PHOTO: Melanie Lynskey. TVTropes
She has starred in some of the biggest television shows of recent years, built a successful Hollywood career spanning more than three decades, and owns a beautifully renovated home in Los Angeles.
But New Zealand actress Melanie Lynskey says there is one property dream she still hasn’t managed to achieve.
Buying a house back home in New Zealand.
The New Plymouth-born star has revealed that she regularly browses New Zealand real estate listings before going to sleep, dreaming about eventually owning a home here.
There’s just one problem.
New Zealand property is more expensive than she expected.
And if an established Hollywood actress is looking at our property prices and thinking they’re expensive, that’s quite a commentary on the New Zealand housing market.
Melanie Lynskey Still Calls New Zealand Home
Lynskey, 49, has lived in Los Angeles for more than 25 years, where she shares a home with her husband, actor Jason Ritter, and their daughter.
Her career has taken her from Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures to major international productions including Yellowjackets, The Last of Us and numerous Hollywood films.
But despite decades in the United States, Lynskey says New Zealand still feels like home.
Speaking recently about returning to the country, she described the feeling of stepping off the plane and immediately knowing she was home.
And there’s one dream that keeps pulling her back.
She wants a New Zealand house.
‘It’s Very Expensive, As It Turns Out’
Lynskey revealed that she and Ritter have talked about owning property in New Zealand while retaining their home in California.
But the numbers haven’t quite stacked up.
She said:
“We have this dream of being able to buy a house in New Zealand. Not quite there yet, it’s very expensive, as it turns out!”
She added that the family isn’t yet in a position to maintain two homes.
It’s an interesting admission from someone with an extensive Hollywood résumé.
New Zealanders have spent years discussing housing affordability, deposits, mortgage rates and the extraordinary amount of household income required to own property.
Now even a successful expatriate Hollywood star is experiencing a version of the same sticker shock.
Her Bedtime Habit? Browsing NZ Real Estate
Perhaps the most relatable part of Lynskey’s property dream is what she does at night.
She looks at houses.
According to Lynskey, browsing New Zealand real estate has effectively become part of her bedtime routine.
“When I’m going to sleep, all I do is look at real estate in New Zealand and have a dream of my house when I’m going off to sleep.”
Sound familiar?
Thousands of Kiwis probably do exactly the same thing — scrolling through property listings, looking at houses they might buy one day and mentally renovating kitchens they don’t own.
The difference is that Lynskey is doing it from Los Angeles.
Where Would Melanie Lynskey Buy?
That’s the tantalising property question she hasn’t answered.
Lynskey was born in New Plymouth, while her descriptions of New Zealand also reveal a strong emotional connection to Wellington and the wider country.
Her Los Angeles home contains a significant amount of New Zealand art, including pieces that remind her of the landscape and culture she left behind.
So where might she eventually buy?
A character villa in Wellington?
A coastal property around Taranaki?
A secluded lifestyle block?
A luxury Auckland bolthole for trips home?
Or somewhere completely away from the spotlight?
For property watchers, it would certainly be an interesting listing to eventually see marked SOLD.
From a US$597,500 First Home to a Hollywood Home
Lynskey isn’t inexperienced when it comes to property.
She reportedly purchased her first California home in 2004 for US$597,500.
The Victorian-style bungalow was later sold in 2017 for approximately US$950,000.
She and Ritter subsequently established their family home in Los Angeles and undertook an extensive renovation, which was featured by Architectural Digest in 2026.
Their approach to the property was less about creating a Hollywood showpiece and more about making it warm and comfortable.
Lynskey described wanting the house to feel as cosy as its character deserved.
And despite being thousands of kilometres from New Zealand, she has surrounded herself with reminders of home.
New Zealand on the Walls of Her LA House
One particularly interesting element of Lynskey’s Los Angeles home is its artwork.
She has said that almost all of her art comes from New Zealand.
The works remind her of familiar landscapes, people and the country she continues to regard as home.
It’s effectively a little piece of New Zealand real estate emotion sitting inside a California property.
But apparently that’s still not enough.
She wants the real thing.
The Problem Isn’t Simply Buying a House
There’s an important distinction in Lynskey’s comments.
She’s not saying her family can’t afford somewhere to live.
They already have a home in California.
The challenge is achieving the increasingly expensive luxury of owning homes in two countries while maintaining their family’s existing life in Los Angeles.
Their daughter is settled into a school the family loves, while Ritter’s family is based in California.
So a permanent move back to New Zealand isn’t currently the obvious solution.
That turns a New Zealand property into something different.
It would be a second home — an emotional connection to Lynskey’s country of birth and potentially somewhere the family could spend extended periods.
And second homes require serious capital.
The Kiwi Property Pull Is Powerful
Lynskey’s story also illustrates something New Zealand property has benefited from for decades.
The emotional pull of home.
There are hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders living overseas.
Many establish careers, families and lives in Australia, Britain, America, Asia and elsewhere.
But for some, the ultimate goal remains owning a piece of New Zealand.
That demand isn’t necessarily driven by rental yields, capital growth forecasts or mortgage calculations.
Sometimes it’s much simpler.
It’s home.
Lynskey’s comments about New Zealand food reinforce that connection. She says she misses everything from Vogel’s and Marmite to New Zealand butter, milk and wine.
Add a Kiwi house to that list.
A Celebrity Story With a Very Kiwi Property Problem
There is something wonderfully ironic about the situation.
Melanie Lynskey left New Zealand, became an internationally recognised actress, worked alongside some of Hollywood’s biggest names and established a successful life in Los Angeles.
Yet one of her remaining ambitions is something generations of ordinary New Zealanders understand perfectly:
She wants to buy a house in New Zealand — and thinks they’re bloody expensive.
Welcome to the club, Melanie.
SOURCE: REALTOR.COM