# Rough living costs - ChristChurch City



## Expat2013

Hell,

Can someone provide rough living costs per month for a family of 2 people ??

Let's say $1500 would be spent towards the rental of 2 BHK.
What are other charges roughly based on your experience ??

Thanks.


----------



## Kimbella

Expat2013 said:


> Hell,
> 
> Can someone provide rough living costs per month for a family of 2 people ??
> 
> Let's say $1500 would be spent towards the rental of 2 BHK.
> What are other charges roughly based on your experience ??
> 
> Thanks.


We are a family of 3, with a part-time teenager as well. Our basic monthly expenses for a 3 bedroom home, two car household, one full time and one part time teen is: $1700 for rent; $75 for internet and free-view; $150 for mobile phone (two phones at this price); $150-$200 per week for food (I cook w/o a budget, I'm sure you could eat for less than this for two ppl). Electric depends on the season but runs around $70 to $100 a month in summer, to $100 up to $200 in the dead of winter. We also have gas water heating which is $92 per full tank (21 hours of energy in it). Contents and car insurance is around $250 per quarter.

Petrol will depend on how far and often you drive of course.


----------



## jimmy2shoes

Cost of living really depends on you, for example Kim could easily find a better mobile deal to save cash and the rent seems rather steep but I guess location plays a major factor there.


----------



## escapedtonz

jimmy2shoes said:


> Cost of living really depends on you, for example Kim could easily find a better mobile deal to save cash and the rent seems rather steep but I guess location plays a major factor there.


You say $1700 a month ($400 a week) steep for rent of a 3 bed house ??? You're obviously kidding around.
I'm thinking for Christchurch that's kinda very good.
Agree there are many other cheaper mobile phone deals but all depends if you have your own phone or not, or if you want a decent phone and package.
We've been on the same pay monthly package with 2degrees for near 3 years at $39 a month each.....but since the iPhone's eventually died we both got new phones this year so pay an extra $90 a month between us just to pay for the new smartphones. Current mobile phone bill for us is $170 a month. $78 of that for the monthly tariff, $82 for the phones and the rest for calls/Messages.


----------



## jimmy2shoes

instead of going on a plan try buying a phone outright and using it on a bring your own plan, I did that with my samsung s2 and used it for 4 years

I just bought https://oneplus.net/ - literally top of the range phone for $349 USD however it'll cost you like $150 to get it to NZ but anywho I actually did think $1700 was steep but maybe i'm wrong.


----------



## suslik

jimmy2shoes said:


> Cost of living really depends on you, for example Kim could easily find a better mobile deal to save cash and the rent seems rather steep but I guess location plays a major factor there.


Rentals in Chch have gone up to such a level that $1,700 is actually below median for a 3-bedroom house...  Have a look at Tenancy | Market Rent | A useful guide to help you decide what t - Department of Building and Housing , DBH lists rental prices per each area and breaks them down between types of houses, number of bedrooms and even gives lower quartiles, medians, upper quartiles and averages. And that's ACTUAL rents from all the rental agreements lodged with that department AT THE MOMENT.

Three years ago paying such money into rent would've seemed ludicrous. Today, however, it's a reality of this city.


----------



## Kimbella

suslik said:


> Rentals in Chch have gone up to such a level that $1,700 is actually below median for a 3-bedroom house...  Have a look at Tenancy | Market Rent | A useful guide to help you decide what t - Department of Building and Housing , DBH lists rental prices per each area and breaks them down between types of houses, number of bedrooms and even gives lower quartiles, medians, upper quartiles and averages. And that's ACTUAL rents from all the rental agreements lodged with that department AT THE MOMENT.
> 
> Three years ago paying such money into rent would've seemed ludicrous. Today, however, it's a reality of this city.


Our rent is $420 pw, and it is a bargain (in Christchurch) in every sense of the word. It IS considerably more than the mortgage was on our prior home, but it is repaired, clean, level, warm, and in an area that doesn't look war torn. Selling our former home was key to our sanity in this city, even if we did lose money on the deal. We all agree that getting out from under the stress of EQC, Fletcher's, SR, and AMI was worth it. The location is spectacular, imo, especially considering our close proximity to downtown Chch, and it is literally 2 kms from my husband's business. The area is historic and beautiful--and the house, though not historic, is also beautiful, inside and out!

We'd love to buy again some day, but have no intention of purchasing a home in Chch any time soon, at least not until the bubble pops; unfortunately, we also can't just pack up a successful business and move elsewhere right now.

Our rent is an extraordinary price for what we have: 3 bedroom, 2 bath, on a 1/4 acre lot that backs onto a park. All earthquake repairs are done, it is a stand-alone character home with insulation, a heat pump, gas fire, a spa tub, an endless hot water system, separate 2 car garage with electric door, and a 3 room shed/work-shop at the back of the backyard. All on a narrow tree-lined street in Opawa 3 houses up from the Heathcote River, but far enough back that we suffer zero flooding. Our yard is enormous, and the homeowner allows animals: we have cats, chickens, and honey-bees. We've been here for nearly two years and have never had the rent raised, and have only had one home inspection since the initial walk-through, and it was after major flooding down the road, just to make sure the house hadn't been affected. We attribute the kindness of our landlord to the fact the owner is kind herself, independently wealthy, and this is her childhood home (she is in her late 50's now), so we think she is choosing to keep very good tenants over making money off the property. The tenants before us lived here for 8 years before moving to Oz, so there must be something to it. 

The home across the street sold a few months back for over $750k. We're in no rush to buy in the current real estate market, but if we were, we would buy on this street, preferably this house. It is the second best home I've ever lived in, with the first being the house I left in California that was fully renovated and modernized with a beautiful Spanish tiled in-ground pool in the back surrounded by flowing Queen Ann palms... 

As for the mobile plans, they're used for both business and personal, which has something to do with the higher pricing--maximum data packs, etc.


----------

