We are thinking of emigrating to New Zealand but house price to wage ratio seems high, any advice?

Question

My partners an electrician, I'm an estate agent - will they want us? Sick of England and like what New Zealand has to offer, we are vegetarians aswell, are we well catered for?
Any answers, especially from ex pats greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone who has answered this question. I can't choose the best answer as they are all good! I would like to extend the question but don't seem to get an option in the action bar - any ideas?

Answer 1

Hello

Answering your question in any real depth is going to be almost impossible because there are so many variables which can apply according to your particular circumstances. So the best overall advice I can give is to go to the NZ immigration site and spend a while navigating around it to see if your questions can be answered. I am sure they can, because the site is so comprehensive and covers pretty well everything you might want to know. Having said that, here is my response to the issues you have raised.

You dont mention your ages. So before I start, it's best to mention that if you are in your 50s, your chances of being approved are slim; not non-existent - so you should check the website.

There are several categories under which you can apply to come to NZ. If you have accumulated a sizeable pool of assets then you can come to NZ as an investor/entrepreneur and you should check out the amounts needed to qualify you within that category.

You mention a couple of occupations so it's more likely, I presume, that you would seek to come here as skilled migrants (i.e. not particularly asset rich but you have skills that NZ would benefit from). Being an electrician is a plus. It is on NZ's long term skills shortage list. Being on either the short term or long term list helps get the NZ immigration department's attention. Sorry, estate agent doesn't quite have the same impact!! :-) However, to be accepted as an electrician, your partner must have a qualification recognised by the NZ authorities and would be expected to have a history in the industry. I wouldn't imagine this to be a problem given that NZ's electricty system is almost identical to the UK's. So your best bet is to have your partner as the principal applicant; but if you have any academic qualification yourself this will enhance the overall application.

Even though estate agents are not necessarily sought after from an immigration point of view, there are plenty of opportunities here for you to pursue that career. Things work here slightly differently than in the UK. An estate agent here is normally self employed. Companies are established and managed to provide facilities to the agent who in turn for this administrative backup, work space and advertising etc etc agrees to share his/her commission. With house prices at their current levels, activity being pretty good, and commissions at around 3% to 4% (I think shared 50/50 with the admin company), the right agent can make a great deal of money.

So, to my way of thinking, if you are both successful in your chosen professions, the house price to average wage ratio here in New Zealand (which you quite rightly point out is high) should not be a factor for you. On that note, it is also very difficult to pin that ratio down other than on an average basis. While you will be hard pressed to find a 95,000 pound house in what I would consider a desirable location, the range is very broad. Much will depend on where you want to live, the size of your family, the type of home etc etc. You are an estate agent, so I dont have to labour that one!! The conditions that drive prices in the UK are the same as drive those here; we are a similar home owning society with much the same preferences.

We also have vegetarians here!! :-) So, you'll be in good company.

Hopefully, that's given you food for thought and encouragement. Go to the website. You can get loads of information and you can even do a self test which will indicate whether you have a chance at qualifying. From there you can submit an 'expression of interest'.

Lastly, my best advice would be to come here for a holiday and take a look around. You should get a feel for the place before you make any major commitment. While here you can also test the waters with regards to employment opportunities or starting your own business. The very best way of qualifying for NZ residence is to have a job offer in place when you make your application.

Answer 2

Sounds like a great plan! I'm from UK but lived and worked in NZ up until 1 year ago, when I moved back closer to family. I miss it! The lifestyle there is just so much more laid back and based around family and outdoor activities rather than work work work.

You're right though, mortgages are very high compared with the national wage. A lot of kiwis struggle to get a mortgage. If you have any money to take over with you, you'll get great rates of exchange so that will help. Any money you can save in the UK will multiply loads when you convert it to NZ dollars, so I recommend going over there with as much dough as possible. The cost of living otherwise is much cheaper in NZ, so apart from the house price issue the lower salaries there in comparison to the UK are not a problem.

