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Housing Options

When looking to immigrate to New Zealand, many people ask “What sort of Housing is Available?” Just like any other developed country in the world, there is a wide range of housing options. Everything from luxury waterfront apartments in the city through to rural farms in small towns and everything in between.

The average house prices are also varied throughout New Zealand. Central Auckland: NZ$ 600 000+, South Auckland: NZ$ 330 000+, Hamilton: NZ$ 335 000+, Wellington: NZ$ 448 000+, Christchurch: NZ$ 323 000+, Bay of Islands: NZ$ 408 000+.

When Can I Buy a Home?

You can purchase a home in New Zealand at any point in time. You are not required to have residency to do this and can even obtain a mortgage before you become a resident. Home loans can be secured through a number of lenders on both fixed and variable rates generally over a 25 to 30 year period. Currently the average interest rate is 10% and lenders will usually lend up to 80% of the registered value of the property.

Dream Home

Most of the weekend and Wednesday editions of the major newspapers will generally supply an abundance of property listings, otherwise, you could take the computer-saavy option of looking online or just contacting a real estate agent.

New Zealand homes are usually made from a range of various materials such as tilt up concrete, linear board and wood. There are also many companies who specialise in standard designs that you can choose from and customize to a certain extent; this is a more cost-effective way to build! These prices can range anywhere from NZ$1,000 to NZ$2,000 or more depending on quality and standard of finish.

But be aware of the leaky roof syndrome! You may come across this due to the building boom in 2001 – 2002. This boom resulted in a high demand of work for builders and property inspectors, combine this with the high consumer demand for cheaper houses and the result of poor quality homes.