Can you afford a home in NZ?

[Cruiser]

Not sure i'll be able to afford to for much longer the way its going

[rollaholic]

we were looking at buying a house with my sister for a little while.

were quite keen on one place, i had been searching in the 500 - 600k bracket and the agent had indicated mid 600s (typical list on trademe for less than its worth BS) though it was actually an auction.

we got reasonably excited because that was still (just) inside our price range.

it ended up selling for 820!

shits whack yo. the place was quite run down, etc. auckland is $&#$%.

[Stott69]

$235k for a 3 bedroom 100sqrM house with two heatpumps, garage and carport on a 900sqrM section in a good area last year for us.

[Dell'Orto]

But you bought in Wainui?

[Stott69]

And your in Upper Hutt, please validate comment more clearly

[Dell'Orto]

Wainui. Nuff said

[Dell'Orto]

Oh wait

[Stott69]

Too fair skin for wainui, take it its your neigbour?

[Dell'Orto]

She was possibly a bit before your time?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3 ... hoplifting

[Bling]

I remember looking at places that were run down in 2007 (my local area in chch) going for 250k. It was the apparent peak of the market, but even so, 250k for a run down place with things like holes you could fall down in the deck....

Either lower your expectations on what you can get for your price range, or just keep on renting. I made big compromises to get the place i'm in now. In a couple of years I plan to be able to make a big step up. But if you don't want to make some compromises at the start, then I don't exactly have a truck load of sympathy.

Central or even close to central Auckland is never going to be affordable. I've seen the places my parents used to live in the UK.... we have it pretty good here. Too many people just want more. Now. And for a cheap price. I know I won't be living in the area i'd want to for a very long time / if ever. But we are happy enough where we are, so it works. I'm sure if I lived in Auckland my view would be different. But I still wouldn't be expecting to get it easy.

If I wasn't planning to "upsize". I'd be in the market for a rental property I think. Would be better to have two baskets than one.

[Nuty|Mike]

Our plan now is to leave Auckland ....I mean come on we pay 450 per week for a run-downish old house in an average area on the shore and if we wanted to buy it ,well if we could get ahead of all the asians bidding for houses at auction we would probley pay 450-500k for it.

Or we could move south to maybe Dunedin where we have family and pay 180k for a similar house .

My only problem is I cant seem to find a Job down there so we are stuck paying off someone elses mortgage.

(Anyone know of any car companys looking for an experianced parts rep/person let me know )

Who would want to live in auckland tho?

Not fukcen me ...Lived here all my life and hate it with a passion.

[duddley]

If I didn't have to live in Auckland for work I wouldn't as its far too expensive to buy anything even out in some of the crappier parts out west.

[2jz tt Aristo]

If I didn't have to live in Auckland for work I wouldn't as its far too expensive to buy anything even out in some of the crappier parts out west.

Aye West is best man!! lol
We just sold ours, made a good profit! Great time to sell but nightmere to buy!
Not sure if we are going to buy again or rent and invest our equity and wait for the s@#t to hit the fan....... might be a long wait though!

[matt dunn]

If you stay out of house ownership too long it will be too hard to get back in.
Prices may stop going up too much, but I don't think they will ever fall that far, simple supply and demand,
and if they build a whole lot of new houses,
they wont be $300k houses that get built.

IMO the longer you don't own a house, the harder it will be to afford one.

Our house is now worth about 4 times what we paid for it,
but we bought it in about 1999 when we were only 21,
and when everyone else we knew was renting or living at home.

[RomanV]

+1 to looking at the "Buy house in south island and eventually move there after a few years of paying some of it off" option.

[~SlideWays~]

We're onto our 2nd place now after selling our first house mid last year, didn't sell for much more than we bought it for 7 years ago but it was still worth it. We bought at 22 ish, worked hard to pay as much as we could while still having a life. Spent heaps of my 'spare' time painting the place inside and out, new fencing, heat pump, tidying up the section, building a deck, etc etc (which meant car projects slowed to a crawl!).

But now I have a nice big garage (also a house lol), nice area, better commute, lots of space and got it for a good price because it needs lots spent on it but it was a good move, solid 'bones' etc.

Its kind of funny how much time and effort we put in to get the old house into the best condition it had been in the 7 years we lived there....then we sold it and moved to another place to do it all over again.

But we wouldn't have been able to afford the same house in this street if it didn't need work, but we love the place even though its been a nightmare dealing with slack builders and huge bills

[Bling]

Good shit, not many people can be bothered putting in the effort these days. They just see the result of the hard work and want it for nothing Currently do a LOT of landscape work at home to make it more appealing down the track for sale too. It's hard to have time for car and house stuff I agree. Currently working full time and spending most of my free time concreting / digging out for more concreting etc. Shits back breaking!

[rollaholic]

keen for a fixer upper

[B1NZ]

$235k for a 3 bedroom 100sqrM house with two heatpumps, garage and carport on a 900sqrM section in a good area last year for us.

Dude, you cant refer to Wainui as a "good area" If they fenced it in the crime would drop significantly in the greater Wellington region

[d1 mule]

reality of the situation is if you want to get ahead, residental property isnt the way in NZ, Commercial is where its at, downside being you generally need 30% deposit on a loan and the good properties tend to start at around $500k.

but you get average return of 10-11% not the 3-5% of residential