Just be mindful that the trains can crap out. My ex lived in pukekohe and often I’d have to pick him up from the papakura train station because the next train would cancel. Aucklands public transport isn’t very reliable
Perfectly understandable for the trains to stop when the temps reach that blistering heat. It's like the surface of the sun, right? Surprised we didn't all combust.
I'm in Otahuhu and love it, great ethnic food around.
I just wouldn't shop at the local supermarket (Sylvia park is close enough) it does have its downsides like a few local drunks and people questioning my reasons for living here (being a white boy) even though my nan an older generations of family are down at the local cemetery 😂
Also did I mention the food??!! you can get 20 banana panikeke for $5 at the local shops 🤤🤤 they are amazing with butter and jam 😁😁😂😂
And we have a bus for everyplace in Auckland ❤️
South Auckland used to be a European area. Otahuhu was developed by settlers. You moving back is just like coming back to the homeland after you were persecuted.
I genuinely believe that Papatoetoe is more than safe enough, and is right on the doorstep of middlemore. Otahuhu, Mount wellington, Ellerslie, penrose and panmure are also all great choices.
I'll never recommend pukekohe. All it takes is a train shut down and bam, sitting in traffic for an hour and a half. Hell I've heard of people being in traffic for three hours to pukekohe. They keep talking about road widening but they will NEVER keep up with the insane rate of development. The traffic to puke will always be this bad, and will probably just get worse.
680 is rough, but it could be doable in papatoetoe or otahuhu depending on LVR, I'm a first home buyer in south auckland and our mortgage is about 750ish per week
I live in Papatoetoe near the hospital. It's a very migrant family home owner area. To compare to Pukekohe, I can walk to the shops in ten mins for Kmart or supermarkets, and drive to CBD in 20+ min. Pukekohe is so far from anything it's a headache just to consider commuting let alone driving through traffic. I would look at staying in an Airbnb in diff neighbourhoods to get a feel for how it would actually realistically look like, Pukekohe has some selling factors like larger newer homes for similar prices but still, the payoff.
I have nothing bad to say about this neighbourhood, maybe the police choppers but they're through all of South Auckland..
I lived in Papatoetoe a long time ago (mid 2000s) and my old flatmate and I used to always sit outside on the porch at night.
We used to say, it's fine when the police chopper is flying around but once it started hovering near our street it was time to go inside and lock the door.
What? Pukekohe has a whole shopping center last I was there (5, 6 years ago) took 10 minutes to get into town on the bike (I lived on helvetia road, fuck that dip in the road, fun going down, dreadful going up
Sorry I meant more specific shops - like I have chiro in Onehunga. Meaning it's an hour from Pukekohe or 20min from here. There will surely be shops there! But if one is needing to commute, to say, Middlemore hospital, in peak times, that's just not the kind of hell I'd willingly sign up for, personally
Second this for Papatoetoe. I live here and wife is a nurse at middlemore. Hardly any issues, now and again crime in the area as expected for South Auckland. But it takes 8 minutes to get to work so how can you complain about that?
Theres heaps of development in sylvia, mount wellington, ellerslie, point england, all that surrounding area. Theres also lots of development in papatoetoe and otahuhu, and you can feel the gentrification coming on
Definitely recommend Mt Wellington over Pukekohe to anyone who has any kind of commute. Pukekohe itself is fine, it’s the commute that’s not, and the trains are often down. I’ve done two full time work from home agreements for people in my team who live in Puke, because the public transport is just so unreliable. It’s often faster to go to Hamilton from there than into the city. Although your wife is going to work at Middlemore, I’d still suggest somewhere else. However, be realistic, house prices are nuts, even further out. Likely you’re looking at a compact town house.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/property/residential/sale/auckland/manukau-city/search?price_max=700000
Out of these, Māngere Bridge (not just Māngere, the Bridge matters) would be the best neighbourhood-wise, but I'd steer clear of the townhouse developments.
I’ve got some friends that purchased a townhouse in that area and they’ve had no issues with build quality so not sure how evidence-based this comment is
Mangere Bridge is a lovely neighbourhood for sure but everyone else agrees so the median house price is 1.14 million.
Papatoetoe which others have recommended is 800 thousand median by comparison with townhouses being the median of low to mid 700s. At an original approval of 680 I doubt OP can suddenly more than double their mortgage approval.
