[Klipa]

We currently live in beautiful British Columbia, Canada and are planning our move to New Zealand around Sept/07. Neither of us have been to NZ before but we have heard nothing but great things about it and we have no doubt that we will love it once we arrive.

We have been told of a few different areas to consider by friends who have visited in the past. I would love to get some suggestions from those of you in this forum as to some areas to consider based on our lifestyle, finances, etc.

My husband is a resdiential carpenter and I am self-employed as a personal trainer in the fitness industry. I would likely start a small business upon our arrival but we are also hoping to start a family in the next 18 months so our main concern would be finding good work for Jon in the building industry.

We have 3 dogs that we will be bringing with us. They are very active, we go on regular long hikes and lthey ove the water. It is very important that we end up in a dog-friendly community with many trails and hikes that they are allowed off-leash.

One of our main reasons for our move is the surf. We have a very active life here in BC but are looking to live near some great surfing rather than have to make an 8 hour drive, including a ferry ride, to get to a surf beach!

Weather! Having endured 30 Canadian winters.....in New Zealand we expect to live somewhere with a seasonal climate....but would love to avoid any extreme temps...snow in the mountains is great....but don't necessarily need to be driving in it all winter!

Finances are one of the other reasons for our move. It is extremely difficult for a young couple/family to get ahead here in BC. The cost of housing is out of control. We do own a condo here that we plan to sell and hope to get into a house within a few months of our arrival in NZ. It seems as though the housing market in NZ is doing the same thing as it is here in BC, but that there are more affordable areas for those who do not need to live right in the city. We do not want to live right in a major city and would like to be able to buy a house with a good sized yard for under $350,000 (NZ) if possible.

I think that about covers it. Basically we would love to find an area that has not overpriced itself yet, is near some great surfing, dog-friendly with plenty of work in the building industry.

We are considering New Plymouth at the moment...and would love some feedback on this area as well as ANY other areas you might suggest we consider. As I mentioned above, we have not travelled to NZ so we are very appreciative of any recommendations!

Thank you for your time!

Shannon

[sarahw]

Hi, & welcome!

Well I was going to suggest Auckland - until I saw your budget for a house. If your OH is working in construction (it seems housebuilding) I'd think you'd want to be living near a big-ish city. If he wanted to work in industrial construction (carpenters are in great demand at the moment!) then certainly there is tonnes of building going on in Auckland and Wellington - more jobs than the contractors can cope with!

I've heard New Plymouth is beautiful but have never been there so can't really comment but I'm sure it would suit the surfing.

My recommendation is that you drive/fly all round NZ on your trip & check everywhere out for yourselves since you might love somewhere that people haven't suggested.

Apart from Central North Island (where you can go skiing in winter) the North Island is pretty snow free in winter. South Island does get snow but again someone else would be better to advise on that.

Outside of Welly, where we live, they have plenty of dog friendly beaches, & plenty of forest trails you can take the dogs on. There is surfing off the West coast although probably not great surf that can be found further up the country, there's certainly the jobs in construction & you could still find a 3-bed house in an area about 30 mins drive from the city for $350K (Whitby springs to mind - I have seen some there for around that price recently - not many but they do come up). Wellington itself isn't dog friendly - you aren't allowed dogs in the city centre... I don't know if its the same in Auckland or Christchurch but I find this quite a strange thing having come from quite a dog-loving country.

[dean1968]

You should check out Taranaki

Taranaki has without doubt has the best surfing beaches in New Zealand staging regular surfing championships including those for the keen kneeboarder. They are also holding an international world surfing compeition the year. They have plenty of beaches and the surf is ideal.

The bad news is the property prices have sky rocketed. New migrants are pushing the envelope in increasing prices. First home buyers are missing out and finding it totally unaffordable to get in. They are talking about 50 year mortgages or letting your kids pay off the loan / mortgage for the next generation.


Quotable Value November Sales record
The average New Zealand sale price over the period was $347,005.
While New Plymouth city which is the main urban area recored average prices$294,074

http://sunflowerlodge.co.nz/summittosurfpage_taranaki.htm
http://www.windwand.co.nz/surfhw45_main.htm


Average house prices in New Plymouth May 2006 $289,000
May 2005 $268,000

New Plymouth City recorded a remarkable 178 per cent price increase over the past five years, winning the award for best year-on-year growth. But local experts say the province has just been in catch-up mode, and the increases can't be sustained.

