South Auckland??

[BruceampGill]

Hi

I am in Auckland and am looking to buy a property soon. Schooling and distance to my work are the priority and so I am looking in South Auckland in an area of Manurewa called "The Gardens". It appears to be a great area on the face of it with an apparently brilliant full primary school (with intermediate) and only 15 mins to my work.

Unfortunately, everone I speak to tells me that South auckland has a bad reputation and thus would not give a good return on future property prices. I have to say though that the property prices in this particular area are high 400k and up.

I would appreciate comments from anyone with experience or opinions on South Auckland.

[jadet]

I'm not in Auckland, but my first thought after reading your post is- RENT FIRST. If you had even a short rental for a couple of months, you could get to know whether the area is safe enough for you. I've heard that S. Auckland is a little dodgy, too. You could probably commute "against the flow" living closer to the CBD and commuting south, I dunno I've never done it in Auckland, but it has worked for me in other cities.

Best of luck.

[jamesthecarman]

"Against the flow" worked for me in Auckland. Just the drive home could be a bit long.

I'll try to put South Auckland in perspective for you:
1. Yes, it is generally the least appealing part of Auckland
2. But it is no ghetto. The crime may be "high" compared to the rest of NZ, but this is "NZ" we are talking about afterall.

I hope that helps. And just keep in mind that some stuff a NZ'er may go on about, you have to put it in perspective.

Example 1: 26 degrees is considered hot. Coming from somewhere where the only time it gets to 26 in the summer is 4am, it made me laugh (the high being 34-36 in Florida).

Example 2: Desert Road....happens to have some streams and a forest on either side. But it is the closest thing NZ has to a desert (when the bush isn't green it's brown).

Kiwis have it so good. So sometimes you have to take a "negative" statement with a bit of salt, as it may be a little out of proportion.

[johnty]

yes we heard some parts of south auckland were bad but again,it was from a friend afarmer in hawkes bay when we said we had stayed in south auckland his reaction was "tell me it was not Otara"and we think it was on the edge of Otara but all seemed ok.im sure we are living in a more crime riddeled place now .but are conditioned to it.but renting would seem to be the way to go at first.
we have been warned against Aruniu (just on edge of christchurch)would also be interested to hear peeps thougts on that

[MotherBear]

To the east of Manurewa it looks like it?s fairly rural. Have you thought about researching some rural type properties, which could well be a lot cheaper and you could live the country life without being too far away from the centre of things? I would think the bad reputation South Auckland has is a blanket term and I?m sure there would be some pockets of suburbs/areas that aren?t tainted by this.

Perhaps giving yourself a radius of, say, 10 miles from where your work is and driving around the areas contained within that area would tell you which places are well looked after and are probably OK to live in. If an area looks a bit run down and other things aren?t to your liking, give it a wide berth. Of course, that?s only assuming that the run down areas are the trouble spots. I may be wrong on that one, but I'd go along with renting for maybe a month at least in an area if you want to make sure the whole family would be happy there.

[jamesthecarman]

[quote"]Perhaps giving yourself a radius of, say, 10 miles from where your work is....[/quote]

aka 16 km's. Pom's ::)

Oh wait, I'm an American and come from the only country to still fully use the "empire's system".

Which begs the question, if we still use the "empire's" measurement system, why aren't we in the Commonwealth games? I mean, 230 years is a long time to hold a grudge and keep us from beating everyone (I mean participating) :icon_cool:

[Daisyspop]

Just 30 mins commute to Manukau
http://www.pukekohe.org.nz/

Median price is around $330 we are currently selling but staying in Pukekohe - love it!

We stayed at a hotel near Otahuhu (check spelling) near mount Eden. Area seemed ok, but we only had a few hours in the evening to wander about. Seemed to be a high Maori population, but that maybe just our persepctive after having spent 2 weeks in Nelson.

As carman stated, it was a much safer place compared to most inner city suburbs in the UK - We felt safe and were welcomed by all me met (but I guess we would have expected that in NZ anyway).

Thats probably been sod all help but who knows

Cheers


Nick

[MotherBear]

Mention of Manurewa in here, Bruce.

Youths brawl in Auckland
01.04.06 10.00am

There has been more youth gang trouble in Auckland overnight. Up to a hundred youths were involved in a brawl in a central city suburb, in the car park of Wendy's takeaways on Dominion Road.

Six people were arrested for fighting and disorderly behaviour. Police say it is not uncommon for that area of town, as they are having ongoing problems with youth gangs in the area. The six were released today. Police said most would probably be dealt with by police youth aid.

Meanwhile, in South Auckland, police were called to two more fights, one of which left a woman in hospital.

Police were called to Mascot Ave in Mangere to find around 40 youths brawling, one woman suffering head injuries after being struck with a baseball bat.

Police were also called to a fight in Manurewa which involved around 15 people.

- NEWSTALK ZB

[SteveyC]

Jeez? They're all barmy.

I know these things only escalate and are not to be encouraged, but I'm kind of pleased at some of these stories. People have brawled for years think it's part of history but at least they're not shooting and stabbing innocent people left right and centre.

I guess it would probably escalate in time so should be dealt with strongly by the authorities, but it sounds a whole lot more predictable and therefore safe than walking down the street in UK cities.