New Zealand: British House Buyers ‘quite a major force’

A new influx of immigrants is enjoying the open spaces in Auckland and Northland as they buy up houses, apartments, lifestyle blocks or houses near the sea according to the Professionals Group of real estate agents.

The United Kingdom is still the largest source of immigrants, with significant numbers also coming from China and Taiwan.

Barry Joblin, of Northland’s Glenbarry Real Estate said newcomers – many from the United Kingdom – are ‘quite a major force’ in the Northland market.

“British immigrants, for instance, are spending between $500,000 and $700,000 to buy a substantial house and some acreage in coastal places, and are particularly interested in lifestyle blocks within 30 minutes’ drive of Whangarei. It’s the kind of property they would never have been able to afford in England or many other places in the UK. Typically they are skilled people – builders, IT people, teachers, doctors and nurses – aged in their 30s or 40s, not always with children,” said Mr Joblin

Mr Joblin says the trend has strengthened over the past year with one in five of property sales with acreage in his Mangawhai offices,north of Whangarei, being to British immigrants.

Statistics New Zealand reports that there were 22,700 arrivals of permanent and long-term migrants from the United Kingdom in 2006, compared with 18,800 in 2002.

In Howick, which for some years now has been home to a large Asian population, migrants continue to influence the housing market.

Many newly arrived British, Asian and South African immigrants are finding homes in North Shore City, particularly Browns Bay/Torbay, Greenhithe and selected pockets of the lower North Shore. Proximity to beaches parks and reserves, shops, schools and employment opportunities make these areas attractive to the new migrants.

A few are disappointed, however, to find they need to spend more than the $400,000 ‘average’ for a suburban family home quoted on the Immigration New Zealand site, and elsewhere, to satisfy their dream of a ‘better life’ in a new country.