New Zealand houses are at their least affordable in 18 years, and are at a level last seen when interest rates were as high as 15.5 per cent, according to a Massey University survey.

Average Auckland sale prices, Barfoot & Thompson
* 2000: $302,514
* 2002: $335,029
* 2004: $423,317
* 2006: $480,738
* December 2006: $523,793
Auckland's housing sector set a new record last month, with prices rising $540 a day to reach a monthly average of $523,793.
Barfoot & Thompson's average sale in November was $507,000 but December deals saw the market up by $16,793.

The Taranaki region's largest employer is the manufacturing and building sector, with 11,708 Full time employees in 2005 or 26.4% of the total.

The Taranaki region is dominated by Mount Taranaki, which is 2,518 metres high, the second-highest in the North Island.

Taranaki's climate is largely influenced by Mount Taranaki, resulting in considerable variation throughout the region. Rainfall is high, especially around the mountain. The mean rainfall in New Plymouth is 1,500 millimetres per year, but Inglewood, which is 25 kilometres closer to the mountain, has an annual rainfall of approximately 2,400 millimetres.

Sunshine hours in Taranaki's main urban area of New Plymouth are high, considering the above average rainfall, at 2,150 hours per year. This is similar to Gisborne, and higher than Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.


Robert Jones a property magnate millionaire and one of our richest New Zealander’s who made his fortune through buying property has indicated that the Labour political party is generally good for the property market. First develop an historical perspective. Then judge the mood today. Do some political and social analysis. People get the politicians they deserve.

Prime Minister Helen Clarke likes redistributing the wealth and her ideal model economy country is Sweden. Fiscal policies designed to spread the money around and loosen the coffers. Sweden has spent so much on social services that it will be highly problematic for them to maintain their long-term prosperity. They have one of the highest tax rates in Europe. The product of decades of high social and welfare spending which has virtually bankrupted them. There has already been a political backlash by the younger Swedish generation who don’t want to shoulder the burden of paying the high taxes to support the state and voting for politicians who are dismantling it. I’m all for it, if you can pay for it. Norway another generous social welfare spending economy can get away with it because it has oil.

To get rich you have to figure out supply and demand…

“Up to 2.6 million New Zealanders could be renting soon, according to a visiting American expert who has called for city boundaries to be expanded to free land for more housing.

Wendell Cox, co-author of the Demographia Housing Affordability Survey with Christchurch developer and investor Hugh Pavletich, said renters would outstrip home owners in the next few decades.

Up to 60 per cent of the population or 2.6 million people could be lifetime tenants, priced out of the housing market, said Mr Cox, here to speak at the Resource Management Law Association conference in Auckland today.

House prices were at least six times annual incomes, making New Zealand's housing stock one of the world's most expensive, Mr Cox said.


"Around 10,000 people a year are dropping off the housing ladder in New Zealand," he said.

New Zealand was in danger of suffering the single largest home ownership rate drop of any First World country, he said, citing Census figures due out in early December which are expected to show ownership levels plunging dramatically.

People's dreams of owning a house were being shattered by disastrous planning regulations, which had strangled a plentiful supply of land surrounding cities, Mr Cox said.

An artificial land supply problem had been imposed on major cities and that had driven up house prices, a problem for Christchurch and Auckland but also worrying in Wellington.

Houses would become cheaper if the "ring fence" around Auckland was dismantled, which would restore a supply-demand balance.

Regarding property you need have to have 3 things going for you: fundamentals, technical and market tone. First, the fundamentals should suggest that there is an imbalance of supply and demand, the market should be moving in the direction that fundamentals suggest and the third reflects the right psychological tone. In a bullish euphoric market, they shrug off bearish (bad) news and respond more positively to bullish (good) news.

There are 4 million people. Demographics suggest that in the next 50 years NZ has going to have an aging population and a population shortfall. This would have a negative impact on property and the economy of NZ.I don’t believe it for a minute. Politicians will do anything and everything to be elected and keep the spiegot (economy) running (humming along) that includes opening up the floodgates to migration. NZ could easily accommodate more migrants and double the size of the population to 8-12 million people easily..

