Building work in the wake of recent earthquakes and a local skills shortage have led to a surge in job vacancies in the Canterbury region of New Zealand.

 

So, if you’re considering a move there and you have the right skills, now could be the ideal time to apply for a visa.

Figures from www.trademe.co.nz , a very popular kiwi auction site that also advertises job vacancies across the country, showed that vacancies advertised in Canterbury had increased by 49 per cent in the last quarter.

Unsurprisingly, topping the list are jobs in construction and architecture. This tallies with information put out a couple of months ago by Hays Recruitment in which they said quantity surveyors, commercial and residential project managers plus machine operators with drainage and roading experience were topping a list of in demand skills in the Christchurch construction market.

“Despite the continuing smaller quakes we are getting here, you only need to take a walk round town to see that things are happening,” said Pattie Pegler, writer of NewZealandBuyingGuide.com who lives near Christchurch. “In the central district, streets are lined with temporary fencing where buildings are being either constructed or demolished. There’s certainly a sense of things happening.”

On the downside anyone arriving in town at the moment might face a struggle for accommodation. Rental prices have risen in line with demand and the papers are filled with talk of an impending housing crisis.

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To understand the full step-by-step process to buying a property in New Zealand, collect The Overseas Guides Company’s ‘New Zealand Property Buying Guide’