Buying a Home in New Zealand

Most migrants to New Zealand from the UK buy a home fairly quickly after they arrive. It is a great way to start getting settled in an area, but as in the UK it can be a very stressful time. The more you know before you start out on the home buying process, the less stressful it should be.

Home Ownership in New Zealand

New Zealand has one of the highest rates of property ownership in the world with over 60% of Kiwis owning their own home. One of the reasons for this is the sheer affordability of property in New Zealand. For what you'd pay for a very ordinary home in the UK you can buy an architecturally designed home with ocean views, and many Brits moving to New Zealand find themselves living in homes that were out of their reach in the UK.

New Zealand House Prices

House prices were relatively stagnant for a very long time in many areas of New Zealand, with single-digit growth over a decade not uncommon. This has changed dramatically over the past five years, but the recent boom is subsiding, and house prices are currently decreasing in most areas of New Zealand. In the year to December 2008, house prices dropped 7.4% over the whole of the country, with some areas recording falls of 11%.

For up-to-date average house prices by region in the major centres, we suggest you visit https://www.qv.co.nz/onlinereports/propertyvaluemap.htm.

You can also order a variety of property reports from the QV website. To find out about home loans in New Zealand, please see our article on arranging a mortgage.

Finding a Home

House hunting in New Zealand is fairly similar to the UK, with property sections in the local papers and glossy free magazines of housing adverts. You can also register your interest with real estate agents in an area, but (as in the UK) as a buyer you'll still do most of the searching for yourself.

The biggest difference you'll notice while searching for a house is the open home - a common marketing method where houses for sale are available for you to look through once or twice a week without an appointment. For a buyer new to an area, several weekend afternoons spent checking out what is on the market can be very enlightening. The times and addresses are usually published in newspapers or posted on the signs outside individual houses for sale.

Real Estate Websites

There are plenty of websites with houses for sale listed, which is a great resource if you are still in the UK planning your big move - don't feel too tempted to buy before you arrive though, even if you see your dream home - there is nothing to match actually walking through a home.

www.realestate.co.nz has a large number of listings from multiple agents throughout the country. Their "Resources" area is well worth a look for general advice.
Trade-me-Property is part of the Trademe group, New Zealand's eBay equivalent. It has thousands of private sales and listings by real estate agents.
www.open2view.com has fewer houses listed but is rather good fun as it has lots more photos and even virtual tours.

Estate Agent Jargon

We've come across a couple of great real estate agents in Christchurch, both originally from England - James Abell is part of the Ray White Group. His website has some excellent resources and contacts for first time buyers and new immigrants, including help with builders reports and conveyancing.

Nigel Ellis, a Christchurch real estate agent and ex-pat Brit, compiled the following tounge-in-cheek list of real estate jargon for us. He is happy to act as a buyers agent in Christchurch (pdf), and can be contacted at nigel.ellis@harcourts.co.nz.

House advertisements are somewhat more poetic and colourful than the text allowed by UK law, and there are unfamiliar technical terms. For example:

Art Deco - Wow factor, but ugly

Character Villa - Attractive weatherboard house, cold as a beach hut in winter

Cross-lease - A type of ownership where two or more property owners have equal share of the land.

Designed by John Architect (or other) - Doesn't look anything like a house

Easy-care section - Small garden

Indoor-Outdoor flow - Main kitchen/living dining room leads out through French windows (called French doors) to decking then garden. Or something like that.

Joinery - Window frames

Laundry - Small room housing washing machine and dryer, rather like a utility room

Lifestyle property - In the countryside, usually big

LIM - Land Information Memorandum, council property report listing permits and consents and known hazards

Minutes to the mall/city/park/whatever - Time it yourself

Open Home - Opportunity to browse through a house even if you have no real intention of buying. A great way to inspect help focus on what features are important to you

Opportunity to add value - Needs some renovation

Renovate or rebuild - The property is so bad you're really just buying the land

Sleepout - Stand-alone cabin bedroom in the garden (note: check insurance issues) - usually without bathroom.

Studio - Similar to above, but without bed

Sun-drenched - Some parts of the house face the sun (Try to choose a house whose garden or decking faces roughly north, to enjoy as much sun as you can. Such a house will have better resale value than a south-facing one.)

Town House or Unit- Usually modern house with small garden, one of a pair or more similar houses

WIR - Walk-in (ward)robe

Floor area is a useful figure often quoted in square metres for the interior of a house. If you're not used to these, here's a guide to figures (excluding garage space):

Up to 130m2 - small

130-160m2 - medium

160-200m2 - large

Over 200m2 - very large.

At Broadbase International we specialise in helping British migrants make a confident start to their new lives. Please contact us if you have any questions about the financial side of life in New Zealand, and don't forget to order your free copy of our comprehensive New Zealand Guide.

Last Updated ( Friday, 19 February 2010 )