High cost of living hits immigrants

By Simon Collins

New immigrants to New Zealand love the lifestyle - but a third of them say they don't have enough money to make ends meet.

The Cost of Living in New Zealand has Gone Up!
An expatriate Brit friend of mine who has been living and working in New Zealand for the past four years recently took a trip back home to the UK. She was so shocked to find how relatively affordable everything was in the supermarket, and how many more jobs were potentially available to her in the UK than in New Zealand at the moment. I found it hard to believe what she was saying and so began to dig a little deeper – mainly because I feared for her sanity.

However, she’s wholly right. The cost of living in New Zealand has shot up and is truly affecting the average household which has not seen a rise in wages – and which in many cases has faced unemployment because of the recession. Things in New Zealand are not rosy.

US expatriates living in New Zealand: Frequently asked questions

6. What is the cost of living really like in New Zealand?

There's no way to be nice about this, it's pretty damn expensive to live here. But then again, costs for everything are rising everywhere in the world right now. So everyone is finding the cost of living painful. The difference is that wages in New Zealand are comparably very low to other western countries.

NZ houses world's least affordable - page 1 - National - NZ Herald News

NZ houses world's least affordable
By Anne Gibson View as one page

New Zealand has the least affordable houses in the world.

It scores worst in an international survey of the world's six most expensive housing markets, passing Australia for the first time.

Houses in October most expensive in 10 years, says REINZ | BUSINESS News

Median house prices in October were the highest they have been for 10 years in that partlicular month, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) says.

Figures released by the industry body on Friday show a national median house price of $355,000, nearly 6% more than the $335,000 median recorded in October last year.

Suicide - Social Report 2009
New Zealand had the second highest male youth (15–24 years) suicide death rate (after Finland), and the second highest female youth suicide death rate (after Japan). New Zealand is one of a small number of countries which have higher suicide death rates at younger ages than at older ages.

New Zealand has among highest drug abuse rates in world - page 1 - National - NZ Herald News

New Zealand has among highest drug abuse rates in world

New Zealand has one of the highest proportions of ecstasy and amphetamine abusers in the world a United Nations survey has found.

The global survey, the first of its type by the UN, said New Zealand and Australia were second only to Thailand on methamphetamine abuse.

Pollution study lifts lid on New Zealand's 'green' beaches - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Pollution study lifts lid on New Zealand's 'green' beaches

Looks pristine: But a new study says many New Zealand beaches are unsafe because of pollution

A study of New Zealand's most popular swimming spots has found that a third of them are unsafe because high levels of sewage and dairy effluent at beaches and in rivers are making swimmers sick.