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
Very difficult question to answer. Probably a good start would be to check Trademe.co.nz and look at Apartments and homes to rent, location, Wellington.
Once you know how much you will need to spend per week to have a roof over your heads, then look at weekly living costs. Yes, food here can be expensive, but with judicious shopping, costs can be minimised. Admittedly, there are just two of us, but we live very well on $250-$300 per week. Utilities (power, phone, internet) cost us $300-400 per month, but depending on how well insulated the home is, heating costs can be high. Petrol ranges from NZ$2.35 per litre up to over $3.00 per litre, depending on location.
There is, of course, huge scope for “extra-curricular” activities, and here, the sky’s the limit.
Hopefully other will chime in. We are mortgage free and that makes a huge difference.
Once you know how much you will need to spend per week to have a roof over your heads, then look at weekly living costs. Yes, food here can be expensive, but with judicious shopping, costs can be minimised. Admittedly, there are just two of us, but we live very well on $250-$300 per week. Utilities (power, phone, internet) cost us $300-400 per month, but depending on how well insulated the home is, heating costs can be high. Petrol ranges from NZ$2.35 per litre up to over $3.00 per litre, depending on location.
There is, of course, huge scope for “extra-curricular” activities, and here, the sky’s the limit.
Hopefully other will chime in. We are mortgage free and that makes a huge difference.
A 4 bedroom house in somewhere like Kelburn or Thorndon (ie, decent ‘burbs, fairly close to town) will be $1,500 to $2,000 per week so you’ll need to be on around $150k pa just to cover rent.
There are more affordable suburbs (Kandallah, Aro Valley, Highbury) but you won’t find much under $1k per week. Welly is ridiculous for rent.
k
There are more affordable suburbs (Kandallah, Aro Valley, Highbury) but you won’t find much under $1k per week. Welly is ridiculous for rent.
k
Edited by klootzak on Saturday 6th May 08:57
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
We lived in Petone which is 30 mins out most days, last year we moved to Christchurch.
We earned $150k between us and were spending $800/week on rent for a central heated 3bed villa 50m from beach.
Shopping for 2 of us was $200/week but we ate whatever we feel like and my missus shopped solely at M&S in uk so has no concept of budgeting.
Bills were phone/broadband $50/week gas and elec $75/week and car insurance $20/week per car.
Edited to say don’t know if you have pets but if you do think very hard about bringing them. We found a rental on arrival who’d take a dog but our landlord decided to sell after a year and we couldn’t find a rental that would accept a dog. We had to leave wellington because of it.
We earned $150k between us and were spending $800/week on rent for a central heated 3bed villa 50m from beach.
Shopping for 2 of us was $200/week but we ate whatever we feel like and my missus shopped solely at M&S in uk so has no concept of budgeting.
Bills were phone/broadband $50/week gas and elec $75/week and car insurance $20/week per car.
Edited to say don’t know if you have pets but if you do think very hard about bringing them. We found a rental on arrival who’d take a dog but our landlord decided to sell after a year and we couldn’t find a rental that would accept a dog. We had to leave wellington because of it.
Edited by moles on Monday 5th June 03:36
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.
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.
As someone else who has lived in NZ and returned to the UK (but would love to move back - fingers crossed), I agree with the above. However and apart from the outdoors (and that's a massive attraction of NZ);
-Parking outside of the larger cities is free - so you can pop into 'town' for free, go to the weekend markets, go to the leisure centre, park at the beach etc
-Swimming pools are a couple of dollars as opposed to £50 an hour for a family of 4
-Public events are cheaper to go to - the Richmond A&P was about £10 for the family, whereas the Newbury Show is nearer £70.
-Electricity is about half the price.
-Rentals include council tax.
-Most importantly car parking spaces were designed for a car bigger than the original mini.
-Parking outside of the larger cities is free - so you can pop into 'town' for free, go to the weekend markets, go to the leisure centre, park at the beach etc
-Swimming pools are a couple of dollars as opposed to £50 an hour for a family of 4
-Public events are cheaper to go to - the Richmond A&P was about £10 for the family, whereas the Newbury Show is nearer £70.
-Electricity is about half the price.
-Rentals include council tax.
-Most importantly car parking spaces were designed for a car bigger than the original mini.
A supermarket shop will be at least 1/3 more than in the UK.
The price of eating out at a cafe or restaurant has almost doubled since Covid. Hopefully some of this extra cost has been passed on to the people that cook for and serve you, but I get the feeling that it is just for the owners to recoup what they missed out on during the (relatively short) lockdown.
Anything, from a book to a washing machine, will be about 25% more than in the UK, and premium brands command even more of a premium, especially if European.
It remains to be seen if the incoming Government will make things much worse for the average citizen, or better only for the richest 5%, like in the UK…
The price of eating out at a cafe or restaurant has almost doubled since Covid. Hopefully some of this extra cost has been passed on to the people that cook for and serve you, but I get the feeling that it is just for the owners to recoup what they missed out on during the (relatively short) lockdown.
Anything, from a book to a washing machine, will be about 25% more than in the UK, and premium brands command even more of a premium, especially if European.
It remains to be seen if the incoming Government will make things much worse for the average citizen, or better only for the richest 5%, like in the UK…
dobly said:
The price of eating out at a cafe or restaurant has almost doubled since Covid.
Not anywhere I go! There have certainly been some increases (inflation is hitting everything) but nowhere near that dramatic.The big spike of inflation was an inevitable and predictable effect of the govt's 'just print more money' response to covid though.
dobly said:
A supermarket shop will be at least 1/3 more than in the UK.
The price of eating out at a cafe or restaurant has almost doubled since Covid. Hopefully some of this extra cost has been passed on to the people that cook for and serve you, but I get the feeling that it is just for the owners to recoup what they missed out on during the (relatively short) lockdown.
Anything, from a book to a washing machine, will be about 25% more than in the UK, and premium brands command even more of a premium, especially if European.
It remains to be seen if the incoming Government will make things much worse for the average citizen, or better only for the richest 5%, like in the UK…
I don't think that is peculiar to NZ though. We've just come back from a 3 week jaunt in British Columbia and the NW USA and were appalled at how expensive eating out and accommodation were. Both were roughly 50 - 100% more than what we would pay for the equivalent here in NZ. Food in supermarkets was not noticeably cheaper, apart from some seasonal fruit and veg. Appliances (depending on brand) and clothing were also at least as expensive as here, if not more. About the only thing we found markedly cheaper was fuel.The price of eating out at a cafe or restaurant has almost doubled since Covid. Hopefully some of this extra cost has been passed on to the people that cook for and serve you, but I get the feeling that it is just for the owners to recoup what they missed out on during the (relatively short) lockdown.
Anything, from a book to a washing machine, will be about 25% more than in the UK, and premium brands command even more of a premium, especially if European.
It remains to be seen if the incoming Government will make things much worse for the average citizen, or better only for the richest 5%, like in the UK…
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