What your housing dollar can buy you outside of Auckland

I recently read a blog post about the cost of housing in Auckland, New Zealand and I was blown away. I knew that Auckland was expensive but I didn’t realise quiet how expensive it was when it comes to purchases a decent first home. I thought I would do a few blog posts which cover living in Auckland (the good and bad) and what your housing dollar can buy you outside of Auckland.

Last week I discussed my rants and joys of big city living, today I want to do a post showing you what your housing dollar can buy you outside of Auckland. If you’re not from Auckland and want to see an Auckland example check out this blog post.

To make it fair I am just going to show what your housing dollar can buy you in Wanganui given that I am familiar with the area and know where the good and ‘bad’ areas are, if they are close to schools and the CBD etc. I can also then tell you if what you are ‘buying’ is close to any parks or viewpoints or anything else noteworthy.

If you find this post interesting I’d suggest choosing any other town and having a play around on either the Trademe Property section or Real Estate NZ website and see what you could get for the equivalent of what you are living in, in your current city.

You will note that I haven’t started at $250k like the other blog posts that I read, because if I did we would be missing out on a lot of the houses! You can click on any of the images to be taken directly to the listing for the house (I’m not sure what you can see once the listing expires sorry!).

A budget of $100,000 could get you

This three bedroom, one bathroom home is located in a quiet cul-de-sac and has been partly refurbished inside. On the market at $95,000. I personally would want to redo the kitchen as I can’t stand metal bench tops. Other than that the house appears to be perfectly liveable. In regards to location it is a few minutes drive to the beach and under 10 minutes to town. While it isn’t the nicest location you could find something similar in nicer streets in the same area.

A budget of $150,000 could get you

This three bedroom, one bathroom home is located in a slightly nicer area is on the market at $139,000. It has been partly redecorated and the kitchen is beautiful! If it had enough storage (which it looks as though it does), I would happily cook in that kitchen! The bathroom does look like it needs redoing though, as does the horrific blue room, but nothing a lick of paint won’t fix. This place has a single garage and a decent size section, it is also fully fenced for the kids or dogs. Located about a 7 minute drive to town it is also close to the river where you can take yourself or your dog for a nice walk.

A budget of $200,000 could get you

This three bedroom, one bathroom home happens to be only a few minutes drive from town and is on the market at $189,000. While there were no photos of the bathroom this property appears to be in fantastic order and looks as though you could move right in with no repairs to be done. The kitchen looks good, as does the decking which leads to the beautiful back yard! This property comes with a single garage and workshop and is close to some good schools as well as the river for walks.

A budget of $250,000 could get you

This three bedroom, one bathroom home is located in a desirable area only a couple of minutes to town. It is in the zone for the best high school (in my opinion ;)) and a number of primary schools. The floor coverings have recently been upgraded and a heat pump was also installed. This property is on the market for $239,000, two of the bedrooms are doubles and one is a single. The kitchen and bathroom are both beautiful and check out that backyard space! The listing doesn’t state the size of the garaging but it looks as though it is at least a double and the listing does mention there is workshop space.

A budget of $300,000 could get you

This four bedroom, two bathroom home located in the city centre is on the market at $279,000. Being so close to town and such a large house you will be getting something a little older than the other listings however it still looks like a great property you could move straight into. You also get three (!) living areas with this property so if space is your thing you’ll be on to a winner. Close to all the schools, shops and the river!

A budget of $500,000 could get you

I was torn with what to choose for this budget, I could get you a semi rural property that was super flash with  a bit of land or a massive property in a sought after area of town that included a swimming pool…. I have gone with the semi rural property as that is what I would tend towards. So here we have a four bedroom, two bathroom semi rural property on the market for $479,000. There is an internal access, double garage, double glazing and central heating, a beautiful kitchen and bathrooms with massive bedrooms! There are also two living areas with one opening up to the outdoor patio and there is a lot of land out the back, the property is over 1200 square meters!!

A budget of $750,000 could get you

This four bedroom, two bathroom is on the market at $749,000 and is in a semi rural location which is under 10 minutes drive into the city centre. This home boasts both mountain and sea views as well as a view of the beautiful country. This property is only five years old and as you would expect has both central heating and double glazing, there is an internal access double garage as well as another single garage and workshop space and a rumpus room as an added extra. The master bedroom has both an ensuite and a walk in wardrobe. And that VIEW, damn!

A budget of $1,000,000 could get you

I was interested to see if there were actually any properties in the million price bracket in Wanganui as I’ve only ever seen one listed before, but it’s not usually a bracket I look at! I looked at the $900k – $1m bracket and found three properties which matched that description! One had price by negotiation with an RV of $860k, however I suspect they are looking for closer to the $1m mark, this is in a sought after area (although it’s a bit of a weird one as it’s out of the way, about as far from town as you can get and you have to go through the ‘bad’ neighbourhood to get there). The other two properties were listed at $980k and both rural properties with land.

This property is on the market at $980,000 with a bold exclamation that the vendors want it sold, which to me reads that you could make a lower offer. The house is a three bedroom, two bathroom property with a seperate office with inbuilt cabinets as well as a hobby room, double garage and conservatory. The out buildings include a three bay workshop. The 7.98 hectare grounds are separated into eight paddocks for all your livestock. There is also a large raised vegetable garden out the back.

What do you think of the options of what your housing dollar can buy you in Wanganui compared to where you currently live?