Cost of living data
 

Hi everyone,

Having ploughed my way through endless posts about how crushingly expensive it is to live here lately I wondered if I was in fact going mad. (And I found a post somewhere on the forum about someone concerned about moving US-UK as the UK was so expensive to live in). So I have googled and found hard data that will allow you to compare and contrast NZ life with UK life.

It's interesting as it allows you to compare individual cities. As we know mobile data, internet and groceries are more expensive here (but falling) but some of it was a surprise even to me. So take a look at the data and have a chat about it if you like :)

Cost Of Living Comparison Between United Kingdom And New Zealand

Re: Cost of living data
 

these sites are good for average expenses but don't take into account distances travelled since commuting has become more popular , cost of firewood for using fire 24 hrs a day !, lpg , road user credits for diesel , doctors and practice nurse charges . clothes!! shoes !! comparing quality for quality .
just a musing of mine based on lack of money:blink: rather than fact maybe ?:o

Re: Cost of living data
 

Excellent site LN...people much prefer actual facts rather than just guessoligy from distant memories...:thumbup:

Re: Cost of living data
 

Well if this is the waiting costs for a taxi in Sheffield - how on earth are any taxi firms operating up there?

Taxi 1hour Waiting (Normal Tariff) 3,600.00 £ 29.08 £ -99.19 %

Even if they errored and priced at 36.00 would still be wrong.

I'm skeptical about some of the results particularly take home amounts. I'd be interested to see if in the average monthly salary income after tax includes the personal allowance that you get in the UK. The average salary in Bournemouth is around 24900 (this was in April 2014) which once the deductions (tax and NI come into play) - 1,634.27GBP. Much higher than the 1,288.50GBP they are saying - resulting in more money than the 1,334.62GBP per month income from Christchurch

Rental prices are also no where near the prices they are saying. The average rental rate in GBP per month for Bournemouth is 901pcm. The average rental price in Christchurch is $445p/w going on the reports from stuff, trade me and real estate. When multiplied that amount by the current exchange rate of 0.48 the average rental price per month for Christchurch is 927.68GBP.

I wonder where these contributors get their results from?

Re: Cost of living data
 

It's a bit interesting in a way , however at a quick glance it seems to be based on individual contributors inputting their personal data ? Is that so? If so, who double checks that what someone inputs is actual & complete. Who controls that the demographics of the contributors from the comparing countries are.....comparable.

Anyway, I'm of the opinion that comparing UK to NZ is comparing apples to oranges. It is always all about your net income v your expenditure and then what disposable income you have left over to fund your wishes.

However those that have to try to compare for some reason should do that by comparing the same unit of people. i.e. tradeperson with 2 kids UK to tradeperson 2 kids NZ. Comparable % mortgage etc. One would also have to factor in the living area. You cannot compare someone in a city for instance to someone in a small town.

For us NZ has become very expensive over the past 11 years. When we were here in 1997 there was no doubt that it seemed a cheap place to live. There again we weren't earning NZ dollars were we.

To read about how those from the US are faring back in the UK, read the MBTTUK forum for actual real life experiences. For some it is about health care costs in older age. For some it is about lifestyle. The US seems not great on holiday time off. For some it will also be about pension income & equity.

Re: Cost of living data
 

I thought some of the figures for the NZ end were a bit high TBH but it's a good place to start as it's something a bit more objective. I think it can be easy to fall prey to 'grass is greener' syndrome wherever we live.

I do remember being scared to buy food in my first few weeks because it seemed so flipping expensive but then I stopped converting to £s in my head, started earning in $s and since then have just got on with it.

The one thing I was asking myself the other day was if NZs food prices are actually a little more realistic in terms of production etc. It's only fairly recently that the supermarket price wars have driven down the cost of food in such an aggressive way over in the UK. This has had an obvious impact on farmers and on the quality of food offered. Historically we'd have paid a substantially larger portion of our income to feed ourselves than we do now. I am not saying that's a good or bad thing, just that it is a factor to consider.

