wellington house prices....

[Debs]

Anyones views on this would be great -
We figured as we are heading to Wellington with around $350,000 that we'd find it easy to buy a good sized four bed house in a good area - having done some research on the internet it seems houses are really expensive - anyone's thoughts would be great -
We are planning on renting for a while, but wanted an idea of how far our cash will go when we want to buy.We had visions of a big house with lots of land in a good area with good schools -but it seems that we can't afford that at all!!!

What I have found on the internet is that houses seem much more expensive than expected if you want to live in the good family areas - is this the case?

[holland]

Hello, I too have only done research on the internet, and from what I can gather for the type of area and house you want I think $450,000 would be closer to the mark...I may be wrong, and it will vary from place to place. We have similar capital to yourselves, and I have been lulled into thinking that the houses are more expensive than expected...but this is because I want something for nothing!!!!! and it isnt going to happen, realistically they are really reasonable, certainly in comparison to what can be bought in uk.

I would love no morgage...and this would be the dream...but I would rather have a nicer house/area with a mortgage, that a house bought outright in a not so favourable area....(think thats politically correct!!!! )

Good luck with search, sorry I cant be of more help, everyone in NZ should be waking up soon, and I am sure they will give you more informative replies!

[Trigirl]

if you want to be in wellington (as opposed to in the hutt or on the kapiti coast) then $350,000 is simply not going to get you a 4 bed house in a nice area. you probably would get something for that amount on the kapiti coast though.

[gonzo]

Hi there,

From the sound of things you are looking to live in central(ish) Wellington ie the city and its immediate suburbs. I think you willbe very fortunate indeed to get a four bedroom house in a good suburb for the sort of money you are envisaging. If you were talking Brooklyn, Kelburn, Khandalla or Karori $550,000+ would probably be entry level for a quality four bedroom house. If you were thinking Seatoun or Rosenheath you could add another $150,000. The Northern suburbs are less expensive but don't guarantee getting your children in to the right schools. The housing market has been red hot recently and given recent interest rate rises and with the forecast of more to come you may wish to consider putting the money on deposit and renting as rental yields on propert in NZ are very low compared to the UK largely because of investment demand i.e people use property as a proxy for pension plans in NZ and there are associated tax breaks. As mentioned by other contributors $350.000 to $450,000 will probably get you a nice four bedrroom property in the Lower to Upper Hutt corridor, areas such as Silverstream and Stokes valley or on the Kapiti coast.

www.trademe.co.nz will give you some idea of current prices.

[sizzlingbadger]

Have a look at the Wairarapa as well. Although prices here seem to be rocketing at the moment as well

A year ago you may well have been able to get a decent sized house for $350k but it seems to have jumped again to $4-450k upwards a lot of the time.

[jess]

Sorry, have to agree with the others. You can get what you want up here in Kapiti (although looking at listings, prices have gone up even since we bought in August). You can get it in Upper Hutt or some parts of Lower Hutt. I don't think you'll find "a good sized four bed house in a good area" in Welly for anywhere near $350K.

(Sometimes open2view can be misleading. If you put in 350K for a Wellington 4 bedroom home, amongst all the Upper Hutt and Kapiti listings, you'll currently see 2 Khandalla homes. They are actualy $1million houses (one with a rateable value of $960K) that the agents have incorrectly posted in the admin. side so that they show up for all price ranges.)

[sarahw]

Jess is right - Kapiti houses have gone up a lot recently - same as the rest of the Welly region. We've also found the web searches to be misleading because they sometimes put tender/auction properties in there that could go for $000's of K more than the prices you put into the search engine...

Have a look in Johnsonville (only 10 minutes from the city), Paparangi, Newlands, Tawa & the Hutt, Churton Park areas but you might struggle on this budget. The Porirua area has some cheaper housing (Porirua & Titahi Bay) but I wouldn't recommend moving there just incase you see it on the internet & think oooh those are good prices - there's generally a reason! Also take a look in Whitby - some of the 'older' properties (the whole place was only built 30 years ago) have larger sections than the newer houses & you tend to get good value for money.

I would have to agree that $450K would really be more about where you would be looking for 4 bed & $550-$600 for a 4 bed in a sought after location - you most definitely would find a spacious 3-bed home in Tawa/Paparangi for $350K (I've just been scanning the North Welly property pages.) We bought a 4 bed 2 years ago in Paremata for $405K & that was a bargain at the time for what it is - its now worth at least another $150K on top of that so that just shows how the prices have changed!

[Angelonthemove]

We are struggling on a $500 budget for a 3/4 bed 2 baths. We are going further out this weekend and looking at land and build to get more for our money (ecco house seen on forum last saturday). But then you have the wait for getting into your own property. We are currently renting and not making any mistakes until we know where we want to live. Small house less milage to work, or the same dream as yourselves and commute for an hour each way. there is always a price to pay. My advise if you can afford the extra payments on a mortgage and then can get home to the family and enjoy the longer evening, then go for the mortgage.

Whitby do have a lot of new builds going on around the area $500k and you get to design the shape size etc. On a pleasant estate, first junction past Porirua and 30 mins morning drive with queues at Johnsonville.

or 10 x 4 bed new build small garden but with verandas and views tucked in older end of Johnsonville, not new site, $485k. Plus Johnsonville is due to expand their shopping area to X10 in size add cinemas etc, so it will become a sought after area.

We are as confused as you and we have been here 8 months, still can't decide, and we get to see the places.

Good luck

[Debs]

Thanks for the replies, confirms our worries.We thought so!

Our option might be to rent in Wellington until my Hubby can get a job elsewhere - somewhere not so expensive!

Any suggestions?

He's in IT Software so thats why we are heading to Wellington as mass of jobs, but if we can't afford to buy there then we will have to look elsewhere.

Where might be cheaper but still have an active IT job market ????

Help!

[pinkpiggy]

Hi Debs

Can't really comment on house prices but Christchurch is quite an active place for IT software developers. OH is in infrastructure so not quite as good for him. We are headed for Hamilton.