I think it totally depends on where you're "coming from," so to speak.

From what I've discovered, it would appear that someone coming from the EU countries would find NZ to be on par or less expensive than where they're from. Coming from the US, however, NZ is ridiculously more expensive. Housing is, from what I've found, nothing more than an expensive shack. Housing is of much higher quality and far less expensive in the US than in NZ. Gasoline is certainly less expensive. Clothing and food prices are, from what I've discovered, ridiculously high in NZ. I find it funny that Flyingfoxnz calls "Levis" an "expensive clothing label." It's certainly not that here. Add that to a tax scheme that, coming from the US, seems very, very high and a pay scale that is quite low, and I would have to say that, coming from the US, NZ is much more expensive.