I have been looking at both the rental and the sales market for housing and in fact there was a huge boom a few years ago and prices rocketed. I don't think I will be able to find anything for less than 100,000 pounds to buy, which I can't afford, unless it is leasehold. One agent warned me that landlords often put up ground rents every year, so that is not a good option. My grand-daughter is paying over 500 pounds a month NZ$1,000 or so, for a small 2-bed flat in the centre of Nelson on a yearly rental.
My best option would be for my daughter and her husband to find a property with more land (she wants horses) which had a small self-contained annex/shed/basement etc.
Food and clothes are much more expensive in NZ and meals in restaurants are also quite dear - a main meat course will be about NZ$28 or 32, which is about 18 pounds.
As there are no natural ores, everything metal has to be imported and building materials are very expensive. One man bought a van, filled it with rolls of lining paper, and shipped it out. He sold the van within a year which meant he had to pay import duty, but the made a killing on the paper! Hmm... possibility of doing some importing myself?
As I will have to take out complete health insurance, unless I am prepared to go on a waiting list ( as in the UK) I will have to budget about 140 pounds a month for that. If I want to live independently, I will not be as well off financially as I am in France, where I own my own flat and health insurance is only for hospital in-patient treatment, and costs me about 36 pounds a month.
For me, the relaxed lifestyle, the proximity to my family, the weather and the chance to visit exciting new countries will be worth some financial sacrifice. I think, watching 'Wanted Down Under', that some families are very unrealistic - this is not a high-earning economy, and house prices are more comparable to London than Lancashire.