Thanks for all the info above guys, got my ANZ account open, now it's just going through any available options for money transfer.

Will be making my move next month, feeling the stress already.

Thanks, I'm going to Sydney. Yeah it's pretty tough as both me and wife will continue searching for jobs when we're there. A few friends and contact there but I guess we'll do what we can. =D

Hi all,

Quick intro: Was skulking around this thread early last year before my move to Sydney with the missus. Made the move, and was trying to cope for half a year looking for jobs. Both of us finally landed casual roles, and from there we survived and slowly rebuilt our resources.

Fast forward to now,we're thinking of getting a property in the not too distant future and are looking around, understanding the market. As we only explored Sydney minimally (only followed friends around before we started work), we don't have much experience with the different suburbs. This is especially interestnig as property is deemed to be on a down-turn at the moment.

Are there any recommendable suburb with a healthy mix of ethnicity (with asian groceries primarily & no dominating numbers of any particular ethnicity), with somewhat affordable (anywhere 500k -> 600kish)? Checked out places like Strathfield, homebush/h. west, Hurstville, Toongabbie, Kellyville. Homebush west feels like the best of what we've seen so far as it's really central, with a good dose of ethnicity mixed in. On the downside, safety is kinda like Bankstown levels and traffic can be as bad as KL sometimes. Are there any Msia/Sg favourite suburbs?

Looking forward to any advice/opinions.

Heya Gary, no worries. Enjoy your holiday as we'll be visiting family too in the coming weeks.

Thanks for the feedback. We've been to Hurstville - the place feels a bit too busy and cramped for our liking. We do enjoy a slightly slower life without the hustle and bustle as we had to deal with in KL. I do however, miss the better internet speeds in KL as where we're currently living does not have NBN yet. Waiting for the 5G roll-out next year to see how it goes.

As you said, the best options right now are either units closer to the city or house much further out. As we're both working in different parts of the city the areas where we're at is currently a good compromise of everything. My job requires me to do occasional travelling/driving to different offices and it's not too bad being somewhat close to the CBD itself. Maybe in the distant future we can consider living further out.

Have fun in KL!

Happy New Year all!

Been back in Sydney and spending the weekends checking out houses and getting to know Suburbs. Today was Lidcombe & Auburn. Thought there was a pretty decent place in Auburn, but then I read up about Auburn - found out it was the murder capital of Sydney a few years back.

Up to now the general perception still seems to be the same. Would it be any different from Bankstown? Mind your own business, keep your head down and stay clear of rowdy/dodgy types? I suppose this applies to most of the places within 'the area'? Still trying to figure out a suburb that's about the same distance to the CBD from Bankstown, but without the issues it has. Any suggestions? Berala? Chester Hill? Cabramatta?

Thanks for sharing, the case where houses drop in price and investors eager to offload properties who'll be more willing to negotiate - best case scenarios for first time home buyers like myself. Planning on just inspecting houses while hoping for price to drop a fair bit more, while getting to know suburbs better.

Just trying to understand the market as well, and get the timing right. Don't wanna buy when the prices has reached the lowest and climbing back up again. My colleague told me where her kid bought a house for 1m, only for it to drop to 900k after a few months.

Burwood feels a bit too expensive, where's the price of one apartment cost the price of a house in slightly further/unsavoury suburbs. Give and take I guess.

Good info, totally forgot about the election. Gonna be my first one in Aus. As long as prices of houses aren't too crazy affordable, I don't mind too much.
If interest rates does go up, it's gonna screw too many people over, so yeah.. Guess we gotta put more money into Powerball.

In all honesty, I think my limit would be around 2-2.5 hours travelling each day. At the moment it's about slightly pass 2 hours by train. Expecting to drive if further out west, but the travel time should roughly be the same... I hope.
Totally agree with property prices rising more if we're near the city, though I think some suburbs further out do pretty well too in terms of pricing.

I'd imagine the jobs in the other cities may not pay as high as Sydney either, hence the cheaper housing and cost of living. I have cousins in Brisbane who do share prices of grocery for comparison and their clearance price blow the prices here out of the water. Literally less than a dollar for veggies they want to clear. If I wasn't state sponsored I've tried my luck in Brisbane.

I've never quite learnt to love the bustling city crowds and nightlife other than mamak/chilling with friends. Always too worried about pick pockets back in Malaysia. The quieter suburbs and more laid back lifestyle is what both my missus and myself look for now. I mainly want good Internet for games and Netflix.

Probably based on our Msian origin we'd both like multicultural areas. I do feel a little more at home in such suburbs and appreciate the variety in shops and food. Feels quite balanced and people are (hopefully) more accepting of different races.

