finance:
Buying vs Renting – Which Will Make Wou Richer?)
Michael Yardney is a director of Metropole Property Strategists who create
wealth for their clients through independent, unbiased property advice and
advocacy. He is best-selling author, one of Australia's leading experts in
wealth creation through property and writes the Property Update blog. Subscribe
today and you'll receive a free video training – The Golden Rules of Property
Investment.
More from Yahoo!7 Finance:
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