New Zealand is the top choice out of popular expatriate destinations because of its favourable costs and high quality of life says Alliance & Leicester International (ALIL).

New Zealand, says ALIL, has one of the lowest average property prices (£105,750) and low costs for food, drink and fuel. It also boasts one of the more favourable tax regimes, with the highest band at 39% – significantly lower than its neighbour Australia (50%) and France (48%). It also boasts a low crime rate, high internet connectivity and consistently mild weather, favourable working hours and generous annual leave, which put it at the top for quality of life on the ALIL scorecard.

In fact, buyers arriving in New Zealand hoping to find the average house price resting at £105,750 may be disappointed. The most recent average house price published in New Zealand is $330,000 which, at today’s exchange rate, is £120,880.

You can see the full results of ALIL’s survey in the table below.

Best Places to Live

Australia scored well on the Quality of Life Scorecard coming in at second place – compared to 9th in the cost of living scale. European destinations – Italy, Spain, Portugal and France – also scored higher on this aspect of the study, as the relaxed Mediterranean attitude to work life balance triumphed.

Poor weather dragged the UK down the rankings to eighth, while Canada’s freezing winters also affected its position.

New York with a working week in excess of 40 hours, just 10 days annual leave and a relatively high crime rate offered the lowest quality of life. Those devoted to fast city living may dispute this, citing nightlife and high salaries as attracting them.

Simon Ripton, Acting Managing Director of Alliance & Leicester International said: “Costs and quality of life are often not the primary reason that many UK citizens decide to move abroad, particularly if work takes them to another country. However these are certainly important factors once they are in their new home. Most places have their unique attractions, so while one country might be someone’s idea of heaven, it might be another’s idea of hell.”

“That said, New Zealand does on average appear to offer a high quality of life at a reasonable cost – attributes that many people value in their country of residence. Its strong cultural links to the UK also make it highly attractive to many UK movers.

Alliance & Leicester International compared ten different categories across 14 popular expatriate destinations to find the cost of living; the price of the average property, the cost of a return flight from the UK, income tax rates, the cost of a pair of jeans, the cost of the average meal in a mid-priced restaurant and the cost of various shopping list items; litre of petrol, bottle of beer, litre of milk, bottle of water and cup of coffee. For the standard of living, five categories were analysed: weather, crime rate, working hours, annual leave and Internet connectivity. Each of these categories was given appropriate weighting and an average score was then derived.

Prospective migrants should bear in mind that, although New Zealand had the lowest living costs, average salaries in New Zealand are also lower than in the UK or in Australia.