When I went back to Msia in Dec too I felt less restricted in spending on food, though I usually have my kopitiam/roadside cendol type of food. It feels mostly dollar to dollar unless you go for mixed rice/Nasi lemak/kopitiam type of food. Groceries in Aus are so much cheaper we cook at home a lot more than we eat out, especially since we need to save. I do admit it feels really liberating to earn Aud and spend it as RM.

Well to be fair as well, amenities weren't properly developed when starting off, this would definitely be a huge turn off to buyers, just like those who are comparing greater Sydney at the moment, though not as bad as back then.

Staying close to the city where jobs are a lot more abundant also contributes to the desirability of the places. People who could afford to pay these prices wouldn't mind.

Would you consider relocating to the other major cities in Aus for a cheaper house closer to city and lower cost of living?

Salary wise, I think depending on your job, it might be possible. I'm in the IT line and I do see jobs with higher paying salary in Brisbane. Pay wise it's probably possible, but getting the job is probably a different story. In the company where I work, top level management doesn't quite see a diverse ethnicity group. In that sense the bamboo/glass ceiling is pretty apparent. Thankfully the team I work is comprised of a very diverse background and are very friendly/cohesive.

So are you gonna make the move after the 5 years?

Yeah, I meant the remaining years for the 5 years. Could've worded it better, hehe. Hills district as in Baulkham Hills? Or does it encompass all places with 'Hills' in the suburb name? Living in Chester Hill but I can't imagine people referring to it that fondly. I'm still learning up the different suburbs now, especially as the prices may fall even more and I'd like to know what areas are desirable.

Just curious though, why apartments? When we started looking around homebush / homebush west area there were plenty of units, about 550 - 700 range. Then we found that there are a few suburbs with houses with a slightly higher price range or even similar (Auburn, read it's worse than Bankstown), around the same distance from the city too. While I don't mind the smaller property to take care of, I personally feel houses are better in the long run, even town houses. I'm just bias towards houses, and less strata.


My wife encountered a similar situation in her previous working role, different treatment for same-ish issues for other colleagues. To be fair this happens in Msia too, and bosses either takes care of their own, or favourites. We've both decided the need to climb the ladder too much. As long as we're comfortable enough financially and can achieve work/life balance, we'll be content.

No point stressing ourselves out trying to reach the top, but just do our best to reach a nice spot that balances money/time. Otherwise, just start one's own company and become the CEO there. Haha...

Checking out either Kellyville or Holsworthy/Wattle Grove this weekend. Any feedback on those area? =)

Yeah with the new train station coming into the picture soon it might be even better. It's still a little bit expensive around that area, so gotta see if the property prices there drops still with the train station in vicinity. It does feel pretty far from the center of Kellyville though, probably not too accessible for some.

Have only been to Kellyville to visit a friend, but not really explored it. I'm guessing groceries might be a tad bit more expensive, compared to places like Chester Hill. As you said, the need for one or more cars per family may be a lot more common there. I'd prefer to take the trains (especially if its more competent than the Msian KTM) than drive. Hate being stuck in traffic with a passion.

Cold winters are alright, where we're living now gets pretty cold and we only have a small heater fan. We'll adapt... or freeze.

My wife tried OrbitRemit, which charges a 4 aud fee for transfer. Though the rates at the moment doesn't look too good.

At the moment: 1000 AUD is 2741 MYR.

You could look at homebush (west) area, sounds like it may meet some of your requirements: train station(s), decent strata, parks around dwellings, near DFO, plenty of asian grocers & eateries, decent school(s), & average safety at about those prices. On the bad side it's an oversupply of apartments in the area, overall cleanliness not too good & a lot of cars parked everywhere. Kept reading in news that this area is bound to drop in price in the near future.

Affordable houses you could prolly go Schofields/Campbell town: 3 Bedders 2 baths 1/2 parking for 600 - 800k, and it's 1 hour to the city. Prolly won't have asian grocers there though.. Haha. Always a give and take. We have about the same budget and requirements, lemme know if you find any nice areas. =p


Apologies, didn't realise the website set it to NZD instead of AUD. For AUD 1000 = 2920.5 MYR. Guess nicer banks are your best bet then. I heard that HSBC Premier may have better rates but requires a big sum like the amount you'd wanna transfer.

Guess there's a reason for that with the high cost and heavy traffic constantly about that area. But thankfully not as bad as KL and its horrendous traffic.

I'm expecting Wattle Grove/Holsworthy to be similar to Campbelltown. Hopefully places with less SEA / asian population are not as bad as some stories I hear about those in the Shire. Asked a few colleagues about Auburn and they're like "We're never gonna stay there, ever!". And I'm really racists as well for seeking out a suburb where the ethnicity is more mixed and multicultural, not too dominated by any. =/

Annnnddd it's Friday! I miss the Malaysian holidays a fair bit, beside friends and family.

