Wottodo

What would an average (modest) NZ house cost, not right in a city, maybe somewhere slightly rural where you could grow your own food, ie largeish garden?
Still would need to be close enough to civilisation to go to work as a carpenter!

TIA
Wottodo

Kiwiprincess

400ish..Some for $350k. Others for far more. Others for less. Wellington you pay more, Auckland you pay even more. But, if you weren't concerned with a top of the line house in a fancy area then 400 - 450k is probably reasonable (except for those areas).

Some even for far less if you are canny. Eg Featherston in the Wairarapa has houses and land at a very reasonable price. B*tch of a commute to Wellington but a lot of people do it now- apparently it doesn't take very long if you leave early. Cheap enough that even if you spend 50k refurbishing and
insulating etc it is still a decent price.

Sorry, other people will have a far better idea.

One thing i can say - mortgagee sales are going to be more common....don't be in too much of a hurry to buy something you don't like.

happynz

Southland is booming! I don't know where Invercargill gets its bad reputation. OK, the winters can be coldish, windy and damp. Get some woolies and gumboots and you'll be fine. Summers are OK though. It's reasonably clean and has most of the services one would need. It is only a three hour drive to Queenstown if you desire a bit of holiday flashiness. The best part is that where NZ$400K won't buy you much in Auckland it will buy you a quite nice place down in Invercargill.

P18PPS

If you're looking at anywhere in or close to a "holiday destination" then you can probably double that price. Wooden shacks in some areas are going for $500k upwards. It really depends on where you want to base yourself.

taniae

Hi there we live in Invercargill in a small settlement 20 minutes from the city centre called Bluff. Many people love the North but if you want decent prices good schools and plenty of space and you don't mind a chilly breeze once in a while I would say this is it. We have a big 3 bed 2 storey house with seaviews and 1/4 acre section for under 250,000 nz dollars. Plenty of work for tradesman of all sorts. Temperature in summer can get up to 30 degrees although 20-28 is the norm and winter is ....well wet and cold but isn't it everywhere? Hope this helps.

BEVS

Nelson. quarter acre section , 4 bed house. $390K. Took some haggling and is in need of a complete refurb as it is in the 1970's.Stonking great mortgage we have .

Lexylou

Oh I know that drive well and I am not sure I could do it everyday...... that road, those hills..... been sick MANY a time !!hhaha

bourbon-biscuit

But outside of the big cities modest 3/4 bed homes with decent gardens can be found for in the 250-350 range, cheaper in the less good areas/ruraly or needing a do up.

crap coffee

Perhaps you wanna buy our place....(RD 2 Albany Auckland)

because that's Exactly what you want...

We grow our own fresh crops ...............also graze livestock ......it's only 10 minutes drive from (civilisation) Albany Mega Centre and 20 minutes drive from North Shore City. The weather is nice and warm here. It's a great advantage.

Well. It's over $$$ a million dollars you see?..........

There are plenty of carpenter jobs in this area

BUt while we were living in Welly, it was extremely difficult to grow vegetables with the harsh (cold/windy) weather conditions, therefore Mum is mega happy now!

Wottodo

A million dollars eh?

Same probs as the UK in that you have to be property rich to grow a bit of grub. How do poor people grow theirs?

Yotty

Wotto I'm sure there are lots of places you could have a decent small holding for a fraction of the price Crap coffee recons her place is worth!

crap coffee

I think Orewa must be cheaper... than Albany

However it is remote from city centre

taniae

I agree anywhere in southland you can still pick up a decent block of land and small house under 300k

Kiwiprincess

Just realised what you said about growing your own food. A garden does not have to be big to grow your own food. My parents on only a rare occasion would buy fruit or vegetables when i was growing up (i am 28).

I grew up in the suburbs. So it is not like they had a particularly big section to grow food on but we had a lot of veges and fruit(corn, lettuce, tomatoes, passionfruit, grapefruit, plums, apples, pipenos, carrots, punkin, celery, beetroot, capsicums etc). Of course new houses have smaller sections now but a lot of older places in the burbs still have large backyards.

We did have to buy meat though. Well except that one time when i asked if we were eating budgie.......

P18PPS

Try having a look at www: open2view or realENZ - the "market garden" area of Auckland is west/northwest - there are still some bargains to be had over that way around the area of Oratia which is in the Waitakere Ranges, and is a bit cheaper than it's neighbour Titirangi - both these areas are nice and have good schooling (if this is a concern). If you have a nose then you should be able to get an idea of what somewhere within striking distance of Auckland has to offer (it's not as expensive as north shore where crapcoffee is talking about). Basically the more remote you are then the cheaper stuff gets, but be aware that somewhere on a map that looks comparible to a short commute in the UK could take twice, three or even four times as long to get to due to the road network.