Metlifecare St Andrew's
photos: operator / Village Guide
Retirement living · Cambridge, Waipa

Metlifecare St Andrew's

Metlifecare Retirement Villages Limited · central Cambridge · independent villas & apartments plus aged care
Life Score
60
Good
Capital Back
49
the money ↓
See what life here is like — then weigh what it means for your family further down.
The village

Life here

Metlifecare St Andrew's sits on two generous acres in the heart of Cambridge, a charming Waikato town. The village offers modern, light-filled homes—from one to three-bedroom villas with private gardens to contemporary apartments—alongside rest home and hospital-level care suites. Life here blends independence with connection: residents gather for morning teas, indoor bowls, movie nights, and organised outings, while the town's pleasant shopping and cafés are an easy walk away.

Your home

Living options

Independent Living & Aged Care

Choose from modern villas with private gardens and garages, or bright apartments. As your needs change, rest home and hospital-level care suites are available on-site.

1, 2 & 3-bedroom villas with contemporary kitchens
Private gardens and internal/external garages or carports
2-bedroom apartments (top floor available)
1-bedroom apartments
Care suites (rest home to hospital level)
Living options
A day in the life

What living here is actually like

A vibrant, connected community

Activities & Social Life

Residents enjoy a dedicated activities room with library and large-screen television, plus regular organised entertainment and social events. The village van provides transport for outings, and Cambridge's shops and cafés are within easy walking distance.

Community/activities room with library
Indoor bowls
Gym and exercise classes
Card games, bingo & board games
Movie nights and resident dinners
Organised trips and entertainment
Arts and crafts
Café and dining area
Hair salon
Always something on
On your doorstep

Facilities & services

Communal lounge
Café and dining area
Outdoor courtyard
Hair salon
Shop (dairy mini-mart)
Gym
Indoor bowls
Resident shed
Medical centre (consulting room)
Emergency call system
Village van
Security cameras
Peace of mind

Care for life, on site

If your health changes, you won't have to leave the place you know. Metlifecare St Andrew's offers these levels of care on site:

IndependentRest homeHospital
Care and community
Where it is

Setting & neighbourhood

Metlifecare St Andrew's is centrally located in Cambridge, a scenic Waikato retirement destination. The village's two-acre grounds sit close to the historic St Andrew's Church and Te Koutu Lake Reserve, with pleasant shopping, cafés, and local amenities within easy walking distance. Cambridge offers a welcoming, accessible community for active retirees.

Interested?

Like the look of Metlifecare St Andrew's?

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Now the practical part

The money — what comes back to your family

You've seen why you'd love it. This is the part most families only discover at the exit statement — so we put it in plain sight. Every figure is from the village's own filed Disclosure Statement.

Capital Back score
49
Around average · #197 of 520
Better than 62% of NZ villages — yet the market median is just 46. The sector is tough.
Deferred fee
30%
charged on your entry price
Your share of capital gain
0%
operator keeps 100% of any uplift
Time to get capital back
~136 days
median, from 14 recent resales
Fees after you leave
Stop
good — many villages keep charging
Before you sign, get independent eyes on the contract.An ORA-review lawyer or independent financial adviser — never paid by any operator — checks what it really means for your family.
⚖ Get independent advice →
How the 49 is built

Nothing hidden — every component

The Capital Back score is a transparent weighting of five filed terms — you can see exactly where this village wins and loses.

Move-in fee you don't get back Deferred Management Fee — weighted 30%
30% deferred fee — lower is better.
25
Share of capital growth Capital gain to resident — weighted 15%
0% — the operator keeps any resale uplift.
0
Speed your capital returns Median resale time — weighted 30%
136 days across recent resales.
89
Fees stop when you leave Weekly fees on exit — weighted 15%
Charges end on vacancy.
100
Interest if repayment is slow Interest on delayed capital — weighted 10%
No interest on delayed repayment.
0
The filed terms, in plain English

What the Disclosure Statement actually says

Every operator uses different words for the same thing — we normalise them so you can compare like with like.

%

Deferred Management Fee

30%

Accrues over your first 3 years, charged on the entry price.

Market: median 30%; only 16% of villages charge under 25%.

Capital gain

0% to the resident

Any increase in the licence value at resale is kept entirely by the operator.

Market: just 8% of NZ villages share any capital gain.

How fast your capital comes back

~136 days median

Your capital is repaid once the unit is re-licensed to a new resident.

Market: median 154 days; 21 villages still average over a year.

Fees & interest on exit

Resident-friendly

Weekly fees stop when you vacate.

Market: 220 of 520 villages keep charging weekly fees after you've gone.
Before you sign the ORA

The reckoning usually arrives too late

  • You're buying a licence to occupy, not the home — you can't sell, rent or borrow against it.
  • A large deferred fee is gone within a few years, whatever the unit later sells for.
  • Your family carries the risk of how long resale takes — and the operator's ability to pay.
  • None of this is hidden — it's all in the Disclosure Statement most people sign without reading.
Have someone independent read it first

We'll connect you with a retirement-village review lawyer or independent financial adviser — no operator pays to be here.

Request an ORA review → Talk to a financial adviser