Crisis all round

One of the interesting things about where I work is that it’s technically an Australian company. The UK branch represents less than 0.5% of the total number of staff, turnover etc. What’s funny about that is it makes England a colony of Australia :)

I read the Australian news online, and of course the UK news, and although there are similarities in the theme (global economic downturn, financial crisis etc) there’s quite a difference in the depth of the problems. Here are some examples of what I’m talking about.

• Australia not in recession, UK officially in recession since Q3 2008
• Forecast growth for 2009: Australia +0.5%, UK -2.9%
• Official interest rates: Australia 3.25%, UK 1%
• Official unemployment rates: Australia 4.6%, UK 6.3%
• The term "bailout package" means nothing in Australia because their banking system still works.
• House prices – house prices have crashed so hard in the UK that there’s a website called http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/. Says it all! So, for falls in 2008 house prices we have: Australia 3% UK 15%. I’ve probably lost about £30,000 value on the house I bought in Mossley at the peak. That actually puts me in negative equity – ie the amount I still owe on my mortgage is more than the value of the house. Ouch.

On the plus side, my interest rate is down to 1.35%, which means my monthly repayments are quite a bit less than what I’d be paying if I was renting. But still…