Cost of living in Auckland
 

Hi all, just been offered a job in Auckland, working in the north of the city near browns bay. Has anyone any idea of what sort of income a young couple would need to live here to have a good lifestyle and enjoy themselves. If anyone has any info on browns bay I would like to hear it as well!
Thanks

Re: Cost of living in Auckland
 

Are you happy to rent?

List the things that you would hope to do and achieve and I'm sure we can give you a reasonable idea of what salary would suit. The N. Shore is one of the most expensive areas in Auckland.

There is this rule on here which has talked about the actual equivalent pound/dollar value, which I think is 1:2.8 - so 10 pounds world be the equivalent of 28 dollars.

Our friend recently moved into a bedsit (basically a studio room with seperate bathroom) under someones family home and she pays $300 a week for that - yes, that's 600 quid a month at the now-standard exchange rate of 2:1. She lives in Murray's Bay which is close to Brown's Bay. That was one of the more affordable places for her.

Re: Cost of living in Auckland
 

:D hi. I agree with Davros. Let us know what type of a lifestyle you want to live and I'm sure people who do the same things will let you know. :D

Do you like to eat out often, are you into sports, gym etc. will you both need a car? Do you like the cinema or is a walk along the beach ok for you. :D

Re: Cost of living in Auckland
 

My sister in law lived in Albany, near Browns Bay. She moved to Dairy Flat on the outskirts on Auckland in January. She still commutes to central Auckland for work, but that's a whole other story.

We stayed in a holiday let for a week, basically the ground floor of someone's house in Browns Bay, two years ago. Sartors Avenue, Browns Bay IIRC. It was twenty minutes walk to her house from there.

We could walk to Browns Bay for coffee, about 40 minutes away. You can tell we didn't have a car at this point !

Browns Bay is ok as beachside towns go. Some love it and believe it to be the centre of the universe. There's nice coffee shops, shops to browse in and a 'Bakers Delight' outlet. Delicious. Nice fish and chip shop too. There's also an English grocer there, 'Bramptins'.

There's a Countdown supermarket in Browns Bay.

It's known as Benidorm Bay because of the amount of Brits that live there. 'Speakers Corner Pub' is considered to be the best 'English' pub this year. I've been past it but never in it.

If property to rent or buy seems expensive that's just the, 'snob value' of Browns Bay. This is prevalent on the North Shore. If there's cheaper areas on the North Shore of Auckland, they don't like to talk about it !

Re: Cost of living in Auckland
 

Appreciate everyone's views, but I live in Browns Bay so can probably offer a better perspective than others. Please don't be put off by anyone saying 'Benidorm Bay' as it's nothing of the sort! BB is a really nice seaside town, really good choice of bars and restaurants right on the seafront and far more to it than the English pub on the corner. Me and my wife didn't move to NZ just to chase home comforts; we find that living here is a really good mix of living the north shore life and still having the odd pommie to rub shoulders with. Price-wise, it isn't cheap here by any means, but the place is far better value than some of the other east coast bays. IMO the beach is one of the best on the shore, great in summer when you can take the BBQ down there and make a day of it. Really good transport links and just far enough out of the city to feel separate but close enough to commute to. All depends what you're looking for really, but we rented here for 2.5 years and looked all around the north shore for our house when we decided to buy and couldn't find a good reason to live anywhere else. Happy hunting.