Can I afford a House in Auckland, New Zealand ?

With all this stuff happening in global finances, does this mean I will finally be able to afford a house in Auckland?

House prices in New Zealand are still ridiculously high, given the low quality of the buildings. I could sooner afford a house in Edinburgh with central heating and double glazing than buy a house in Auckland with no heating, insulation and with the high chance of it being a "leaky home" I am very cautious.

Wages here in NZ are lower than most places, yet house prices are as high as anywhere!

Me and the missus are looking at moving to Nova Scotia in the next few years where you can get a fully detached 3 bedroom house with all the bells and whistles for around $300,000 NZD, maybe less!

Still, I'd prefer not to rent until then, so I am going to wait a while longer to see if those house prices crash.

New Zealand Average Price in NZD = $405,235
United States Average Price in NZD = $369,839
United Kingdom Average Price in NZD = $347,992
Australia Average Price in NZD = $623,107

Check here for an interesting comparison of UK, USA and NZ house prices. I think you will be surprised and possibly depressed at the same time.


Muzzerino

Sexy new fuel-saving winglets

From the NZ Herald >

Sexy new fuel-saving winglets for Air NZ jets!

Air New Zealand is to fit 3.4m tall winglets to its Boeing 767 aircraft which it estimates will save $7.5 million worth of fuel a year.

Making the announcement in Seattle this morning, the airline's chief pilot Dave Morgan, said Air New Zealand had been looking at the equipment for the past four years but current fuel prices make the case compelling.The winglets are made of carbon fibre, titanium and aluminium and work by minimising the amount of air that spills to the wing tip and increases drag.

Winglets are now a standard feature of many aircraft rolling off the production line, but Air New Zealand will be one of the first airlines to retrofit them to 767s which fly mainly to Australia, the Pacific Islands and Hawaii."They look very sexy on an airplane and the key part is the reduction of CO2 emissions which is very significant," said Morgan, who is general manager of airline operations.

Air New Zealand hopes to save 1.6 million US gallons of fuel and 16,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually among the five 767 aircraft.