Richard H

We are shortly moving to Wellington from the UK. We have a 2 year old daughter. Can anyone advise on pleasant areas to rent / buy. We like the beach and the trees but ultimately we are looking for a quiet area where we can feel safe at night away from traffic .

luvwelly

The good news is there aren't really any 'no go' areas for safety in Central Wellington suburbs...personally I wouldn't want to live in Te Aro and Newtown...nearby Island Bay (on the coast) would be great though...but that's just me.
In Johnsonville and Porirua there may be areas best avoided.
However to get an idea of the relative economic wealth of any area, identify the decile 9/10 schools from the relevant website and hey presto there will at least be some correlation between the high decile and the best areas to live. It will probably throw up Karori, Khandallah, Seatoun, Roseneath, Brooklyn etc etc all the usual suspects!

Many others despise it but for a sort of scenic rural modern detached housing development, take a look at Churton Park which is out towards Porirua just past Johnsonville. There are still new properties going up I think and there seems to be a healthy re-sale market.There are also some rentals available - where owners move overseas temporarily usually.

Hokey-pokey

Roseneath or Hataitai. Seatoun is lovely too and very close to beach. Almost forgot Eastbourne - super spot.

Littletoe

Yeah, what she said! Places like Seatoun are very sought after, the reason I'm not so keen is because the houses are somewhat older and smaller and I dont like living inside of a city, so I preferred the Northern Suburbs. I can't understand this fascination with Mirimar, I personally think its a dump! But its an affluent area, so I must be missing something. Northern suburbs are more catered towards professional families. Churton Park does have some nice larger houses and new houses, access to motorway, schools, etc. Its kind of a more upmarket Johnsonville! If you head over Porirua way, don't be alarmed by the centre! Its pretty vulgar and as a rule most people from Porirua suburbs tend not to venture in. There are large supermarkets (Pac N Save for the zombies and as the name suggest you have to pack your own groceries! Crazy business!, and Countdown). Also a large retail park, but its quite rough and it makes me miss the North Shore shopping in Auckland. However, suburbs around Porirua are very popular. Whitby is rather charming, just DON'T BE ON THE Canon's Creek side, eurgh! Any of the Eastern suburbs are pretty much no go, reminds me of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire! Oh and Tawa and Newlands are areas best avoided (Northern Suburbs). Although I understand that Tawa is changing itself and appealing to investors, but its got a long way to go to look presentable! Newlands is without a doubt one of the worst suburbs, every time I've been in that area there are gangs lurking around. Generally houses have been damp and poorly looked after. If you drive a nice car through those parts - don't stop!! And DON'T LOOK THEM IN THE EYES! I'm obviously bias when I say I like Camborne/Plimmerton. Right on the beach, quiet, better class of people! Good schools, an EXCELLENT primary school in Plimmerton. but the commute is a bit longer maybe 40 mins in peak hour? And that's driving like an arsehole (like me!). Titahi Bay is a funny one. Its actually very pretty, right on the water. But as a rule my family and I stick out like sore thumbs when we're in that area, you'll have to use your imagination as to why, bro!

Rentals are better priced in the Northern Suburbs and your money will go further. Have a look at trademe.co.nz and/or quinovic.co.nz for ideas of price catergories and sizes. Don't forget, always negotiate on rent! It would be preferable for you to rent first until the market settles. Loads of Brits live in Papakowhai (think I spelt it right!) so if you want to be around your own kind, look no further.

Of course, the Kapiti coast is rather appealing, a few seaside type towns along the way. But the commute is a bitch. There is one road, its narrow and it doesn't matter what time I've driven on that road, I ALWAYS get stuck behind someone that crawls along I've not investigated Pukera Bay which is where Peter Jackson is from and apparantly has a house. Its after the lousy one laned road, maybe someone can comment on that?

Anyway, you won't know until you've seen them all. We came here with places in mind, but changed once we investigated the places! We got a six week rental in Johnsonville while we explored the local suburbs, this is something for you to consider doing as well.

