Moving to New Zealand from overseas is expensive, you have moving costs, travel costs, temporary accommodation, car hire etc.
You’ll also find that you mentally convert everything you buy back into your own currency, its takes about two years to stop doing this. This means everything can feel fairly cheap when you first arrive, but reality kicks in when you starting earning NZ $. You’ll still find that you will have a good standard of living though!
School fees can be reduced if you live in an area with good public schools.
You’ll enjoy a good quality of life for you and your family. It won’t take longer than 30mins to drive to a pleasant beach, and you can have a nice family day out for the price of fish and chips. Entry into attractions will generally cost $25 for a family.
Living in New Zealand is cheaper than Australia
Mercer Consulting’s 2006 annual survey that looks at the cost of living in 144 cities across six continents. The survey compares the cost for more than 200 items in each city, the items include housing, transport, food, clothing, entertainment, white and brown goods.
New Zealand cities were ranked in the middle of the 144 cities, Auckland and Wellington ranked 69th and 76th. Tokyo is the most expensive, followed by Osaka and London. Sydney was ranked 20th, Melbourne 68th and Perth was 93rd (although since 2006 Perth has experience a mini boom due to the mining industry boom).
All costs in New Zealand have 12.5% Goods and Services Tax (GST) added. Under law, the prices displayed must include the GST content.
Typical weekly New Zealand Household spending graph –
food
Bananas 2.00 per kg
Apples 3.50 per kg
Milk 1.65 per litre
Butter 2.50 per 500 grams
Chicken 14.00 per kg
Lamb 15.00 per kg
Instant noodles 0.55 per packet
Bread 2.00-3.00 per loaf
Clothing
Jeans 20 – 100
T-shirt 10+
Shirts 25+
Woollen jerseys 50 – 100
Sweatshirts 40 – 100
Sports shoes 50+ (up to $250 for Nike Reebok)
Woollen socks 10 per pair
Warm padded jackets 100 – 300
Dress 40 – 200+
Miscellaneous
Hair cuts 10 – 45
Local bus fares 2.00 approximately
Movie 10.00
Takeaways eg McDonalds 3.00+
Paperback book 16+
Postage (local letter) 0.45
Bicycle (new) 300 – 1000+
Compact Disc 10 – 35
Iron 40 – 100