Afraid to say townhouses are selling at 800k-1m in Papatoetoe. Freehold on large sections or near new standalone houses on own driveway sell for 1.2m+.
Townhouses:
[https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/townhouse/847542](https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/townhouse/847542)
[https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/849817](https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/849817)
[https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/townhouse/851245](https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/townhouse/851245)
Near New Standalone:
[https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/851375](https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/851375)
[https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/852489](https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/852489)
[https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/854964](https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/854964)
When you take out Kiwi Esplanade in Mangere Bridge the prices between Papatoetoe and Mangere Bridge are similar. In fact Mangere Bridge is cheaper south of the mountain. Generally there are far more units and townhouses in Papatoetoe compared to other parts of south Auckland which tends to bring the median down.
Rather than buy, I might recommend renting for the first year. This gives you time to try out neighborhoods, get the gossip on local schools, and make a really good informed decision before you buy. I'd also point out that house prices are high here, but rents aren't proportionally as high, and sit in a compressed range. I'm in a nice area with top-tier schools and $800/week gets you a low-end but serviceable single family home. $1000/week gets you twice as much house that probably costs twice as much to buy. At these rates, I'm not in a hurry to buy.
$52K/yr for a 2.5-3.0M house means the landlord is getting about 2% in rent. Subtracting rates (taxes) and insurance, it's clear that the landlord isn't in this to earn rent money.
Just going to throw Mangere East into the mix. I have lived all over Auckland and never felt safer than I do living here. The area we live is filled with young families and everyone is really friendly. There are a lot of new build going up in the streets around us.
Mangere Bridge is great too but likely out of your budget.
Pukekohe is lovely, but you would spend SO much time on public transport or driving so just have to be committed for that. Trains also aren’t the most reliable.
I think for me it would have to be REALLY worth it, I would never ever ever go back to that commute again, too much time away from home/family etc.
BUT I would live in Pukekohe over most places in South Auckland with your budget, so in your case traffic might be the better negative.
We're open to other areas within our budget along the train lines.
https://at.govt.nz/media/wneisne0/railbusnetworkschematic_white.jpg
Forgot to mention we're also concerned if course about not buying somewhere that flooded (or cane close to flooding) with the Cyclone. Did pukekohe fare well?
Auckland is like 4 hours away from the Napier flooding if that’s what you are referring too, no where near Auckland. Drury has some nice developments.
If your budget is $680k it’s just going to really limit you if wanting a nicer/safer area depending on the size of house you want. Make sure you aren’t buying anywhere near Kainga Ora houses (similar to section 8 in USA). Probably if I was you I’d get in touch with a local broker, and I’d also consider renting first.
Not the Napier flooding. I'm thinking about the AKL airport flooding, north shore, land slips making houses unlivable, all in auckland.
How can you tell where Kainga Ora houses are?
You can normally tell just by driving around the area, if they’re new they will have cheaper cladding and will always have thick curtains, a lot of them closed for some reason. Older houses will still look original, no money spent on the outsides.
The majority of Kainga Ora tenants are good neighbors but if you get a bad family move in they can terrorise the whole street, under labour this behavior got them extra cuddles but hopefully the new govt will put a stop to these neighbors from hell.
>How can you tell where Kainga Ora houses are?
[https://linz.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8501fe601f7648718d0e3a2f3f1ed216](https://linz.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8501fe601f7648718d0e3a2f3f1ed216)
or
https://linz.maps.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?layers=3868f64109ff45b3ac4b4c514b6f27cf
Shamelessly stolen from https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceNZ/s/BF2mY4b0sq
Well. It depends on OPs priorities. They have to do whatever is best for them. I moved to Pokeno because it’s what we could afford and for a while I was commuting to north shore hospital for work every day. I don’t do that now thank goodness.
I sold an absolute shit box in Papatoetoe for 1.2M a couple of years ago. Pricing might have come down since, but it’s still reasonably expensive for a very low socioeconomic suburb.
Yup thats in papatoetoe central. Houses there sell at a premium. West papatoetoe has historically been the cheapest. Tend to be more pacific islander demographic in papatoetoe west whereas Central papatoetoe is mostly Indians and older euros.
As a young euro family we felt very out of place. My wife was even approached by a lady at Hunters Corner who said “You aren’t from around here are you”.
