Premier Mark McGowan has sharpened his pitch to international and interstate workers, pointing to a new report that found Perth is by far the cheapest of the country’s major capital cities, while offering the second highest median income .
Perth beat Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in both housing and grocery costs, while families in WA’s biggest city trailed only NSW when it came to salaries.
The findings are in a Deloitte Access Economics report commissioned by WA Treasury which compared Perth with east coast capitals.
It found the average Perth household spent about $1,630 a week on consumption of goods and services, including housing costs.
WA’s affordability is one of our key strengths
This was about 10 per cent lower than the average household in Melbourne ($1,805), 19 per cent lower than Brisbane ($2,002) and 24 per cent lower than Sydney ($2,143).
Perth families spent about $271 a week on food and non-alcoholic drinks, compared to $332 in Sydney, $302 in Melbourne and $286 in Brisbane.
In terms of housing, rent or mortgages cost an average of $480 per week in Perth. This was almost half of the $778 spent in Brisbane, $735 in Sydney and $527 in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, the median weekly household income in Perth was $2027, just behind Sydney ($2146) and ahead of Melbourne ($1958) and Brisbane ($1962).
Camera icon The release of the report comes on the heels of Mr McGowan’s visit to Europe. Credit: Stephen Scourfield/The West Australian
The publication of the report comes following the visit of Mr. McGowan in Europe, which included a stop in Dublin where the Prime Minister tried to convince Irish medical professionals and workers to move to WA.
The government’s hiring drive is hampered by severe labor shortages in advanced economies around the world. But McGowan said Deloitte’s independent report “proves the West is the best”.
“WA’s affordability is one of our strengths,” he said.
“With high wages and low living costs, it’s the perfect combination.
“Whether it’s housing costs, general living costs or transport costs, WA is significantly more affordable. With WA’s local economy boosting, there are more and more opportunities for people to move to WA for a new job”.
Housing affordability in Perth emerged as a big selling point in the report, with the median house price set at $585,000 in the west, less than half of Sydney’s ($1.4 million dollars) and well behind Melbourne ($976,000) and Brisbane ($892,000).
The mortgage repayment of the median home, as a share of median income, was 24.6 per cent in Perth, compared with 55 per cent in Sydney, 42.5 per cent in Melbourne and 38.8 per cent in Brisbane.
The Deloitte study also compared Bunbury with the regional centers of Newcastle (NSW), Geelong (Victoria) and the Sunshine Coast (Queensland). Bunbury enjoyed the lowest cost of living of any of the country towns.
“Our great lifestyle, affordability and success make Western Australia the most attractive place in the country to live, work or study,” McGowan said.
“My message to any worker across the country is to look west – make your move now and you won’t be disappointed. I can personally vouch for that. In the early 1990s I moved west and I’ve never looked back.”