Wow, New Zealand sure does have a unique house numbering and address system. At first glance, it looks very normal, but if you dig a little deeper, it just gets more confusing. The issue is that when the first houses were numbered in New Zealand, they were built on large lots and in most areas the numbering system was sequential. When property values increased, many property owners subdivided their property, creating more houses than numbers.
Unit Number
The first number is the unit or flat number if there are multiple units in one building. A typical way to represent this is 2/1 Forest Street. That is pronounced, two bar one forest street. It is unit 2 at the building 1 Forest Street.
Multiple Houses on One Property
Additional buildings that are built on one property are given letters. The primary building or the building closest to the street is normally assigned the base number. Typically the farther you get from the main street, the higher the letter. 1B Beach Street generally is the third house from the main street. There is often an alleyway that is built to access the additional properties.
Neighborhoods
Some addresses in cities have a neighborhood in addition to the town. Other addresses only list the city. 1B Forest Street, Fitzroy, New Plymouth is the neighborhood of Fitzroy in the city of New Plymouth. It does get confusing because some addresses in New Plymouth do not have a neighborhood.
City
All addresses have a city.
Zip Code
All addresses have a four-digit zip code that is listed after the city.
2/2B Forest Street, Fitzroy, New Plymouth, 4312
This address is unit two of the third building on the property of 2 Forest Street in the neighborhood Fitzroy in the city of New Plymouth. This is handy information if you are looking for properties to rent and want to make sure that you are looking at the right house. What are your experiences with New Zealand’s house numbering system?
