Where to buy a House in Auckland

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Therk

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#272330 19-Jun-2020 21:51

Thought it would be interesting to have a thread where potential house buyers can discuss where they are looking to purchase, good/bad suburbs, experiences and so forth.

Me and my partner are thinking of buying something out south and Weymouth, Wattle Downs and Takanini seem like decentish areas where the prices are still within reach. Takanini in particular seems affordable and the new subdivisions around Bruce Pullman park look nice. Weymouth by the ocean seems ok and still affordable while Wattle Downs is a bit pricier but seems the nicest of the lot. Anybody live/lived in these areas and can chime in?

|Mod Edit (Stu) title edited to add clarity|

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#2508517 19-Jun-2020 22:21

Do you mean: "Where to buy a house" or "Where to buy a house IN AUCKLAND"?

Therk

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#2508520 19-Jun-2020 22:39

It can be anywhere but my particular question is about Auckland :)

kingdragonfly

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#2508546 20-Jun-2020 07:36

If I was living in Auckland or Wellington, I would recommend buying an apartment, within walking distance of my job.

Driving in Auckland is the worst. Public transportation is a joke, unless you live and work both on main arteries, within a single leg trip. Most will pay between 10% to 35% of their income on their car. On top of that, inner city parking quickly adds up to several thousand per year.

If you do the calculation, you'll see rents were obviously made on million dollar mortgages.

However, with the crash in tourism, the associated crash in AirBNB and "serviced apartments", and the loss of overseas investors, desperate owners of these million dollar apartments are now desperate to get rid of them.

I'd expect owners to be happy to break even; sell it at their payoff. Obviously this means they would have frittered away their initial deposit.

The obvious "gotcha" is the body corporate and council rates, which should be your first question. Next question is does the apartment building has a good earthquake rating, at least 35% EPB. Also ask for all body corporate minutes. Make sure any cladding and roof problems have already been mitigated. For me personally, having a heat-pump and allowing pets is a requirement.

So if you can afford the 5% deposit, about $25,000, you can buy much cheaper than rents.

I understand that Los Angeles California is experiencing this same situation. Investors were either buying apartments at outrageous prices, or worse, renting at inflated rates. In both case, they were "turned around" into AirBNB rentals.

Obviously AirBNB has been bad for the young, trying to get on the property ladder.

So frankly, screw the greedy investors who are now losing their initial AirBNB investments.

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Shindig

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#2508548 20-Jun-2020 07:37

Currently live in Auckland, but starting to look further afield.

Looking at Nelson. Really affordable compared to AKL. Has an airport so links to WLG and AKL should you need to.

UFB available, so connectivity isn't an issue.

There isn't as such, any 'bad' areas of Nelson one would avoid.

I take it that remote working is certainly a viable option now, especially in the IT contracting world and when ones SME area is cloud services design and management.

Saying that, on my Realestate list of saved searches is Millwater as well. You pay AKL prices to some extend, but I feel you can't shy away from new builds.

The little things make the biggest difference.

quickymart

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#2508550 20-Jun-2020 07:49

Millwater (although a nice area) is a really long away though. I'm looking too and while prices have dipped ever-so-slightly post-lockdown, they're still not what I would really call "affordable" - not on an average income, anyway.

kingdragonfly: While the public transport in Auckland isn't fantastic, it's a vast improvement on what it used to be, at least when I moved here anyway (2002). Wellington wins in the public transport stakes in this country, IMO.

kingdragonfly

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#2508551 20-Jun-2020 07:52

If could work remote, I'd consider a tourist city like Rotorua or Queenstown.

Personally I liked Whangarei, which is about a 2.5 hour drive into the central Auckland.

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gehenna

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#2508685 20-Jun-2020 12:33

I'll have a huge house on a huge section for sale in Whanganui very soon if anyone is looking to move there :)

Wakrak

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#2508864 20-Jun-2020 16:28

lxsw20:

Much rather live in Wanaka than Queenstown.

I imagine Queenstown prices to be ruthless and agree that Wanaka would be more ideal. The popularity of these two locations has pushed prices up in Cromwell, and I imagine it would have a domino affect into Alexandra.

OP, are you thinking in terms of investment or just a good place to live? I think of Kawerau and Te Puke and how the price of a home in these places has steadily risen with the expansion of Tauranga and the slow expansion of Whakatane.

Also, it's unreal how fast Hamilton has turned into an apartment city. Around the city center and the university, old homes have been torn down and apartments put up. & then they go and rent it out on a per room basis. crikey.

Stu

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#2508869 20-Jun-2020 16:38

I've amended the title to align with the actual area mentioned in the original post. Please try and get the discussion back on track in support of the OP and their requirements.

If this is to be a discussion on 'where to buy a house' literally anywhere, this is going to get messy and not going to help the OP in deciding on where to look.

Cheers and thanks.

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Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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Dial111

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#2508922 20-Jun-2020 19:47

I lived in Manurewa for a good part of 20 years, Wattle Downs is definitely the better of lot, If given the choice I wouldn't go back.

Stu

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#2509027 21-Jun-2020 08:30

Because some people insist on staying off-topic, I've removed a few posts. Please folks, if it's not helping the OP and on-topic, don't post.

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#2509028 21-Jun-2020 08:34

In all seriousness would you consider the Southern side of the Bombay Hills? Huntly to Pokeno kind of area (assuming you have a car and willing to travel). There is expressway from Hamilton to Auckland now and also a commuter train is starting up soon

Stu

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#2509029 21-Jun-2020 08:42

@Therk: Having spent 49 years living and working in South Auckland (have now moved out of Auckland), I'd say that, of the locations you list, I think Wattle Downs would be where I'd be looking.

Where do you and your partner work, and do you have, or planning on having, children? This could change things, somewhat.

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Dial111

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#2509069 21-Jun-2020 10:57

I'm not sure regarding the newish sub divisions around Alfriston but they didn't look too bad when I lived in the greater area, Hill Park is a bit older but generally nice, around Totara park is ok too.

I'd avoid Randwick Park and Clendon.

Therk

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#2509082 21-Jun-2020 11:21

Thanks for the help everyone! I don't mind if we discuss other areas as well, I'm sure many people are in the same boat all around the country. We can change it to "Auckland" rather than just South if we are wanting to categorise it a bit :) We are also looking out west as well near the motorway like Massey, Te At Pen/South and Westgate/West Harbour, any thoughts on these and how they compare with Wattle for example?

DjShadow:

In all seriousness would you consider the Southern side of the Bombay Hills? Huntly to Pokeno kind of area (assuming you have a car and willing to travel). There is expressway from Hamilton to Auckland now and also a commuter train is starting up soon

Financially definitely but we'd say Wattle/Takanini is probably as far as we want to be at the moment (affordability/distance compromise), spouse hates driving!

Stu: @Therk: Having spent 49 years living and working in South Auckland (have now moved out of Auckland), I'd say that, of the locations you list, I think Wattle Downs would be where I'd be looking.

Where do you and your partner work, and do you have, or planning on having, children? This could change things, somewhat.

Partner is currently as the airport, I work in town but that may be changing soon (Coronavirus funtimes). We do plan to have children and heard that Wattle Downs has a decent Primary school (Decile 9 I think?)

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