So the question is, if you’ve had enough of the UK and are itching to return to claim your quarter acre of paradise, when do you buy or do you when do you rent?
Buying in New Zealand
When to buy
Even though house sales are down — prices dropped only 2.2 per cent on average around the country in the year from 2007-08 and many experts are predicting the current slump has a long way to go.
But there’s still a consensus that prices will continue to fall for the rest of the year at least, and that means you could pick up a much bigger bargain towards the end of 2008 and 2009.
Where to buy
Most people will hit the cities purely for work reasons and unless you’ve really lost touch with New Zealand, you’ll know that buying a house in Ponsonby is going to be a lot harder on your pocket than picking up something on the outskirts of Dunedin.
If you’re after a bargain, you might want to go south to Invercargill, although statistics are showing a massive flight of Kiwis leaving the mainland in search of the sun, with population growth in Bay of Plenty and Auckland rising.
No matter where you go in New Zealand you won’t have any trouble finding houses to look at – it’s a buyers’ market at the moment.
Cost of housing
If you $400,000 to spend on a house when you got back to New Zealand … what would you get?
In Auckland’s Mt Eden $395,000 gets you a two-bedroom residential unit, while for just three grand more, over the bridge you’d get a three-bedroom house in Glenfield.
Down the line in the Wellington suburb of Newlands, $395,000 would buy you a brand-new, three-bedroom home with views.
For $399,000 in Christchurch’s Templeton you’d get a three-bedroom, two-bathroom, 18-month-old house, while further south in Dunedin, for 15 grand less, you’d get a five-bedroom, double-garaged house with study.
Renting in NZ
In New Zealand in 2008 it might make more sense to rent, as far as cash-flow is concerned. For example for just $500 a week, you can rent a two-bedroom waterfront apartment in Auckland central with sea views and a carpark.
Meanwhile in the upmarket Christchurch suburb of Merivale, $485 a week will get you a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house just a short distance from the central city. You’ll pay more than that to pay back a loan on a similar house so it seems, therefore that renting on your return for a few months could be the way to go.
More information on NZ real estate
The Real Estate Institue of New Zealand and Quotable Value Limited (QV) has useful market facts graphs, residential housing facts, residential rent reviews and links to Massey University property surveys and AMP home affordability reports. Of use also is the Property ValueMap.
