turkeytickler

As part of our fact finding to help us come to our final decision re stay or go, my wife and I have been open homing... around Christchurch.... what a depressing episode... the idea being to compare what we could buy here with our projected earnings against what we could buy in Norwich with our projected earnings....

Our conclusion is, relative to earnings we will get a nicer house in an area with better schools, with CENTRAL HEATING in Norwich than we can in Christchurch.... and all in walking distance from town, school, friends, pub etc...

I must admit that surprised me.... i was still expecting the property to be better value for money here than in the uk....

auldduck

Without being too nutty professor about it, I reckon that given the relative cost of building plots and the poorer materials used in NZ, NZ housing is much more expensive than UK (barring central London etc).

Quality MUST come into the equation.

Relative to average earnings, NZ housing does very badly too, in comparison - pushing 10:1 ratio vs UK's 6:1.

A very poor deal in NZ from the value angle.

camelot

That's shocking, I know it's horribly depressing, we were searching up here in Auckland and we were left depressed after every open home. To get in such high mortgage debt for the horrible hovels is no fun. It was so depressing we went to look at Canada as an alternative because we don't want to go back to the UK. As a comparison, the houses in Vancouver (like Auckland) are still pricey but the interest rates are half of here and we think you can have a better life there....of course, time will tell.....

Joshlin

Hi TT
just out of interest - what areas were you looking at - we've been open homing round chch too and seem some good, some not so good. There is definately an issue about how much of a mortgage you can manage (obviously dependent on whether you have any GBP to support deposits) but we've certainly seen some nice houses - the like of which we could not have considered in the UK (we were in Milton Keynes)
Vicki

turkeytickler

the areas we are looking at are beckenham, st albans, lower cashmere, somerfield and st martins.... dont get me wrong, there are some lovely houses on the market but its just the cost (we are first time buyers)....

Apple12

You are describing my side of town. It is the best area in ChCh to be in (I am a bit biased), excellent amenities and the hills are just there for mtb rides and walking. I guess my comment is that buying your first house anywhere in the world isn't easy, and the first house usually represents a compromise... Mind you, winning the lottery would be nice way to solve the problem .

turkeytickler

im certainly with you on that - the eastern part of chch near the port hills is lovely, i cant see what the big deal is about fendalton and merivale..... i think its just the school zoning, i cant see any other reason....

sky

Burnside has popular schools in it's area too so I imagine the houses around there are pricey but I was very unimpressed with the area it just looked scruffy and run down to me.
We rented in the area when we first arrived and I couldn't wait to get out of the city and away from it all. We drove near the Cashmere hills during a rain storm and the water was cascading down in huge rivers ... I thought the houses were going to follow any minute

Jeeper

Of course looking at buying a house at the peak of a 5 year long rise in house prices ain't doing anyone any favours.

Joshlin

agree with others - this seems to be the nicer part of town - we're looking slightly out of town - Halswell, Oaklands, Westlake, Aidenfield and we're lucky we've got a good deposit so some nice houses (with insulation / heating) are within reach - can't get my head around wooden houses though!

Apple12

History and snob value. There are some very big houses in Fendalton and Merivale, traditionally it is the doctors and dentists and professors suburb.

Where I am there is no flooding at all, in fact this house (and section) is dry as a bone, no dehumidifier needed. There aren't too many houses that are in a flood zone on this side of ChCh, further out north from Christchurch used to be a swamp many years ago (hence Marshlands...).

turkeytickler

ive got a bit of a soft spot for the wooden villas - dont fancy spending a winter in one though!

livewire

We searched for months and months in and around Auckland, couldn't find anything and found it very depressing too. In the end we managed to find some land and are having something built. It's far and away the best way to get what you want at a reasonable price. We're even going to have double glazing (gasp!!) and underfloor heating in the bathrooms.

Michelle & Chris

Hi There

We've chatted in the past. Hope your well.

How are you finding the "getting your own house built" scenario. It sounds like a good idea listening to all the chat on here. Frankly I find it all a bit scary, I was brought up in a very old but beautiful house with poor oil heating and the thinest glass (didn't know what double glazing was), and I remember the breath in front of your face experience. I don't fancy that again, getting too old, but not that old.

We've lived through the demolition and re-building of our present home so am used to that particular challenge. Could you possibly pass on a little more info on building your own home in NZ. It maybe the way forward. Have you used just one builder and how is the cost. We should have a nice capital amount to bring over but even so I'm not sure how much builders / land etc cost.

Any information much appreciated.

Cheers

Michelle

turkeytickler

It wouldnt be an option for us as we find the new builds a little clinical and soulless - which is totally down to our taste an no criticism before anyone gets defensive....

Before we came to this conclusion we looked at various self build options - i think it ends up being more expensive in the long run - since it is the land that seems to hold most of the value of the "property" so you have to buy the land at say (I am guessing) 70% the value of what it would be were it fully developed, then another 70% to plonk a new house on it - totalling 140% the cost of an equivalent plot of land with a house on it.....

of course you dont get to choose the spec so exactly and have the pleasure of watching it grow out of the ground.....so it depends how much you value these things.... bottom line for us - it worked out more expensive and we werent that taken by the plans on offer anyway so it was a no no...... im sure others have different ideas.

Another approach - which is not totally unheard of here - is to buy a plot of land, buy a villa from another plot of land and uplift the whole shebang onto a trailer and move it to your new plot of land!