A British woman who quit Australia due to skyrocketing rent in Sydney and longing for home has revealed the one thing that really sets the UK apart from Down Under: The supermarkets.
Katie Strick lived with her partner in Australia for 18 months before making the call to move back home.
Katie Strick left Australia to be closer to her family again. Picture: Instagram
While difficulties navigating Sydney’s rental market and not having easy access to family were primary factors in the decision to leave Australia, Ms Strick said she was surprised how bad supermarkets were compared to what was on offer in the UK.
“Australia’s grocery sector is dominated by a duopoly of two stores, two near-identical chains: Woolworths and Coles,” she told The i Paper.
“Living in Sydney, the idea of doing 80 per cent of your shop in one supermarket and topping it up elsewhere was an alien concept.”
Ms Strick said Australia’s vast distances meant higher prices and she couldn’t believe how costs varied with the UK.
“Yes, the cost of the weekly shop in Britain has soared in the UK, but try doing it in Australia,” she said.
Katie Strick said it was how much she missed UK supermarkets that surprised her the most. Picture: Instagram
“I remember going shopping for the first time in Sydney and picking up a punnet of grapes, thinking I must have got my exchange rates wrong when the label said $12.
“I quickly got over that particular fruit habit, but the cost of my weekly food shop still shot up overnight. In London, we spend £70 or £80 (AUD $130 or $150) a week on groceries as a couple; in Sydney, we were regularly spending well over £100 (AUD $190) despite being more mindful about what we added to the basket.”
Australia’s cost of living crisis at the supermarket checkout invariably contributes to someone’s ability to pay rent, a cost that is also on the rise.
While Ms Strick says the rental market between Sydney and London is comparable, the simply cost of food made things difficult.
Those price pressures coupled with a longing to be home around her family made the decision to leave Australia and her beachside apartment easier.
“Friends and family naturally rank highly when I list the reasons for coming back,” she said.
“Green space, quality of the press, a low risk of shark attacks and being a short train ride from my parents’ home town don’t quite have the same ring as living next to the beach when you shout them across a pub - but they mattered more than I expected.”
And Ms Strick is not alone in struggling to make Australia home.
Katie Strick said she had difficulty navigating Sydney’s rental market. Picture: Instagram
Other British expats who made the leap to Australia on holiday visas are lamenting the intense competition in the rental market that is seeing them pay more than they were in London and that’s only if they manage to successfully be offered a home among the hundred-plus people fighting for every listing.
UK fashion marketing assistant Holly Beddall has been documenting her own struggles to break into the Australian jobs and rental market for her 25,000 followers on TikTok.
“People think moving to Australia is easy but the Sydney rental crisis is no joke,” she said.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data for 2024 revealing more than 40,000 UK and Irish migrants arrived Down Under that year – the highest 12-month intake in more than a decade.
It is a trend putting increased pressure on Australia’s tight housing market as supply continues to dwindle.
The National Housing Accord aims to build 1.2 million homes between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2029 in a bid to address accommodation shortages and spiralling home and rental prices.
But Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows there were just 186,000 approvals for new homes across the country in the 2024-2025 financial year, the first 12 months of the Accord’s timeline. To hit the 1.2 million homes target the country needed to achieve 240,000 a year.
While the lack of new residential properties being built is definitely impacting tight rental markets, the influx of migrants is adding further fuel to an already inflamed sector.
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