Source: Radio New Zealand
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Wellington might have been knocked off the top spot for quality of life and beer might be expensive, but New Zealanders are getting relatively cheaper iPhones, data shows.
Deutsche Bank’s Mapping the World’s Prices report looks at the price of a range of items around the world, in US dollar terms.
It launched in 2012 and said there had been changes in that time.
Japan has slid in purchasing power parity terms, while New Zealand had moved up the rankings – up 20 points in just over 20 years, according to its calculations.
Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said he thought that was essentially due to the country’s terms of trade.
“Prices for our exports have risen faster than the prices for our imports, meaning that the relative purchasing power of our production has been rising – even if our productivity growth has been poor. For reference, the terms of trade was a record high in June 2025, up 64 percent from June 2000.”
In the 2025 data, Luxembourg took the top spot for quality of life, replacing Zurich and Wellington. Wellington fell to 11th. Auckland was 17th out of 50.
Kiernan said it seemed to be because of mortgage costs. He said there were a number of one-off factors, such as temporarily cheaper public transport, that could have made Wellington look better in earlier years.
But he said much of the data seemed counter to the rhetoric about New Zealand being an expensive place to live. In most cases, New Zealand was in the bottom two-thirds of the rankings.
Switzerland had the highest salaries net of taxes, in US dollar terms.
Wellington was 29th out of 69 and Auckland 34th.
Auckland was top for an assessment of the climate, followed by São Paulo and Lisbon.
Wellington’s housing affordability notably improved this year. Auckland was 32nd most expensive of 69 in terms of price-per-square metre to buy a city centre apartment, and Wellington 44th. To rent a three-bedroom apartment in the city centre, Auckland was 39th and Wellington 44th.
Kiernan said the apartment comparison was useful from a standardisation point of view, to compare cities, but was not representative of the way most New Zealanders lived.
Wellington had the 14th highest disposable income after rents for a scenario with two people working and renting a three-bedroom apartment. Auckland was middle of the pack.
Auckland’s salary net of taxes was up 13.6 percent in five years in US dollar terms, the data showed, and Wellington’s up 21.2 percent.
Both cities were in the 50 percent least expensive for monthly utilities but were 20th and 21st of the most expensive cities to buy groceries.
Switzerland topped the table on that measure, and a number of United States cities, as well as Sydney and Melbourne, ranked ahead of New Zealand.
New Zealand was expensive to buy cigarettes, just behind Australia. China was the cheapest place. Wellington was the fourth most expensive city in the world in which to buy a bottle of domestic beer, and Auckland 15th.
Economist Shamubeel Eaqub said that because excise taxes are high compared to many other parts of the world.
He said there should generally not be much difference between New Zealand cities beyond housing and petrol.
New Zealand was the eighth cheapest place to buy an iPhone. Seoul was the cheapest city, the report said, because competition with Samsung pushed prices down. Auckland was 24th cheapest out of 69 for a cappuccino and Wellington was seven points behind.
Auckland was 18th most expensive out of 69 cities to buy a summer dress in a chain store and 36th equal for a McDonalds meal.
Auckland ranked fourth most expensive for public transport.
Kiernan said movements in the exchange rate could significantly skew how New Zealand performed in international comparisons.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand