# Mercer Cost Of Living Survey



## inhamilton

According to this international survey, intended for companies to use when sending people to work overseas for setting salaries etc, Auckland is currently the 81st (out of about 220 cities) most expensive city in the world to live. Wellington is currently 101st.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12078197


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## iamrb

Thank you for sharing. Can anybody on the ground in NZ talk a bit about the rise in Cost of Living over the last 4-5 years? Rent and food cost increase in Auckland since the last few years as an example would be good to know.


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## escapedtonz

iamrb said:


> Thank you for sharing. Can anybody on the ground in NZ talk a bit about the rise in Cost of Living over the last 4-5 years? Rent and food cost increase in Auckland since the last few years as an example would be good to know.


Yes the CoL has steadily risen in all the time we've been here in NZ and that is for food/groceries, personal items, a wide range of goods and services, utilities, fuel etc etc. From memory, the only thing that seems to have reduced over the years is Vehicle road license fees. A petrol car used to be around $250 or so per year, a diesel car nearer $300 per year but now under $100 per year for a petrol car and $130 ish for diesel. This is due to ACC reducing their %'age element although that is going to increase slightly since the trend of motor vehicle accidents and the subsequent cost of injuries has increased.
Rent has definitely increased which is expected due to the increase in demand for rentals and additional costs incurred by an owner/landlord to maintain their property/properties within the new tenancy laws. Many current renters will possibly see notifications coming through to increase their rent if they haven't already had them.
Interest rates have reduced somewhat and have been pretty steady now for a couple of years which is good for people like me with mortgages. There are some really good fixed rate deals to be had at the moment but still 3 or 4% more on what we were used to in the UK.
It isn't any worse in Auckland really, just that property is worth more on average so the cost of ownership is more, meaning a mortgage would cost more so it'd cost a tenant more to rent it. There's more people there/more demand and all this is reflected in the price you will pay to own or rent.
In Tauranga where I live you need to be paying at least $500 per week for a decent 3 bed house in suburbia to rent.....if you can find one that is. In Auckland I expect that'll be at least $600 per week ?
There's nothing you can do about it. It is a way of life. CoL always goes up and salaries stay pretty stagnant so you just gotta make sure you factor this all in when considering living in NZ.


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## iamrb

escapedtonz said:


> Yes the CoL has steadily risen in all the time we've been here in NZ and that is for food/groceries, personal items, a wide range of goods and services, utilities, fuel etc etc. .....


Thanks Man! Will plan to manage my finances and lifestyle accordingly!


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## Sherwood Botsford

In Canada living in certain areas is very expensive: a 2 bedroom plain house in Vancouver is over a million dollars.

In Edmonton, if you want a place in the city, 500,000 buys you a 1800 sq ft house on a lot that has barely enough room to play with a yo-yo. If you are willing to commute an hour, you can get 80 acres of land and a 2500 sq ft house for the same money.

I suspect that in NZ it's probably a lot cheaper to live in Queenstown than it is in Auckland.


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## escapedtonz

Sherwood Botsford said:


> I suspect that in NZ it's probably a lot cheaper to live in Queenstown than it is in Auckland.


Don't count on it. 
Queenstown is Kiwi party capital during summer and winter and is a hugely expensive place to be a tourist or to live. Just like Auckland the prices for accommodation, property and most goods/services are jacked up. Where Auckland prices are jacked up because it seems to be the place every man and his dog wants to live, Queenstown prices are higher to take advantage of the huge influx of tourists year on year.


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## Sherwood Botsford

Yeah, I did some looking later. Initially I looked at a map, and picked QT as being a smallish town away from the main population centres. I had it initially pegged as the main ag centre for the south half of south island.

So substitute "small to medium town far from the madding crowd"


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## inhamilton

Sherwood Botsford said:


> Yeah, I did some looking later. Initially I looked at a map, and picked QT as being a smallish town away from the main population centres. I had it initially pegged as the main ag centre for the south half of south island.
> 
> So substitute "small to medium town far from the madding crowd"


You picked a bad example with Queenstown. Its one of the most expensive places in the country. Dunedin would have been a better example, or even more so Timaru or Oamaru or Invercargill. In Invercargill you can buy a house for $250-300k that will cost a million in Auckland (or Queenstown).


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