Weather is pretty much a killer too as we've only got 2 stand fans at home. Times like this one truly misses the Msian weather.

Lots of colleagues recommended areas around Kellyville, so that's where we'll be checking out tomorrow. Anywhere between Rouse Hill, Stanhope Gardens & Kellyville itself.

On Sat both the missus and myself went to Seven Hills/Parklea/Stanhope/Acacia Gardens and found this: https://www.domain.com.au/9-9a-dale-street-...2147-2014871880

Feel free to ignore this if you feel it's not contributing to the thread. This is a combo of a house (3/1/1) & granny flat (2/1/1) going for an asking price of 700k. House is going on auction as the place has received several offers of 700k. It's 18 mins walk from the train station. Auctions are way above my capabilities and thought I'd just share.

I like the areas around Stanhope/Rouse Hills. People are quite different to the general public in like Bankstown, which I suppose I am stating the obvious. On the side, pretty happy the weather isn't too hot (for the weekend).

The one that I used was Ausasia, though last I remembered they were way too busy and overloaded.

You could probably check if your job is available on the skilled migrant list to Aus. Been reading that immigration might be cutting down on migrants.
Either that or they'll be trying to put them further away from cities. A few on this thread has mentioned if you've done your research you could apply yourself and potentially save up to 30k, if I remember correctly?

Either way, have fun researching!

Probably depends if you're going through an agent or collecting cash I guess. Probably doesn't pay getting cash, in case someone rats you out. As an investment home it's even better though, rent both out for 400 - 500 each, and then it's much better. Too bad I'm in no such position, would've loved to do that.

The thing about schools, I guess some schools constantly maintain and achieve their standards. As I'm still without kids, 6-7 years from now things can change drastically, and all the current rankings may be switched up. It's probably better to have more options than just aim for one particular school or those only within top 150, for example. On that note, where do you check the school rankings? Is there a site displaying all schools and their respective ranks? I can't seem to find one that's cohesive enough...

Also, Quakers Hill has a number of 3/4 bedders for first home buyers prices too, some too big for my liking. Wouldn't wanna take care of anything bigger than 300 sqm. I've been clearing out Redback spiders every summmer at my current rental place, just taking care of our own stuff. I dread to think about handling a whole house by myself.


I noticed a there's a lot of tuition and extra classes for students as well. Like it's never good enough for students to just attend the schools. I suppose it's like Malaysia where people trust extra tutoring for their kids, unless they're constant top scorers. While I agree a good school and education is important, I know a number of smart guys that just can't study. In that sense Aus is great for them where trade skills has a similar earning power (if not respect) and gives them a chance to compete with other white collared jobs.

Granny flats are great (to me) as they can earn you some extra money, as mentioned, also to house any family members temporarily or the long run without compromising your own living space. I would've tried my luck with that place if I had saved up like half a year / one year more.

Saw this: https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/housing-...mes/renovations
So the scenario falls under "minor renovations", but doesn't seem too big of a problem: https://www.lookupstrata.com.au/nsw-renovat...thout-approval/

Probably not too much of an issue unless they dislike the current owner. Good luck with this, it's pretty tough finding a design you'd like with the way they design houses here. Some are utterly mind boggling in design I do not understand he reasoning behind the floorplan.

Thanks for the link. I used this before but didn't dissect it down to the ICSEA rank level. Probably useful for me when deciding on a place as well.

I do agree that competition makes things better, in a way, and will definitely push schools to perform if they wish to attract students/ I guess for me I never did enjoy my school/college education, and do not feel it's very vital. An average school with a safe environment to grow and explore, coupled with minimum problems is mainly what I'm looking for. Also perhaps depends on the kid. I'll find out eventually and modify my opinion of things accordingly.

I believe we have about the same budget & requirements, except with schools being the least of my worries at the moment (don't even know if we'll have to move/rent after 5+ years to find a good school) & houses as a preference. It was always gonna be between a unit 20ish KM from CBD or a house in a suburb we can afford much further out. Ideally, a townhouse in between the two that's also close to public transport, but compromising on smaller stuff like asian groceries. Thinking of Stanhope Gardens/Schofields/Acacia Gardens or around those suburbs, minus the areas with public housing and potential problems it may cause. I used to live in near Kepong, and there was a number of break ins nearby my home/missus's place. Hoping to save some money not installing grills/crimsafe for the property.


On a more positive note, I'm told Haymarket / Fairfield area usually celebrates Chinese New Year. Would anyone know if this takes place during the weekend prior or after since the event falls on a Tuesday?
Anything else to recommend? I want to bring my wife to such events if it's on a Friday/weekend. Thanks in advance!