[Mal]

Shannon,

We have recently (6 months) moved to North Beach, in Christchurch from the UK. I have to be in one of the major centres for my work (IT). We travelled around NZ last year and picked Chch based on the ability to live on the beach but be in the mountains in 1 1/2 hours for winter sports. Also the suburb we live in is very undervalued here, but we are an easy walk from the beach (one which I make with surfboard in hand as often as possible), and our house was considerably less than your budget. 350k would get you a pretty nice place here in the northern Chch beach suburbs (New Brighton, South Beach and North Beach), although things are alot more exclusive a little further south (Sumner / Redcliffs). Our area is not to everyones taste, it's a little rough around the edges, but is perfect for us.

If the surf is your number 1 pull, and you're experts (unlike me), then you could look at New Plymouth or Gisbourne on the North island, or Dunedin on the South. These are probably the largest towns that have a variety of breaks nearby. If you're not experts, pretty much any part of the coast is going to have a rideable wave nearby. There is more than enough choice near here to keep me busy.

If you can get hold of a copy of the 'Wavetrack New Zealand Surfing Guide' (http://www.surf2surf.com/guides.php) it will give you an idea of where the good surfing areas are.

Good luck!

Mal

[barryp]

Not that you asked, but: if you intend to move in September 2007 and bring three dogs with you, you will need to start with veterinary tests no later than March 2007. I suggest that you get their first rabies titres NOW (you must wait at least six months but no more than one year from the first draw for that titre, and you must administer rabies vaccines no less than three weeks prior to that draw).

Prepare yourselves for a very convoluted, pointless, and expensive series of tests and a 30 day quarantine at the end of it. (For example, you will test for obscure diseases, and even if the tests come back negative YOU WILL STILL TREAT THE DOGS for them. I consider that to be veterinary malpractice, but it is not negotiable.) Basically, NZ just doesn't want you to bring over dogs or cats, especially from a country that isn't rabies-free.

There are forum topics where pet imports are discussed in detail. Carry on, and good luck!

[Klipa]

Thank you so much for your information.

We are on track with the dogs...and you are right...it is quite a ridiculous process to get them over there....but they are pretty much our children and we could not imagine leaving without them! I agree with you on the "veterinary malpractice" deal. It is absolutely senseless to treat a healthy animal with drugs and toxins for disease and illness that they do not have and have NO chance of having. Our dogs or otehrwise in great health and we trust they will get through the move and tests very well. Fingers are crossed!

We know very little about the south island so it is great to get some info. It sounds like there will be work for Jon pretty much wherever we go which is good news. He is in the process of applying for a work visa as I hold Australian citizenship so he can likely receive a work permit prior to arrival.

Thanks again for your help.....will keep you posted on our decision!

[*Paul]

You might consider Hawkes Bay. There are a few surfing beaches around and the houses are within your price range. The weather here is way better than the east coast and often the best in the country. I think you would both find work here fairly easily.

[b&k]

New Plymouth is a great surfing area. It is a haven for the arts with probably the best art museums in the country and art installations including Len Lye's famous windwand. The town is overshadowed by Mt Taranaki (used as a double of Mt Fuji in the Last Samurai film - Tom Cruise is a Taranaki fan incidentally) and is surrounded by green countryside.

The two main drawbacks, however, are the green-ness and the countryside. Being on the east coast it rains a lot. If you're from Vancouver, you'll know what I mean. It is also the most remote city in NZ. The main roads are narrow, twisty and indirect. Some are even unmade - it's not called the Forgotten World highway for nothing!

If you don't mind the weather, the remoteness and are not in a hurry to get anywhere else then you will find a lovel town and should have no problem finding a house within your budget.

[Ana&Steve]

Tom Cruise is a Taranaki fan incidentallyWhy, is that where the spaceship is coming to pick him up?
*sorry, hard to resist*

[macs gold]

Dunedin might be the right place for you, it probably has the best surfing culture of any of the cities. It also has excellent facilities and things to do for a city of its size, mainly because it has traditionally always been one of the main cities, even though its population growth has been less than those cities further north.

Dunedin website:
http://www.cityofdunedin.com/city/?page=life_work

Download a Moving to Dunedin brochure:
http://tinyurl.com/3bt5pv

Online jobs:
www.WorkOtagoNZ.co.nz

There seems to be plenty of building work on around here too.

Good luck with the research.

[Moorf]

Can anyone give me any type of information at all, opinions / photo's / location / area / news etc, on the village of Middlemarch in Otago (I already know about the famous Singles Ball...)

Thanks
Moorf