[James 1077]

According to this link (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/3149299/New-Zealand-offers-British-ex-pats-best-quality-of-life.html) New Zealand is the best place for quality of life for British expats.

I knew we were all right! :D

[buzztalks]

would question the statement about low cost food, drink and fuel.....

and where exactly are the average houses selling at $300,000 ???

not in downtown Wellington, that's for sure. Just wonder of the sponsors of this compilation have any vested interest in expats??? Not entirely convinced as to their own track record at the moment.

[James 1077]

would question the statement about low cost food, drink and fuel.....

and where exactly are the average houses selling at $300,000 ???


Agree on the house prices but low cost food, drink and fuel is the case. My wife was interested in how much cheaper it was here so put our weekly shop into Tesco's website and worked out it was getting close to twice the price in the UK.

[buzztalks]

Agree on the house prices but low cost food, drink and fuel is the case. My wife was interested in how much cheaper it was here so put our weekly shop into Tesco's website and worked out it was getting close to twice the price in the UK.


you're not cheese eaters then ??

[osmyth]

would question the statement about low cost food, drink and fuel.....

and where exactly are the average houses selling at $300,000 ???

not in downtown Wellington, that's for sure. Just wonder of the sponsors of this compilation have any vested interest in expats??? Not entirely convinced as to their own track record at the moment.

The August figure from REINZ (latest month) is $330k for the whole of NZ, and I suppose it could have gone down slightly from then.

http://www.reinz.org.nz/reportingapp/default.aspx?RFOPTION=Report&RFCODE=R100

[kanatakiwi]

I was intrigued by this report (thanks James 1077) so tracked down the report on the companies website. Some of their rankings seemed quite unbelievable, so wanted to see how they arrrived at their conclusions.

I got a bit of a chuckle out of this paragraph:

New Zealand - a country with a population of under five million - also boasts a low crime rate, high internet connectivity and consistently mild weather, favourable working hours and generous annual leave, which puts it at the top for quality of life on the ALIL scorecard

Obviously that internet connectivity must have been checked in Auckland not the rest of the country!;) House prices must have been rated on the national average, certainly not Auckland or Wellington. It does show that things like high annual vacation, and good weather are enough to get you rated best in the world! It also mentions how NZ outranks Australia because of its significantly lower tax rates! Who knew! And of course our petrol prices are double North America, but rank favourable against the UK.

Here is their methodology (not all that scientific, but here it is)
Methodology:

Alliance & Leicester International compared ten different categories across 14 popular expatriate destinations to find the cost of living; the price of the average property, the cost of a return flight from the UK, income tax rates, the cost of a pair of jeans, the cost of the average meal in a mid-priced restaurant and the cost of various shopping list items; litre of petrol, bottle of beer, litre of milk, bottle of water and cup of coffee. For the standard of living, five categories were analysed: weather, crime rate, working hours, annual leave and Internet connectivity. Each of these categories was given appropriate weighting and an average score was then derived.

The data was compiled for various sources including Lonely Planet, Wikipedia, worldwidetax.com, bbc.co.uk and globalpropertyprices.com. For a full breakdown of the points system and sources, please contact Alliance & Leicester’s Press Office, or the Wriglesworth Consultancy.

[James 1077]

you're not cheese eaters then ??

Not huge cheese eaters but she did look that up and you can get a 1kg block here for $10 which will only get you 500g in our local Tesco!

The main thing that made the difference is meat - it is really expensive in the UK compared to NZ (especially a big juicy steak! Mmmmm).

[JoJo76]

James, which NZ supermarket did you compare it with? I did one after seeing your thread and used tesco v woolworths. Much the same, woolworths £5 more due to to the cat litter I think.

[xanctus]

NZ as a place for brits expats...that's not surprising!
I find it NZ as a little england...(many english may not agree with me on this, but that's my personal opinion).

I had a discussion with bunch of people at work, and our topic was how hard to get a job here in NZ as an immigrant, and one of them said...if u're english...not too worry, it's like home...but for the rest, that could be a challenge.

Now, sounds interesting??...to me more like fact! :D

[buzztalks]

I wonder how gas and electricity prices stack up?

I just think reports like this can do more harm than good. There are just too many variables to make any comparisons true like-for-like statements. The rate of exchange being one. The NZ dollar is up and down like a fiddler's elbow. The other key factor is comparative wage levels. Can anybody take issue with the fact that average wage levels tend to be lower over here?