Re: Cost of living data
 

One of the problems with food in NZ is that the price is artificially fixed by the different boards the represent farmers. The theory is that local people have to pay international prices, which is nonsense, but it leads to high prices in the shops. Prices are much cheaper if you buy at local outlets and direct from the supplier. Of course not everyone is in a position to do this.

Here's a comment someone I know made:

I think he has a point. The market is fixed, and not in the consumer's favour.

Re: Cost of living data
 

Also, many Brits don't appreciate how being part of the EU keeps prices down and has improved the quality of food sold in supermarkets.

Re: Cost of living data
 

Three of the four farms that surround my smallholding in the UK have gone under in the last 20yrs as a direct result of artificially low prices and cheap imports being forced on the UK by the big supermarkets. When it costs more to produce milk than you are being paid for it and you're working an 80hr week to manage the herd and the land it's just not sustainable any more.
I am not looking forward to NZ dairy and cheese prices but I can, sort of, see the need for them to be kept high.

Re: Cost of living data
 

Well if you believe the data on that site the conclusion is:

so those who say NZ is more expensive are in fact errm, quite possibly right.

Anyroad up all I can say about rents is this.

We rented our place out in the UK for 750 a month for 6 years and never once put the rent up. Nor did we ask for any deposit back at the end even though tenants kept pets that they should not have.

In Auckland (just) our rent went up over 25% in that time period and when we left the landlord put it up another $120 a week!

Now I live in a right dive, draughty, 70s kitchen and decor in a real noisy location and I pay more than our tenants did for a countryside location, yet 10 minutes to city, GFCH, DG, newish kitchen, etc

Oh yeah and over that 7 year period my NZ salary did not rise at all. The last time I have consistently felt this hungry was when I was a student in London in the 80s and lived on frozen mince slurry, pasta and the smell of an oily rag.

Re: Cost of living data
 

� ����yup livin the dream !! BTW you can buy a four bed nice house in a good area of Dunedin for $250 . It's cold in the winter but the summers are still fabulous and climate muchuch better than the uk . Auckland maybe generally warmer in the winter but it rains all the time so winters are cold and dank . Auckland is a dive unless you can afford an executive lifestyle on the shore . On the east coast of the South Island we don't go long without a blue sky day . Get out of Auckland if you can . You won't regret it !!

Re: Cost of living data
 

While everyone can make light of the price of veg and milk and think it's not such a big deal, the real kickers are the big ticket things that make a big difference to your disposable income and thus makes the day-to-day small stuff relatively less affordable.

When a basic / average everyday café wants $18.00 for breakfast I wonder under what circumstances would I ever pay £9.00 in the UK for two eggs, two rashers of bacon and a slice of toast. It's not like we're talking exceptional quality or Little Chef Olympic portions.

Re: Cost of living data
 

Just this week I've been go smacked by the price of two very different things.

Firstly a pint of lager in the pub a fair few of the Brits drink in down in the city centre called the Duke of Wellington was $12. It's a fake English pub, there's no dart board, no pool table, no band, no entertainment, it's bloody boring but for some reason there is a chandelier. Twelve frigging dollars, not going back.

Then I went to see my bank about a loan for some home improvements, the cheapest APR they could do was 15%. The advice was to get a credit card as the APR is lower.

Fish and chips are still cheaper though, unfortunately fish n chips won't double glaze my home or get me pissed.

Re: Cost of living data
 

I never really paid for food in cafes before I emigrated, mostly because the quality just wasn't worth it. I pay $18 for a stack of pancakes here because they're gorgeous :) plus Kiwis are generally earlier people so breakfast is a fake beer after work for some.

Re: Cost of living data
 

Oh of course, so totally worth it, I forgot that eggs, flour and milk are of infinitely better quality in NZ. :flypig: