Funnily enough I had a similar reply when posting the same question on another forum!
From what I've seen so far, the prices in NZ don't seem too bad compared to home; it really puts into perspective how expensive it is in the UK! From what I've seen in Australia, prices are somewhere between NZ and the UK. I've spent a fair bit of time in the south west of the US over the years (in a non-aviating capacity) and I'd like to go somewhere new. Although I've never been to Florida, the thought of it doesn't excite me. My ultimate goal isn't so much as to hour build for as cheaply as possible, but get some decent flying done somewhere different over the northern hemisphere winter months when low cloud bases seem to scupper most attempts at going too far. Someone messaged me to suggest South Africa and gave lots of useful info which could be worth looking into.
There haven't been any other replies so perhaps it's not such a popular destination...