Dear all,
I am a 49 year old geotechnical engineer. I will move to a company in Christchurch within the coming 3 month. We are a family of 4. The children are in public outstanding primary school in the UK. The continual depreciation of the UK£ value against the other currencies have made the NZ & Australia salaries very attractive for UK citizens. Further, it has also led to continual rise in cost of living in the UK. The major expenses in the UK are Housing (mortgage or rent), fuel, as well as the bills (council tax, electricity, heating, food, car and house insurance....etc)
I have read many articles about the high cost of living in NZ, compared to the UK. I can see that there are some differences, e.g. No free NHS health service in NZ, NZ annual leave is 1 week shorter than in the UK, Cars in NZ seems to cost more than in the UK. I see that the fuesl costs (Diesel & Petrol) in NZ are cheaper than in te UK. However, I have the following queries:
1- What are the major parts of the monthly expenses in NZ? Is it like the UK?
Rent is higher, but includes council tax, no water rates in chch, mobiles/ internet/ tv/ phone is more expensive than UK, conveniance or out of season foods/goods are expensive, in season food is cheap. Drugs/medicines including hayfever tablets cost more, especially if you are used to uk supermarket ownbrand items. books are expensive. electronics are comparably priced
2- How much is the rent/mortgage for a 4-bedroom house in areas with good schools in/around Christchurch?
Halswell ChCh for 4 bed is $500-600 per week, Merivale ChCh $600+ per week. Bear in mind that the earthquake damage has displaced a lot of people so certain types of property are more in demand. If you are willing to commute for 30min you can get somewhere way cheaper
3- What is the difference between the sizes of 4-bedroom houses in the UK and in NZ?
NZ houses are far bigger than UK houses, nearly all have a garage, most have double, and twin double garages are not that uncommon. Terraced or semi-detatched houses are rare.
4- Is furniture in Chrsitchurch more expensive than in the UK? Could you please send me some links to shops that sell furniture with reasonable prices in Christchurch, so as to assess the feasibility of shipping my used furniture against buying new/used furniture in NZ.
Furniture is more expensive, check out: farmers, target, big save furniture, harvey norman, smith city or trade me
5- My car (Renault Grand Espace Diesel 2.2L engine) seems not to be popular in NZ, as I could not find any car for sale from that model on autotrader.co.nz. Is this a correct impression? If so, how to buy spare parts for this car in NZ, if I ship it to NZ?
See www.trademe.co.nz, it is more popular than ebay or autorader in NZ. My friend has a renault clio sport and buys parts from th UK, cheaper than NZ, takes a few days to get them delivered, which is quicker than Auckland to ChCH. If we had had a decent car when we left the UK, we would have brought it. A 2l petrol here is seen as a small engine size, diesels are not popular as you also have to buy a road user charge (RUC) which is based on the odeometer reading of you car
6- If I ship my car to NZ, it will cost about £1500 for shipping, and I may still need to pay some customs, as I would have owned it in the UK for about 9 months in the UK before shipping it. The car is a 2004 year model, and has a relatively low mileage (60000miles). Is shipping my car to NZ a cheaper option than buying a Japanese used car in NZ?
toyotas are popular here, with a price tag to match, however as it''ll take 3 months to ship a car over, there is some beneifit in selling it in the UK and buying another car when you arrive
7- Any advice about what is worth/necessary to bring with me, where to live...etc?
When I came I filled a 20ft container with stuff, mainly because the company I moved to paid the relocation costs (I still have loads of unopened boxes of books sitting in the garage). The less stuff you leave behind, the less attraction you will have pulling you back to the UK, (we sold our house and car) however you also need assimilate into the NZ mindset and shop/buy use NZ goods, so the more UK stuff you hanker for, the harder this will be. There are a couple of expat shops in ChCh, and tesco and Marks and Spencer will ship to NZ.
Regards
AEN