The criteria to qualify for permit to live in NZ has recently changed. There is now a points-scoring system which is based on age (more points the younger you are), and on professions they are short of in NZ - electricians may be one, I'm not quite sure. You'd be best off contacting NZ immigration to get the exact scoring criteria.

As for vegetarians - you're missing out!! NZ has such good lamb and beef! But they have good veg and generally every type of food too, so don't worry, you'll be well-catered for. Good luck!

Answer 3

Hello there, prospective Kiwis! We have moved to NZ from Manchester a little while ago, and are vegetarians, and we've bought a house. I would say the income-to-price ratio here is rather fantastic, wonder what you might have read? We've bought a Victorian villa in a bay 12 miles outside a larger city, for £60.000, and that's an average price. Yes, you can buy houses for more, but if you can't, you'll find out that there is no such thing as "bad areas" here, not really, at least not in the UK sense of the word. If you are earning about $60.000 a year jointly, a 0-down mortgage for an average house is easily obtained and paid for. Also keep in mind that your car costs will be ridiculously low compared to the UK. My old Volvo in Manchester cost me the same for insurance per month as I now pay for our two stately cars PER ANNUM. And petrol is a giveaway, at £0.55 a litre.
As for vegetarianism:
Once you've eaten NZ veggies, you'll be spoilt for life. The stuff is full of sunshine. And depending on which city you're going to, there should be at least one all-organic store per bigger city, and the restaurants are very aware of vegetarian customers' needs.
Jump with confidence, it's great here.

Answer 4

HI!

My husband and i live in NZ, he is an electrician. There is good work for sparkeys if you want to do the hard work. What we find is that you shouldnt compare dollars for pounds. Compare dollars earnt vs dollars spent. As an electrician you could earn anywhere from $15-30/hr and then double for overtime.

House prices, well it depends where you want to live. Now you cant go and say that the south island is less expensive than the north island, thats simply not true. Auckland in the north, yes is very expensive, but Queenstown in the south you are looking at half a million for an average house and Christchurch also in the south has had the biggest property price rise for the entire country in the last few years.

The main centres are pretty expensive but your wage should reflect your cost of living. We live in Hamilton, 1 hr south of Auckland, great place to live. Plenty of work for those who want it. We have just bought a lovely home near new in a new subdivison for around $300,000. Average wage in NZ is said to be around $35,000. Interest rates on a home loan around 7% for 5 years with little or no deposit needed.

I would go to sorted.co.nz and from there you can sort out all sorts of money issue in relation to home loans etc.

My close friend is a vege and also have other close friends who are vegans. There is an excellent range of supermarket products catering for veges and also most restaurants cater for you too.

To be honest our supermarkets have a wider range of fruit and veg than i have seen in our travels.

All the tropical fruits, grains, pulses, soy products, organic produce, farmers markets, its all here, and plenty of sunshine!

Answer 5

New Zealand is one of the friendliest countries in the world and were rated as one of the Top Ten Places in the world for Expats. (Rated by the HSBC bank). I can't seem to find the link since I read this about a year ago. But Australia also made the list but not as high up. FYI Canada, Thailand , Singapore and the USA (coming in number 10) were also on the list, so if you are interested in other options, and living among friendly people and an overall friendly enviroment to expats these all could be good choices.

Answer 6

iv been travelling around oz and spent a couple of weeks in new zealand, it seams to me that the south island is cheaper. couple of mates of mine have just emigrated to Christchurch, he is a motor mechanic and she has no trade, they are not married but have been together for over 8 years,they advised me to do all the research and paperwork myself instead of getting an agency to do it , this way you save lots of money and the kiwis take you more seriously. if your partner has qualifications as an electrician then they should welcome you with open arms.. try checking on the new zealand government immigration web site.. best of look ,

you will have a better life there. ps. my mates have just looked at a house over looking the sea, 4 bedrooms, worth about 95thousand pound.