We came to NZ 14 months ago, having first toured the majority of the North Island in 1994. We have both been surprised as to how the perception of the country (viewed from the UK) can differ significantly from the reality of living here.

I can understand the rationale behind NZ tourism promoting a 100% positive image, however what's in it for the Alliance and Leicester???

[victoria24]

when your comparing food costs are you calculating exchange rates or $ and £ equivalent?

[ourquest]

Obviously that internet connectivity must have been checked in Auckland not the rest of the country!;) House prices must have been rated on the national average, certainly not Auckland or Wellington. It does show that things like high annual vacation, and good weather are enough to get you rated best in the world! It also mentions how NZ outranks Australia because of its significantly lower tax rates! Who knew! And of course our petrol prices are double North America, but rank favourable against the UK.


Firstly, a couple of points relevant to the quoted post. My connectivity is fine, outside Wellington, mobile telecom device plugged into laptop.
As far as house prices are concerned, how else would house prices be rated when the subject of the study is the entire country?
And, strangely to me, it would seem from your post that you are surprised that lots of vacation and good weather are favourable aspects of life?

Secondly, as far as details like the price of petrol is concerned no single factor in the study can actually be viewed alone. If you want cheap petrol, live in the States. If you want good weather then South Africa isn't half bad. If you want cheap housing there are some bargains in Zimbabwe. If you just have to shop in Tescos don't live in the Ukraine.

As an analogy there will always be people who look to buy houses but never go through with the deal because there is a factor they don't like. "If I could have this house in that location" syndrome.

In an age of technology we are obsessed with data and hence focus far too much on the details, whilst the bigger picture goes by unnoticed. It's funny, but it remains very difficult to view both the whole and the part simultaneously, and when you stay focussed on the whole the details become insignificant. It is a concious choice to let go of little issues (don't sweat the small stuff) and just enjoy what every country can potentially offer each of us. New Zealand can sure offer a lot so I have no issue with the conclusions of the study, whether or not they used good science.

[JoJo76]

when your comparing food costs are you calculating exchange rates or $ and £ equivalent?

calculated by the exchange rate(I think)today. What do you mean by $ and £ equivalent? Like I said it was only out of interest. Boredom I guess:)

[Gar1]

Firstly, a couple of points relevant to the quoted post. My connectivity is fine, outside Wellington, mobile telecom device plugged into laptop.

Same here in CHCH, not earth shattering but not bad.

As for the cost of living its is IMHO much higher that it is the UK. I cannot recall the exact figure but was shocked when I read in the Herald what percentage of income the average kiwi was spending on power bills.

Please remember that you may get a good comparision of prices from Tesco to supermarkets here but the average Kiwi only earns approx NZ$47,000.

[Moorf]

We live pretty rurally (55km inland from chch) and our broadband is just fine :nice1

[kanatakiwi]

Ok.... internet connectivity is good everywhere in NZ. (But in terms of global internet connectivity, NZ is definitely not that great). I was using that to point that there is not a huge amount of scientific research in this report. However I think its great that you get more vacation time and work less hours in NZ! I was saying that those factors, along with the weather are what got NZ the high rating it received. The five areas considered were : weather, crime rate, working hours, annual leave and Internet connectivity.

I just thought people might like to know what research went into the report and what factors were considered.

[Kerry and David]

As we are new to NZ we are still at the converting everything back to £ stage. I know they say not to as the price is what it is, however we just can't help it!
Overall we are spending the same on food here as we did in the UK. Petrol is less, car insurance and car tax is less and the household bills are lower so overall at this present time we are in a better state of affairs than we were in the UK:)

[Moorf]

Assuming you're getting the same salary as you did in the UK ;) ?

[Kerry and David]

Assuming you're getting the same salary as you did in the UK ;) ?

:nice1

[ourquest]

I just thought people might like to know what research went into the report and what factors were considered.

You are right. It is important to understand the research method if we are to take a study seriously. I don't think my post was at all supportive of you having taken the effort to review it, so I thought this post could be an opportunity to make good and show my appreciation, whether or not I happen to agree with the details. After all, it is me who goes on about not getting lost in them (the details, that is)!

[NZ Hopeful]

I just thought people might like to know what research went into the report and what factors were considered.

I appreciated you breaking it down. :nice1