House Prices
 

Everyone comments on high NZ house prices eg $800k in Auckland, $500k elsewhere.

I accept that some older NZ houses can be dire (but the same applies to UK). When we were shopping around before coming over in Oct we compared UK, Germany/France and NZ. The latter two were similar in price (but the German houses were better built). UK, however, was probably double the price on a 'like for like' basis even though in NZ you tend to get more floor/land area.

My son tried to buy a derelict two bedroom cottage in Somerset at auction last month, it went for £240,000! We paid a similar price here for a nice brick built three bedroom house with 5 acres near Kerikeri. I rest my case.

Peter

Re: House Prices
 

As we know its all about location and demand
The cottage despite being derelict would have had potential for more
Whereas the home in kerikeri is at its peak and land up there is worth
little compared to other rural areas of nz

You can't make comparisons

Re: House Prices
 

I find it's not the actual price per say that's putting us off as pound for pound we get roughly the same in terms of number of rooms etc (with the added bonus of extra land) compared to out area (Glasgow-ish). However the difference in salaries means that we can afford a lot less. :(

Re: House Prices
 

I just did :) the comparison is houses in NZ are much cheaper than UK on a rough 'like for like' basis. I didn't say anything about affordability or investment potential.

Peter

Re: House Prices
 

but you really can't do a like for like analysis on housing here as there are so many factors. building material, ie most are wooden, insulation, window treatments, quality of workmanship. land area probably bigger as most houses are bungalows.

Re: House Prices
 

How would you say it compares to the UK? Do you feel the housing stock in NZ offers value for money?

Re: House Prices
 

personally from the building I had back in the UK to what I have now for a similar monthly mortgage, UK was better quality and better value all round. NZ houses can all look rather lovely but the day to day ability to live in them is much harder, be it lack of insulation, lack of double glazing, heating, ventiliation etc. cost to upgrade to what I would personally would expect required to live in to day to day comfortable is huge and not something we could afford in short term. where as in the UK we had the house at the standard we wanted, along with a beautiful oak kitchen, as I say at a similar mortgage price we have here.

Re: House Prices
 

That's kind of what I had got from the research I've done and having had a quick nosey whilst I was in NZ. We're very fortunate to have a great home here with everything we need and the idea of taking several steps down from that is a bit of a sore point for me, the sore point if I'm being honest.

I suppose the big question is, do you feel the downsides of the housing stock/market are made up for in other areas?

Re: House Prices
 

Depends what area you are looking at John_Hepburn.

Best way to ensure you get what you want from an NZ home is to build your own... or have someone build it on a plot you've chosen for yourself.

We lived in a Victorian cottage in the UK. A short walk to the beach. Close to facilities, town amenities and wonderful countryside. A 60 foot garden to the rear but no off road parking. Central heating and sympathetically double glazed.

Here we live in a 40 year old cedar clad home. Part on piles. Part on slab. It is insulated but no double glazing. It has one wood burner to heat the home in winter. It is angled for sun. Set in a third of an acre with a garage, workroom and carport.

I loved and still love my home county of Dorset and retrospectively I didn't value our home & its location enough.

Here I think we have chosen a lovely home. One with character and space. A true NZ home. Thing is I can't compare the two at all as it is complete chalk and cheese.

Re: House Prices
 

I suppose I am trying to compare apples to oranges. Hopefully one day I'll be able to decide, think it's going to remain a pipe dream for just now though.

Re: House Prices
 

for me personally. No.
but then I am a home lover, and love nothing more than cuddling up with the family in winter feeling all warm and cosy without having to put on layers, blankets and hats. which wasn't to bad in the previous house as it had heat pumps/air con in most rooms (bought from UK owners), but they only work when the electric does. but this house built in 2002, had no internal insulation, single glazing and one gas heater in the living room. we had the kids bedroom walls insulated and retro double glazed the bedroom windows. coming out to nearly $15000 and not put on the mortgage.

also trying to get tradies in to do the work can be very frustrating and can take ages. Example, I contacted 3 tradies at the beginning of Dec for a quote, one has turned up and said he will quote, contacting him today actually to see what was happening and got the reply, "holiday time caught up with me and not back to next Monday", the other two companies haven't even bothered to reply to even give a quote.

and when to they do some even charge you to drive to your property to carry out the work each day? It's listed as travel, seriously if they are going to do that just stick it on the rate rather then telling me they are charging me to come do a job I am paying them to do. might just be me but I find that rather odd and unnecessary.

sorry rant over.

I do like the fact that I can drive to the beach which is just 10mins away and here there are shops in walking distant. last house was in a place that had a hairdressers, a dairy and a bookshop so had to drive to 15-20min away to get weekly shop.

Re: House Prices
 

Yes if under 20 years old, but it is designed for NZ conditions.

Peter

Re: House Prices
 

There's a good reason why property in Northland is cheap, there is little to no work to speak of, there's huge unemployment and poverty issues. Unless you work for yourself from home are retired and or imported a shed load of dosh then it's not a viable proposition for most people who need to earn a living.

Buying property there also requires some serious due diligence and homework - buyers need to be very wary of anything that's too good to be true as very likely it could have issues with flooding during the 'winterless' rainy season.

Re: House Prices
 

What a load of cobblers - my house comments applied to the whole of NZ, except say the big cities and Queenstown ie you can buy a reasonable 3 bedroom house for about £250k - now go and look at Right Move and see what you get for that price.

Only a prat buys a house without a solicitor doing 'due diligence'. Yes there are poor areas in Northland eg Kaitaia/Kaikohe but if you are only going to live in rich areas make sure you limit your search to south of Oxford/Cheshire etc. Every town has nurses/firemen/plumbers/teachers so you don't have to live in a City. Flooding where - have you seen the UK headlines.

Finally, Kerikeri is the fastest growing town in NZ (climate/tourists/expats) :-)

Peter

Re: House Prices
 

Actually found plenty of houses under £250K? Just looked on property pal and found over 6000 houses that have 3 or more bedrooms in Northern Ireland alone. I agree that the UK can be expensive, but it's no different in New Zealand. Just because it looks cheap to you, doesn't mean it's cheap for others and it's all about lifestyle choices. Most people work in towns and cities, so they can't and don't want to live in Kerikeri. You have to look at the whole picture, like job availability, minimum wage, wealth, universities etc..