Cost of Living in New Zealand: Here’s How Much I Actually Spend in 2025

Originally published on February 7, 2025 | Last updated on February 16, 2025

As I’ve just mentioned, I have just moved to New Zealand a few weeks ago. One thing I heard before coming, is that New Zealand is quite expensive to live in. In this blog post, I would like to examine cost of living in New Zealand with you and break it down by each category. Please do keep in mind that I moved to New Zealand from the UK, and things ARE expensive in the UK, so that would affect my judgement. Also, I live in Hamilton in the North Island, so cost may vary in different regions in New Zealand. Without further a do, let’s go!

Rent

Rent is EXPENSIVE in New Zealand. We are very fortunate to find a small fully furnished 1 bedroom flat for $500 per week (yes that’s how rent is advertised), all bills included. I think it’s on the cheaper range of the market. I was finding houses for about $400-700 for 3 bedrooms, but they are mostly unfurnished, understandably. Average median rent in Hamilton seems to be $590 per week, but $690 per week in Auckland. People tend to share houses as well especially for students or couples in Hamilton, which we did try to avoid.

Groceries

I find groceries to have much better variety than in the UK, but they tend to be more expensive as well. This surprised me as New Zealand climate is way better for growing vegetables, and anyways New Zealand, especially Waikato where we live is renowned for agriculture and dairy? Note that I tend to shop at the cheaper supermarket, and of course it depends greatly on what we use/what we need weekly. After the first initial shop where we spent $803.76 (LOL), my last grocery shop was $93.51 which I think is more representative for daily living. The first initial shop, of course as we have just arrived, we bought EVERYTHING, so it’s not very representative.

I was told that vegetables and fruits prices vary wildly depending on the season, and it’s currently summer here so things are on the cheaper end. For what it’s worth:

• 500 grams of spaghetti cost $2
• 1 kg of long grain rice is $2.4 (yikes)
• 1 kg of carrots is $2.3

(all currently, of course, and can change at anytime)

Transport/Cars

It may or may not be a surprise but we find public transportation to be quite bad here. However, car ownership is pretty cheap here. We bought our car for $5000, plus $550 auction fee for 2012 Mitsubishi Lancer which has 160,000 km in it. I think we paid much cheaper than what we would have in the UK. We never bought a 2012 Mitsubishi Lancer so we don’t have an exact value, but I’d think it would be about double in the UK.

Insurance is insanely cheap. Third party insurance, I got a quote for $13 PER MONTH (~£5!!!). This would be absolutely unheard of in the UK, it would be AT LEAST 6x of that I think (the cheapest I’ve heard is like £400 – but mine is more expensive than that). I think that’s why everyone drive here – in the UK everyone is reluctant to have a car due to the cost.

Hamilton still has a decent bus system, and one way fare from our place is $2.40, and $1.20 around the city centre with Bee Card, which can be used throughout New Zealand as well with the exception of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

We have decided to get bicycles for our transport as Hamilton is pretty bicycle friendly. Both bicycles we got secondhand, mine for $120 and my husband’s for $250. New bicycles from the shops are like $500+. With bicycles of course, the running cost are much cheaper. Never zero if you count the increase in grocery bills though! 😉

Eating Out

Eating is out is quite expensive as well in my opinion. though it’s similar to UK prices. Again this will hugely depends on where and what you eat, but some examples from our recent outings:

• brunch for $50-65 (for 2 people)
• Budget/takeaway Sushi for $40 (2 people)
• all you can eat Korean BBQ $37 excluding drinks (I think is pretty cheap!)

Furniture

Furniture are quite expensive. IKEA doesn’t exist here! (They did announce that they are opening late 2025 – but come on New Zealand doesn’t have IKEA??!?!?!?!) That’s the reason we chose to get fully furnished place.Our friend totally normal outdoor table costed $500 apparently. However, I found a charity shop near our place that actually sells decent furniture for much cheaper. We got a lot of our kitchen equipment there! I’ve even heard that people found it was much cheaper for them to send all their furniture from Europe to NZ via cargo than buying them here.

Conclusion

AI Overview showed that a single person needs NZ$4,284 per month per person while a family of four can expect to need around NZ$6,372 per month. I think it’s on the high side for a single person, but I can believe the family of four estimates. As per any other place, you can of course make lifestyle choice to spend lower than the average. Which we are hoping to be doing as well. I can understand completely the complaints about NZ living cost though, especially compared to the salary.

Overall, the cost of living in New Zealand depends on where you live and how you manage your money. The country offers stunning scenery, a great quality of life, and welcoming communities, but expenses—especially housing—can be high. If you’re thinking about moving, it’s important to plan your budget carefully. With the right approach, living in New Zealand can be an amazing experience: full of natural beauty, work opportunities, and a relaxed way of life.