Living comfortably in NZ these days?
Discussion
The good people of NZ, I have a potential opportunity with my firm in NZ, Wellington area. Salary on offer seems decent, but all I hear about is how unaffordable living in NZ is, so it’s hard to tell if it’s a good deal or not.
For a family of 4 (2 young school age kids), nice 3-4 bed detached rental home with good schools in the Welly suburbs, 2 decent (used) cars; what sort of pretax annual household income do you need to support that?
$100k, $200k….more? Any guidance would be appreciated.
For a family of 4 (2 young school age kids), nice 3-4 bed detached rental home with good schools in the Welly suburbs, 2 decent (used) cars; what sort of pretax annual household income do you need to support that?
$100k, $200k….more? Any guidance would be appreciated.
Edited by dvs_dave on Friday 5th May 21:21
Yes, seems like pretty grim stock for very punchy money. How do the locals afford it? Is everyone paid accordingly, or do people just accept paying 50%+ of their income on housing?
Looking further afield, how commutable is downtown Wellington? Where’s “nice” within a realistic 30mins drive?
Looking further afield, how commutable is downtown Wellington? Where’s “nice” within a realistic 30mins drive?
Edited by dvs_dave on Saturday 6th May 23:40
Skeptisk said:
Any update from the OP?
Only just seen this. A few points for someone who left NZ:
- echo comments about bringing pets. Cost a fortune (over £5k) and really limits choice of rentals
- weather in Wellington is s
t (according to those who moved to Auckland to escape it)
- quality of housing is appalling. Garden sheds in the U.K. are better built than most kiwi houses. An insult to injury when you consider how expensive it is to rent. Kiwi idea of heating is just putting on more clothes. Seriously. When we arrived and moved into our house in Auckland I was floored by finding out that there was no heating in any of the bedrooms and just two gas fires that were supposed to heat the living room and kitchen. Despite having had insulation fitted (where possible) as soon as you turned the heating off the temperature plummeted.
- Wellington did seem like a nice place (with above caveats) when we visited it.
- unless you want to live on pies the cost of food is outrageous. Strangely, eating out was relatively reasonable but buying fresh fruit and vegetables and anything from Europe eg Parmesan was horrific. As an example. Price of Heinz tomato soup was four times more expensive than in Tescos.
The opportunity I had lined up fell through, which was incredibly disappointing. However we’ve decided to do it under our own steam as we have the wherewithal to do so, but just need to go through the process. Kids have now got NZ citizenship (through mum), and I’m in the process of getting a residency visa through her as well. Upside with that approach, personal expense aside, means my opportunities will be far greater as I’ll not be tied to a specific job and it’s associated visa. So that puts me in a far better negotiating position as any prospective employer doesn’t have that hassle and expense to deal with.Only just seen this. A few points for someone who left NZ:
- echo comments about bringing pets. Cost a fortune (over £5k) and really limits choice of rentals
- weather in Wellington is s
t (according to those who moved to Auckland to escape it)- quality of housing is appalling. Garden sheds in the U.K. are better built than most kiwi houses. An insult to injury when you consider how expensive it is to rent. Kiwi idea of heating is just putting on more clothes. Seriously. When we arrived and moved into our house in Auckland I was floored by finding out that there was no heating in any of the bedrooms and just two gas fires that were supposed to heat the living room and kitchen. Despite having had insulation fitted (where possible) as soon as you turned the heating off the temperature plummeted.
- Wellington did seem like a nice place (with above caveats) when we visited it.
- unless you want to live on pies the cost of food is outrageous. Strangely, eating out was relatively reasonable but buying fresh fruit and vegetables and anything from Europe eg Parmesan was horrific. As an example. Price of Heinz tomato soup was four times more expensive than in Tescos.
We’ll be visiting NZ again next month for a few weeks, so hoping to line up some meetings/coffee with prospective employers. We were over same time last year and compared to where we live now (Chicago), NZ seemed fairly reasonable price wise. Inflation here has gone nuts and everything is very expensive now.
Either way, looking forward to NZ eventually happening, pending my visa application and assumed approval, however long that’ll take.
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