jmh

I drove around all the showhomes in Karaka Lakes and got a really good feel for the range of homes on offer. From really cheap to high quality. Landmark Homes impressed me the most and they have two price ranges. Signature looked ok too. Could do a house from $250,000 (more if you need septic tank etc installed). Worth doing the rounds in a development near you to get an idea of price and quality. Land/house packages tend to be on developments which doesn't interest me so much.

davros1984

for those with the goggles still on, here are 3 articles which hopefully paint a good picture of housing in NZ:

Auckland
1)http://www.nzherald.co.nz/residentia...ectid=11186479
2)http://www.nzherald.co.nz/residentia...ectid=11183865

Christchurch
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/n...ectid=11186869

BEVS

Here is quite a good webpage about the estimated building costs per square metre of floor plan for a house build.

Of course, on top of that you have to add the cost of the section/land. Landscaping costs should also be factored in.

Mark Smith

Davros, I sense things are slowing down in Chch. A house round the corner, in good condition and in a nice area has been reduced in price. The board says something like price reduced to meet market... Also noticed a lot more houses for sale with an actual asking price. Or maybe its just the slow time of year, when people are away on holiday and less sales, who knows?

jmh

It paints a very good picture of housing in Auckland. New items: Property in expensive part of Auckland sells for a high price. And, luxury apartment is expensive area is expensive. LOL. Tell me why that is news? No don't bother.

Maybe it's the fault of programmes like Wanted Down Under. It sets up unrealistic expectations of would-be immigrants. Warning to everyone thinking of immigrating to NZ: You may not be able to buy a large 4 bed family home with a nice big garden for the kids to play in, near a beach and a 10 minute commute to the CBD in Auckland - there, community service done for the day.

davros1984

first article highlights that property is still selling at twice the rated value (and the rated value is already high).

second article indicates that apartments will be more common place and most likely the only form of property that the non-privileged can afford.

with that in mind, why would you emigrate to auckland from the UK? you just wouldnt, unless you're crazy. you either spend hours commuting, or spend slightly less time commuting and live in a little box.

Mark, let us know of any developments in CHCH.

Addition:
I know the above is somewhat black and white or to the point. The reason I keep banging the drum is simple. Since returning from my wonderful holiday break over new year,i have met 2 brits through work who have moved here in the past 4 months. both are finding it financially crippling being here due to their rents and one of them simply doesnt have the funds for a car. They both appear to regret the move. I just wish they had done their research before coming.

Certainly if I was thinking of emigrating here today and had read the articles posted throughout this thread, i wouldn't move to Auckland.

jmh

In fairness to you, the main reason I am in Auckland is family and the fact that I know it. My business has taken off here but if it hadn't I would seriously consider Hamilton or Tauranga. I think Hamilton will in due course become a satellite to Auckland and one day there will be a commuter train. I have friends there who have the ideal 4 bed family home in a nice area with good schools and it cost them less than $500k. He has a good job and she's taken time out for a bit to raise the kids.

If you read back over this thread, most people are not disagreeing with you, but you reject any comprises. Even living in the UK means compromising - why would NZ be any different? Your friends from the UK clearly didn't do their homework if they are surprised at the cost of rent. Maybe they fell for the Wanted Down Under fantasy too.

People in the UK seem to think NZ is some sort of Shangri La - it use to irritate the hell out of me how they all assumed it was paradise. No, it has problems like most places.

Pom_Chch

I second that. Since the 20% rules we have noticed prices creeping down. We've had our eye on the housing market since we arrived one year ago and now noticing slight decreases, but it is early days so hopefully bigger decreases to come. There's a house out in North Cantabs that was on the market for $415k, which we thought was overpriced. It sat on trademe for ages and then dropped to $395k and now it has gone. I think buyers are becoming more savvy now and aren't letting sellers take the mick...

