Cost of living, can we afford it?

[ski67]

My family and I have been looking into migrating to Wellington in nz.

Can anyone tell us what the cost of living is like in Wellington?

Also, what sort of annual wage would be sufficient to support two adults and a small child?

Your thoughts and advice would be really helpful as we don't want to end up regretting the move!

[kaz101]

Hi ski67,

I can't tell you about every day costs since I'm in Oz, but if you haven't already done so the "Thinking about moving to NZ" post has links to property which is usually the biggest outgoing and links to job websites.

Regards,
Karen

[jasonsatherley]

I live in Nelson but my husband commutes to Wellington each week and my mother lives in Wellington. It has a great public transport system. I would say that you could rent a home for approx $400+ a week. It depends on where you would live as im sure you could find cheaper or more expensive housing

[TGM]

Work on around 500 a week for rent. Really, really difficult to say what a good salary would be - depends so much on how much you spend and what you'd consider a good standard of living to be.

NZ isn't a cheap place to live in.

[sfed]

You DEFINITELY have to pay over $400/week if you want a decent place to live. $500 is a good place to start. Also, even though the bus system is great, it does cost $100/month for an unlimited bus pass, so add $200/month to your expenses. (And, costs are about to go up.)

Honestly, between my partner and I, we earn over $100k and we still never have lots of money left over (no kids). We own one car that we paid cash for, and rarely travel. That said, we do eat out for lunch quite a lot. It all depends on how you budget, and what's important to you. Internet access, SKY TV, utilities.....it's all VERY expensive here.

But, I probably wouldn't live anywhere else in NZ despite the (sometimes) crappy weather.

Best of luck to you!

~Stacey

[dba31498MT]

What about in Auckland area?

[Dolly]

Originally Posted by dba31498MT

What about in Auckland area?

Have you tried Homes for Rent - Realestate.co.nz

Dolly

[dba31498MT]

Don't know how reputable this site is, Real Estate New Zealand - allrealestate.co.nz
but I found some nice places that were @ $1000 NZD per month and sounds like pretty good price to me

[TGM]

are you sure you mean a month? can't imagine that there would be much decent stuff for $250 a week! Many migrants usually end up spending more each month on rent/mortgage than they did back in their home countries, just so that they can live in something decent. Add in a good school zone and the prices can get stupid.

For some reason there is this myth that houses in NZ are cheap. What they don't tell you is that "cheap" houses are either in undesirable areas or stuck out in the sticks somewhere, miles from civilisation. Same rules apply as for the rest of the developed world, if it sounds too good to be true then it is.

Just like to mention wages. If you need to earn £35 k in the UK to make ends meet you'll need to earn a minimum of $90 k in NZ to have a similar standard of living, plus add a bit because the chances are your mortgage/rent will be higher.

Also, remember that there are no personal tax allowances in NZ and you will be taxed on every cent, as will your kids if they do any p/t work.

Finally, my advice to anyone considering a move to NZ is to have a really serious look at Australia first and don't get put off by the myriad of visas on offer. Many people are leaving NZ and heading for Australia, and with good reason. There are almost 500,000 Kiwis living across the Tasmin, many of whom will not be going back.

[loopylinda]

We earn $75,000 in a year here and live in Kapiti, about one hours drive from Wellington. Renting 3 bedroom unit is $300 per week, electricity per month is $180, phone for basic calls and internet package $190 per month (this gives 100 hours phone calls international therein per month), food expect to pay approximately between $250-$300 for everything, including toiletries and laundry products .... you have to have your car MOT'd twice a year, cost about $100 as long as you don't need anything doing to the car .... renting does not include council tax (rates), here they are approximately $600 per year in this area .... we basically get by on it but not much left for savings once we been out. We are a 2 adult 2 children family. Hope this brief example helps! Cheers!