davepoole

Hi

im a UK emergency nurse and for a while have been thinkin of going to live and work in NZ. My main reasons being, increased quality of life, and the hope of affording a house to buy. Where i live in the UK i will never be able to afford to buy my own home whilst working as a nurse.

However after reading some of the posts on here it seems i will be worse off. But i am confused, the saleries for NZ nurses are very similar to UK nurse salaries, but everything in NZ is cheaper including houseing or so i thought.

I was planin on living and working in Auckland, and eventually hopeing to buy my own home, i am single and plan on staying that way, have been qualified for 3 yrs and have worked in AE for 2 yrs, anyone have some honest advice for me, any nurses workin in NZ.

I want to work to live not live to work, corny i know but just wanna live comfortably and not be skint by the end of the month.

Also do nurses get pensions at the end of their careers, someone on here said they dont.

I have searched the web for these answers but always seem to come up with either positives or confusing responses.

I know there is alot im asking and its a bit long winded but any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

dave

ukkiwi

Be very careful it is not cheap to live in NZ - especially not in Auckland.

I dont know how much you would earn but i guess around $50k. You wont find many houses under $300k in Auckland so your looking at least 6x you salary to get on the ladder. Hows does that compare to the UK?

Kim & Gary

Hi I am also a UK nurse planning to move to NZ. I am married with 2 children and have a job to start in July this year near Auckland. I have been searching the properties for sale and it appears houses are expensive in the area we are looking. We have family living in NZ and visited a couple of times so things will be a little easier for us, but it is still a little scary to give up what we consider a comfortable life here and venture into the unknown.
We too are looking for a more relaxed pace of life where we can enjoy more time together as a family. Lets just hope it lives up to our expectations!
Kim

kiwijetpilot

Have a look at:

http://www.nzno.org.nz/SITE_Default/...Us/Default.asp
http://www.nzno.org.nz/SITE_Default/...st/fairpay.asp
http://www.nursingcouncil.org.nz
http://www.nursingcouncil.org.nz/links.html

Housing depends on two things, where you live and how much you bring from the UK.

Be careful what you believe with regard to house prices. Like any big city, if you want to live in the inner suburbs of Auckland, it will cost you seriously large amounts, just as it would in any major city anywhere in the western world. If you are prepared to live in a smaller city, or further out of town, or you are interested in doing up an older house, you can get some pretty good bargains.

There ARE houses around Auckland for less than 300K. For example, have a look at these properties that are under 200K:

http://www.open2view.com/Property/89...74042&offset=0
http://www.open2view.com/Property/98...4042&offset=10
http://www.open2view.com/Property/97...74042&offset=0

Remember we are talking about 60K-70K pounds here, in a major city.

Now if you wanted to live in a smaller town, you get more for your dollar.

Best thing is to browse Open2View www.open2view.com

It can work out very well. For example, friends of mine came from the UK with 60K pounds (about 159K NZ dollars). They bought a house near Wellington for NZD350K, not unlike this one:

http://www.open2view.com/Property/99...74418&offset=0

So now they have a mortgage of NZD180,000 which works out to NZD 1365.00 per month (517 pounds).

Now if you came here with 150K pounds in your pocket, you could buy a big house for cash and live mortgage-free.

You just need to do a pile of research.

Have fun with it!

binman

No nurses do not get a hospital pension in NZ just OAP which is insufficient to live on. Nurses look set for a large pay increase over the next couple of years and the labour govt. have indicated they intend reintroducing workplace pensions previously taken away by the national govt. I am on top level staff nurse rate and get around $60000 inclusive of penal payments but that is in mental health. At least one A&E dept in Auckland work the 12 hour shift, with your holidays that would leave you almost two thirds of the year off duty. House prices in Auckland are expensive but as was previously noted if you are prepared to live on the fringes you can generally find something cheaper but even then they are no longer cheap.Cheers binman

Kim & Gary

We hope to take at least £100k with us to NZ and will be shipping most of our furniture with us. We were thinking of investing our money and renting at first then later getting a morgage to buy a property, this way will have some capital stashed away should things go wrong.

kiwijetpilot

Depending on where you buy, you may find that an investment in property gives a better return than a financial institution. Looking at it another way, in some areas you will be losing ground in the property market whilst your money sits in the bank. That doesn't apply to all areas of course. The property market is buoyant and you are unlikely to have much trouble selling.

Now having said all that, if you are uncertain that you want to stay in NZ long term, it may be best that you don't buy. Renting will cost you though.

I'd give it six months and then re-assess.

If you rent and then buy later, you will also have the costs involved in moving twice, which can be expensive.

I bought before I returned here from the UK, and rented it out until I arrived. I saved a bundle - about 15,000 dollars - but doing it that way is not for everybody!

davepoole

hey thanks for the replies and the info was a great help, think i will rent first, check out my pay after 6 months then look into buying a mortgage, still looks like i have a better chance buying a decent place in NZ than down in the South of the UK

thanks

dave