Northern Henry

Anyone heading to NZ without doing their homework (especially nowadays with all the info to hand on the interwebnet) should only have themselves to blame. Stuck in a spiral of renting and unable to buy that dream house isn't unique to Auckland or wider parts of NZ, I can think of many people in similar position in UK.. Nowhere's perfect and ranting that it should be isn't going to change anything.

davros1984

- but no-one is ranting.

this is exactly why i highlight the current situation so that people looking to move here know what they are in for. these tv programmes are very misleading and can give people a false sense of reality.

however, auckland has changed dramatically and tv programmes are dated. for instance the houses we looked at in 2011 here in nz were 400-450k (reasonably priced). today, similar houses in the same area are going at 750K, and over a million at auction. Our plan was to work and save for 2 years, expect houses to increase by 3-4% (max) a year and then buy if still happy. With what has happened in the past 2 and a bit years and the crazy 20% rule, what was in my view a workable plan became a total fantasy.

the other big change is rental competition. in june 2011, we looked at a 2-bed, 2-largebalcony apartment in central takapuna with sea views which we got for $415 a week. we were the only couple to view it in 3 weeks. that same flat today is rented at $575 a week and had over 20 viewings in 1 morning. That is serious change.

gazmac

Did they make new builds the exception to the 80%LVR ? Suppose I could find that out myself.

Tom1983

Nope.

If you want to buy a new house - say there's a newly constructed build that you want to buy, you'd have to fork out 20% deposit

The only way to avoid the 20% deposit is to do a construction loan. Buy the section and then get a company to build your house.

We were wanting to buy a house that's got a bit more work till it's finished, but the banks said no to a 10%. They did agree that this wasn't well presented in the statement from the reserve bank.

Oh and the other way to avoid is the welcome home loan but you have to qualify for a few things. One is being here on a permanent resident visa for a minimum of 2 years. Again not well presented but when we made an enquiry to a house in Rolleston, they said even when our application is accepted to be a resident, we have to have that visa for a minimum of 2 years.

Which is a relief because some of the old properties in the budget for a welcome home loan are interesting to say the least.

pippalonghorn

We did a hell of a lot of research. The houses we looked at on the Internet looked in our price range before we came. It fails to state on the Internet that most of them were lease hold. This is not advertised for some strange reason. we have been to open homes where the lease has been discussed very quietly and the agent has not been able to give a lease charge. very worrying.

My family is better off in the UK. Some families are better off here. We all have our own stories and I think it is important that both sides are spoken about. Davros listens to other opinions and answers accordingly. If I had seen this site before moving here it would have given me a more balanced idea of NZ. NZ has a fantastic marketing stratagy which is not 100% true. And it doesn't help when Philip Spencer adds to it all.

I have found out through living here that this is a remote island who does not like outside competition. It prefers to be isolated. If your isolated then no one gets to know all of your problems. You can have a perfect image. But no country is perfect. Unfortunately I'm a tall poppy and don't fit in.

Tom1983

The Christchurch rental market, oh where do I start.

Having said that, I enjoyed the recent results of the usual housing auction. There's a house going on Papanui Road for example, minimum reserve I believe is around $535,000 - 3 auctions, 3 no sales. Evn the auction for the top floor flat on McDougall Avenue didn't meet its reserve price of $585,000 - annoying for the seller when the bottom floor went for just under $800,000

I'm hoping for the residents struggling to get out of the out of control ridiculous rental market, are being more strict when it comes to auctions. I hope that one day, a change happens in the selling environment and that auctions become a thing of the past. It's a greed market in my opinion. I went to one at Russley Golf Club yesterday and the amount of bidders there was minimal. Infact I think there were only 3 hosues that were sold in total from what another first time buyer informed me. For example, a 3 bedroom house in Linwood - had a winning bid of $275,000 but failed to meet the reserve price. Looking at the photos and knowing the area - that was a fair offer in my opinion. Whatever the seller wanted is in dreamland

Oh and this negotiation bollox does my head in as well. You may get the odd seller agreeing to a lower bid but the values they set - no wonder why no one can afford to move these days. There was a 4 bedroom house I enquired about in Woolston, seller wanted a minimum of $450,000 - if he thought i'd pay $450,000 for a house that needed at least $50,000 worth of repairs, then he can go to planet zog to get someone to pay that sort of finance for it. It's still on the market under negotation, surprise sur effin prise.

I have seen more valuations are being introduced on real estate but a lot of the houses being sold need work on them. There's a lovely house in New Brighton that I did consider looking into until the welcome home loan was ruled out, but it sure did need a lot of work doing to it. Whoever did the repair work did not do a very good job at all. Then again, it wouldn't surprise me if numpty EQC hired all the builders that starred in Cowboy Builders and got them to do the rework on the cheap.

DennisBergkamp

Section prices in Welly not so cheap though. My partner and I cant make a 20% deposit. Could maybe hit 10%.

But max budget would be in the 300k area

Building a house seems quite daunting. But if i can get a house built for 200k and a decent section for 100k could be doable.