Anyhoo, hope this helps!

Littletoe

Oh yeah, Easbourne - forgot that one! This was one of the places we had in mind when we looked at places. Our rental budget was up to NZ$700 a week, so we got to see some nice places BUT that's actually very cheap and you need to spend more a week to get something worthwhile - anyway , in general we found the houses to be cold and drafty. I've also managed a few properties in the area and they tend to suffer with dampness. That's not to say there aren't any gems there as I'm sure with a good hunt you might be able to find yourself one!

Avid

Budget?

Pimali

I would not consider Churton park, having visited a friend there: miles away from Wellington central, and horrible rows of newly built houses... Well not my cup of tea, but my friend loves it...

Eastbourne is on the other side of the bay, 30' drive (or 20' if you dare) from Wellington CBD, but very pretty and wonderful views.
Seatoun is close to the city, nicely oriented, please remember to check where the South is (meaning: the cold side!!): some areas look nice (Te Aro) but are constantly in the shade because facing South...

Island Bay looks nice to me, does not seem to be badly inhabited and close to beaches.

I live in Mount Victoria, central city, lovely houses, and I would say very, very quiet... Everybody goes to bed at 10.00, or 11.00 on Friday nights.

I pay a rent of $840 a week for a house with small garden,double garage, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and gaz heating. (anyone interested? I'm about to leave NZ, the house is for rent from June 22nd!!)

Kiwiprincess

The places i thought of, after taking note that you said ultimately safe at night and away from traffic were actually places like karori, tawa, churton park, khandallah, pukerua bay, plimmerton,etc. More family oriented areas. All are areas with a decent public transport link (karori, churton park and some of khandallah by bus, Khandallah also by train, tawa, pukerua bay, plimmerton by train) and places with stuff like parks, decent schools and daycare, libraries etc.

sorry, can't recommend places in the Hutts. No particular reason why not, i just live on the other side of the hill....all my friends live on that side....so i am not too sure of the places to recommend in Lower or upper Hutt. I could take a guess and suggest some places but they would be as an observer rather than someone who lives and plays there. WHereas i live and play on the left side of the Island. My knowledge of Lower Hutt comes from working there a few years ago rather than living there.

Browner_

At $840 a week, no thanks, Ill give you a ring when Ive won the lottery!

Avid

$840 for Mount Victoria? You were robbed. You could get something similar on Roseneath Terrace (i.e. 2 streets away) for under $650. Apart from the heating....I suppose they added $200/week for the fact that the house was warm.

By the way the whole country is tucked in at 10pm, it's nothing personal.

simonmarkellis

Not quite true as you edited your post at 10:24pm!!!

Pimali

... I would not walk to central city from Roseneath Terrace! (with small kids, no way) and I do from my place, which is really close to Courtenay place. I seldom use my car and I believe it's valuable.

I too believe prices are too high for these houses (really cheap building, even though mine dates back to 1864) because even though Wellington is a capital city, and Mount Vic is a central location, well, hem hem...
(could not believe the houses in the area were sold around $1 million!)

One thing: we chose this expensive house for one main reason: all other places we visited for a "cheaper" price (were looking around $600) were certainly not central and ... SMELLED! This was the first clean, obviously aerated and warm house, compared to the dozens we visited before...

Avid

Couldn't agree more with you about the shoddiness of the $1million+ housing.

Funnily enough I've found a warm, centrally located, clean and non-smelly house for UNDER $600/week and am moving there this weekend.

There must be a catch....but I won't know what it is until I've lived there for a while.

MrCFD

What are you on about? I don't live in Churton Park, but would bet my left one that I could get into the city from Churton Park faster than you could from Eastbourne!!!

MrCFD

They saw you coming!!!

We didn't even pay that in AUCKLAND for a huge 700m2 8 year old house with 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 4 living areas, HUGE office, large internal courtyard on 4 acres of manicured lawns with two rows of mature pine trees on two of the boundaries and a river running through the property!

Not far from courtenay place is not a selling point either! Especially with kids!