News & Blogs New Zealand town with 'too many jobs' offering packages of land and homes for $165k

[Brother X]

The southern New Zealand town of Kaitangata appears the prime example of the pastoral landscapes the island is known for; it's lush, hilly, green, and peaceful. Only about 800 people live there, and it's a mere eight minutes from the coastline.

For those who prefer the rural, slow lifestyle and community feel in their living environment, it's basically perfect.

And here's the best part: New Zealand desperately wants you to move there. Seriously.

The small town is a heavily involved in necessary industries relating to dairy processing and freezing works, which more than fill the area's economic needs. In this very unique case, that presents a real problem: there are around 1,000 vacant jobs and too much affordable housing for the residents to fill.

"We have got youth unemployment down to two," Mayor Bryan Cadogan says. "Not 2 percent —just two unemployed young people."

So in response to this peculiar crisis, Cadogan and the town's bank, lawyers, and community services are launching a recruitment campaign to try and lure candidates to the area with housing and land packages costing only NZ$230,000, or almost $165,000 U.S. — a far cry from the $1 million homes in the Bay Area.

According to the local residents, "Kai," as citizens call it, is warm and community-oriented.

"This is an old-fashioned community, we don't lock our houses, we let kids run free," a local dairy farmer and third-generation native named Evan Dick told The Guardian. "We have jobs, we have houses, but we don't have people. We want to make this town vibrant again, we are waiting with open arms."

If that's the sort of thing that sounds like a siren's song when staring down the soaring Bay Area housing costs, you might want to get in touch with the mayor and the Clutha District Council soon —Cadogan and Dick have already received thousands of inquiries.

"It's gone nuts," Dick tells the New Zealand Herald. "A mother and her two children just flew in. I took them to their section and the look on her face was magical. 'Is this all ours?' I can already see positivity and vibrancy flowing through the

SEE VIDEO AND MOE PICTURES AT OP: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/New-Zealand-town-with-too-many-jobs-is-offering-8337340.php

 

[Kim Chee]

Sounds good.

How much do these jobs pay?

 

[Brother X]

How much do these jobs pay?

No idea. Casually looking now and seeing things like this: https://nz.jora.com/jobs-in-Clutha-District,-Otago

 

[Tony Pro]

Sounds good.

How much do these jobs pay?

Well minimum wage in NZ is something like $14 an hour and rising, so you won't do too bad.

 

[jaws]

Freezing industry?

 

[etpyh]

Becoming a New Zealand resident would definitly be nice. Work in Australia during their summer and then travell europe while summers there. Endless summer here I come.

 

[rusty]

seemed like winning the lottery so i bought a ticket(emailed the mayor for fun)
this is the automated response;

Bryan Cadogan
Jul 2 (2 days ago)

Hi, if you are emailing about living and working in the Clutha District, please see the message below, unfortunately I cannot respond to you all individually. But, we have forwarded on your enquiry directly to Clutha Development Inc, our economic development agency.


If you are emailing about another matter, I will be in touch.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Thank you very much for your interest about living and working in the Clutha District, we certainly were not expecting this story to go global!


If you live outside of New Zealand the first thing you will need to do is check out our immigration rules to find out if you’re eligible to live and work here - https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas


If you do meet the criteria and you’d like to know more about the House and Land packages available in Kaitangata, you need to visithttp://www.cluthacountry.co.nz/live-in-clutha/hous... to view the prospectus.


As jobs become available, they are listed on the Seek and TradeMe websites, so you might want to keep an eye on those.


However, please note that many of our employers do not always advertise their available positions, but instead our economic agency Clutha Development Inc. liaises and connects with them on your behalf. So, you if you are eligible to work in New Zealand, please send your CV toinfo@cluthanz.com


The primary employment sector in the district is agriculture, however there are opportunities for specialists in other industries.


You can also check out the www.cluthacountry.co.nz website for information on living and working in the Clutha District.


We thank you for your interest and wish you all the very best.

 

[drynyn]

NZ is a fairly awesome place to live, though being native I am biased. Kaitangata is in the South Island which is amazing if you are fond of nature (or tramping or skiing or mountaineering etc). There isn't a nearest city (Dunedin and Invercargall are really just towns. They are only called citiies cos there is little to compare them to.) - Christchurch is the nearest which is about 4 or 5 hours drive away.

There should be lots of farming work in that area. Perhaps some mining?

If you have $165K and are having trouble getting permission to live there, I should mention that I am still unmarried.

 

[roughdraft]

anyone follow through on this?