Retiring in New Zealand

Retiring in Kiwiland is not a realistic option, unless you bring loads and loads of cash with you and you are aware and prepared to accept that the retirement INDUSTRY has joined forces to help you unload your cash into their coffers and that with the backing of the government.
If you buy yourself a "Licence to Occupy" for a unit in a retirement village for let's say $800,000 (and these prices are not uncommon in Auckland) you surrender normally per year 7.5% of it to the village owner during the first 4 years, meaning that the value of your investment then has been reduced to $560,000.
When vacating the unit after let's say 5 years the village owner sells the License at the market value at that point in time, which might be $1,400,000 if real estate values had increased in average by 12% annually and you (or your heirs) walk away with $560,000. In the meantime the village owner has been sitting on your pile of cash of $800,000 and I wouldn't be surprised if he had been trying to grow this further through other investments instead of stashing it under his mattress. And you know what? This is not only sanctioned by the government, no they have it regulated this way and claim that they thus are protecting the interests of the retiree....... I call it DAYLIGHT ROBBERY.
On top of this the occupant of one of these quite often very luxurious units pays around $130 per week to cover maintenance, insurance, staff wages, etc.
And I almost forgot to mention that the costs of living, food and the like are extremely high in this beautiful country, where basically one half of the population constantly is "trying to rip off the other half", as the saying is going.
But you don't have to spend your retirement years in one of these retirement villages, do you? No, of course not. You can always buy yourself a normal house, can't you? Sure you can, but you should be aware that the average price for a house (in Auckland) has crossed the $1,000,000 line.....
Renting then, isn't that a good option? Well, landlords in this country are not stupid and they happily link their rents with the house prices AND they can legally kick you out with 3 weeks notice, so you should be prepared to move regularly.
Of course not everything is that bleak. It's certainly possible to find yourself a roof over your head at a much lower cost, even in a retirement village, but then you must be prepared to move to the country, to rural areas where it's still possible to buy a house for $200,000 upwards and where you can reduce the cost of living by growing your own veggies and have your own chickens, so if such lifestyle takes your fancy, be welcome, but be aware that there won't be superannuation available if you haven't paid taxes for at least 10 years and that the super then will be reduced by the amount of the pension you bring with you.
Living in NZ can be very pleasant, but it comes with a heavy price tag.

i came to new zealand 15 years ago age 53. when it came to retirement i found out i wasnt entitled to a nz pension as you had to have been here 10 years but before and up to age 50, so i had to get my pension from england. my pension was at the rate it was when i left and will never change no cost of living rises nothing. then i found out it differed every week due to the exchange rate then you had to pay exchange rates transfer charges etc so i lose eight pounds a week from my pension before i even start. i have ended up with about $230 a week to live on which is pathetic. so before you move here make sure you read up on your rights you might end up losing out