Why settle for a house when you could get a whole island?

New Zealand’s housing market may be cooling, but the average cost of a home in Auckland is still above $1.2 million.

If you’ve been priced out of the market for uninsulated weatherboard homes in our biggest city, it might be time to consider a castle or private island. No, seriously.

Here are five incredible properties on the market for less than the average house in Auckland.

The New York apartment, $1.1m

Who hasn’t daydreamed about a life in the middle of Manhattan? Now might be the time to make that dream a reality.

You won’t get the same floor space in this West Village starter apartment as you would in Auckland, but you will get a decent chunk of change from $1.2m.

The good-sized living room has hardwood floors, pressed tin ceilings and a decorative fireplace, while the bedroom will comfortably fit a queen size bed and side table. And you get to live in New York!

The Canadian island, $584,600

The original 88m2 cottage on Rothwells Island, Ontario, was built in the 1900s and has two bedrooms, a walk-in closet, a claw-foot bath and a composting toilet.

The main living areas face south – a good thing in the northern hemisphere – for nice light and views, and there is a separate 19m2 guest cottage, sleeping four. The island has two docks and birdlife galore, including the occasional bald eagle, but if boats and birds aren’t your bag, there is also wi-fi.

The Scottish castle, $927,000

Island life not for you? How about a castle? A three-bedroom penthouse apartment in Scotland’s Lomond Castle could be yours for under $1m.

Built about 1860, the sandstone castle sits on 2.4 hectares of communal grounds right on the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond.

The 138m2 apartment has a splitlevel ‘‘drawing room’’ and dining area, a full bathroom, two en suites and a large kitchen.

One of the bedrooms also has a turret window, as you’d expect from any castle apartment worth its salt.

The Swiss Alps chalet, $1.1m

Get excited, ski bunnies, because this two-bedroom, two-bathroom home is just 10minutes from the popular Portes du Doleil resorts.

The property faces the Dents du Midi mountain range for views galore and is only a few minutes from the village centre and a train station.

Partially renovated in 2018, the property is accessible all year round and has the potential for expansion.

The vineyard in France, $867,000

This wine estate in Montrichard, three hours from Paris, has 11ha of vines and 4ha of cultivated land, a 300m2 wine cellar, a 165m2 storage cellar and an assortment of workshops and garages.

There’s also a four-bedroom, twobathroom farmhouse with a library, office, and two guest bedrooms with separate entrance.

The French capital is a relatively easy drive away, but with castles, bike trails and plenty of places to eat in the surrounding areas, you might never want to leave your new home.

I’ve heard people talking about needing to put $1000 into KiwiSaver nowto get money from the Government. What’s the deal with this? And do I have to put the whole amount in?

What you might have heard mentioned is the KiwiSaver member tax credit.

If you contribute at $1043 of your ownmoney to your KiwiSaver account in the 12 months between July 1 and June 30, you can receive the maximum contribution of $521.43 from the Government.

This is a return of 50% so is worth having.

You canmake your contribution either as a deduction from your salary that is transferred across automatically when you are paid, or by voluntary contributions.

You don’t have to contribute the full $1043 to qualify for a credit – you will get 50c for each $1 you contribute up to that amount. If it’s too hard to get to the $1043 this year – maybe you’re off work for a while – you could think about setting up an automatic payment of $20 a week to your KiwiSaver account to make sure you get it next time.

Now is a good time to check your KiwiSaver settings generally – are you contributing enough to meet your goals? Are you in the right sort of fund for your circumstances?

Whatever happened to those websites that offered tax refunds? Howdo I check Inland Revenue doesn’t owe me money?

Things have changed a bit in this regard in recent years. It used to be that, unless you filed a tax return, you wouldn’t know that Inland Revenue owed you any money. And since it wasn’t compulsory for people on PAYE, a lot of people didn’t bother.

That led to a group of companies offering to check whether people were owed money – and only filing a return for them if they were. They took a percentage fee in return.

But the process has been automated since 2019. People are sent an automatically calculated income tax assessment each year that shows whether you are due a refund or have tax to pay.

You have a chance to correct any incorrect information, and if Inland Revenue has your bank details, any refund will be transferred automatically.

Susan Edmunds is Stuff’s business editor. Each week, she answersmoney and personal finance questions. Send yours to susan.edmunds@stuff.co.nz. This information is not intended as personal financial advice and should not replace advice from a professional.