sirplug

Land appears to be reasonably priced. What does it cost to build a property. Eg. A 4 Bed 2 bath single story?? Does building Regs and Planning Permission apply in NZ the same as UK?

Has or is any one in this process?

Jack The Lad

A section of land depending area around the $220k mark and a 4 bed house of reasonable spec say $300-400K

But Im sure you will get something for around the $400k just not too sure what. Defo get a nice house for that though

Zak and Sandie

HI,
we live in East Auckland and we love it here. We are a three minute drive from the beach ,(coming from Leicestershire that's fab) and a 10 minute drive from the countrside. I really like Auckland it's lively, there's loads to do for the kids all the time (mine are 7,8 & 9), there's loads for us to do too.
Things do cost more in Auckland that's true. For me I'd say give Auckland a try but like all cities there are areas that you don't even consider living (South Auckland has some dodgy areas).

Schooling is not free. There is school donation that you pay which for our three is $240 each this year + stationary of $75 each. School uniform is really expensive compared to Marks & Spencers & Tesco's, Asda etc. We pay for the girls $85 for summer dresses and $50 for their winter shirts and jumpers and $85 for winter skirts. The boy's uniform is $40 for the trousers and $35 for the polo shirts and the jumper again at $50.
This is a lot more than the 10pounds I used to pay for a summer dress.

The schools are based on Deciles: the higher the decile the more affluent the area. Deciles go from 1 to 10.
To live in East Auckland you'd need at least $500K. But it is a great place to live.
I have been to Chch but only for a few days and it is lovely. I really liked it there. The weather in Auckland was a big attraction as Chch gets as cold as England does.
The place that I would most seriously consider is Tauranga. It is so nice there, a fabulous beach and really mild winters. It's a lot more affordable than Auckland but more expensive than Chch. I would look seriously at Tauranga though.
Sandie

Leighlou

Hi there,
We (me, OH and two small ones) are hoping to be over in NZ by the end of the year, and to start with have simply picked Wellington as a place to set up home in. Our long term plan, is to have a year or two in Welly (it was only ever between Wellington and Auckland for us, as these are the places that OH will secure a job with the most money), and during this time, we will start exploring the rest of NZ on hols, weekends away etc. to try and find where we would best like to settle. There seems to be such a vast difference between the Northlands and the Southlands that at this stage, with our limited knowledge and time spent in NZ it is just not possible to make a decision as to where we would want to spend the rest of our days. Also, we are quite looking forward to the exploring! This may not be for you guys, but thought another view may be of interest. Good Luck, wherever you may end up.
Wiz and Ton, and Sky are both in the process of building their own homes, so perhaps you can ask them a bit more about costs.
Cheers, Leighlou.

Wiz'n'Ton

Hey there Sirplug. Toni and I are building here in ChCh. It is very easy to build here, and you can build a beautiful 4 bed house on a decent section out here for around the $450k mark. That's around 175k of your English Pounds. Not bad eh?!

There's a thread on here somewhere with all the info on it as someone else was asking. If your search you should be able to find it.

Hope this helps!

Wiz'n'Ton

Me again, here's a link to that thread:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=435929

Cheers!

sirplug

Thanks for that....food for thought.

So, who out there knows Hamilton??? - the place, not the person!!

I've applied for a couple of jobs in Hamilton. If I'm lucky and get one .....what's Hamilton like???

Where are the good areas to live there?

Rough idea of cost of housing....4 bed??

Any good for kids, schools etc.

Sorry to be a pain.....there'll be plenty more yet!!!!

karonious

We like Hamilton. NZ's only inland city I have been told. If the beach life is what you seek, this would not be the move for you. Look on the map and it would seem that Hamilton is approx 20 minutes from the coast. NO. At least an hour. Depending on which suburb you wanted to live in, anything from $35000 up for a reasonable house I would guess. Ours is a 3 bedroom on a full section with a gully. We were told to avoid Melville, Nawton and around the university. We live within 5 minutes drive of the hospital, love it, love it, love it.
If you can be arsed, read my blog but back-page to the beginning as the entries about how we found it here are way back now!
You can PM me with your job details and kids ages if you like and I will try to be more specific. Other things like do you drive may be important too
Things like rush hour traffic over the bridges may be a bind - doesn't affect us! Depends on where you work and live.

Dave in Auckland

Fyi

The 1st table showsthe percentage of average weekly
take-home pay required to make a standard mortgage
repayment for an average house. Take-home weekly
pay estimate as of February 2007. 90%, 25yr mortgage.

dubstar

good post dave,

I thought the take home pay in Auckland would be higher than us in Canterbury.

Dave in Auckland

So did I,

it's a bummer to find out just how much better off we'd be in Invercargill ;-)

AND you get better salaries & lower house prices... bastards

sirplug

Dave

Thanks for these. Is there a link to this sort of info??

Paul

uk+kiwi

It will be, but the house prices are much higher and thus take up a higher percentage of the income.

I can't believe how unaffordable NZ homes are. Expat equity aside, that has got to be a national crisis level.

Data was very interesting. I have decided that the thing to do is to open a daycare facility in Wellington ($62/day). MICHELLE - ARE YOU READING THIS? You only need about 100 children to earn revenue of over $1.5m

Cleaners in Dunedin also earn more than £20/hour ($55) which sounds very high.

Who says the wages are low in NZ?