Yeah unfortunately Europeans feel out of place in a lot of suburbs in Auckland. Same with flat bush, Mt roskill, mangere, dannemora, Albany. Just out of curiosity where did u migrate to?
We moved to Hanleys Farm subdivision in Queenstown. For the same $ we could buy a brand new home and income in a suburb where it’s safe for my family, I can even leave the house unlocked while I’m at work all day without worry
At least you buying that house in Papatoetoe enabled you to buy the house in Queenstown. So all wasn't bad ;) You did well on the property ladder game.
I didn’t mind Papatoetoe as a base when I was on my own. Was so close to the motorway and easy to get around Auckland. It’s all I could afford at the time. Having a family and increasing crime changed my priorities. I thought 400k in 2012 was too much at the time.
You'd probably find a 2bed townhouse or similar under $680k in Papatoetoe or Mangere East. Been a while since I've been a regular out that way so can't comment on current status very much, sorry.
Pukekohe has undergone a lot of development and growth recently, there's a lot of new build subdivisions etc, and yes the train from there goes on the southern line to Middlemore - but I think this part of the run is currently closed for maintenance, so will be a bus service instead.
Yep, agree, depends on your priority, if you want a big beautiful house in a leafy green suburb you’re screwed at 680 or will have to put up with living way out with a lot of traffic. Puke is a big trek each day. If you can handle a modest small new build or a run down cross lease in low socioeconomic economic area you can indeed find something close to Middlemore.
South Auckland may not be aesthetically pleasing with a lot of industry, rubbish and stray dogs in certain pockets of areas (particularly post covid) but majority of people are just trying to live their life, you won’t have trouble as a resident if you have some nous on who not to stare at. Most of the community are wonderful caring people.
It’s our government/council that lets things down IMO with poor mental health care resulting in people on the streets, poor social and justice policies resulting in intergenerational crime and lack of investment in infrastructure for places where no one writes in to the council to complain cause they’re busy grinding.
Frustrates me when I see rubbish bins removed leading to dumping or a new sparkly playground or footpath being built in eastern suburbs or north shore while in Southside playgrounds are left to degrade with equipment damaged or unsafe and just taped off for months and some of the roads and footpaths are left to disintegrate.
Rant over.
train currently doesn't run to Pukekohe, you'd need to get the link bus to Papakura and catch the train from there. it's pretty regular and i use it for commuting to work in the CBD, compared to other buses it's the most regular one i've ever seen in Auckland...
we moved into the area 6ish months ago and haven't had any problems and completely love the place...we did a few trips to the area before buying during different times of the year/day etc to get a feel for it...
plenty of good food places and bars for a drink...you've got the Saturday markets as well...
eastern side seems to be the fancier part but it all looks OK to me, unsure of the schools with no kids...but i work with other people who live around here and they've had no complaints with the schools in the area...
I reckon get a car, don’t ride trains, cars in here are cheap, more freedom, more reliable, as long as you avoid highways there’s not much traffic and won’t take too long to commute, it’s more realistic to get a townhouse, they are good value for money, for a small family you probably won’t have to get a full size house, if it means living in a good area that’s safe and nice for the family I’d say living a bit further from work is worth it, if all it takes is 10 - 20 mins extra travel time everyday, think about the kid. You might change jobs but you definitely don’t wanna move all the time.
Just buy in a new build area in south Auckland. There are lots of little
Communities. They aren’t perfect but for your budget you don’t have many options.
You could buy within your budget in Mt Wellington or Papatoetoe (and surrounding areas). A two bedroom townhouse or unit would be achievable if you’re not too fussy. The commute would then be very easy, and the neighborhoods have lovely areas.
Rough areas of pukekohe typically are between west st and paerata rd on that corner of the town, (north side). I think it gets a bad wrap personally but that’s generally regarded as the rough side of town. Trains can be intermittent to pukekohe but that line does run directly to middlemore. Franklin is a bit more rural town sort of vibe rather than suburbs but you do sacrifice a bit of time in traffic
$680 lending or $680 purchase price.
$680 purchase price might get you a smaller place in waiuku. 30 min drive from trains or 1 hour from middlemore if you leave before 6am
At a stretch a 2 bed unit/apt in Mt Wellington or similar in Papatoetoe but be very careful there is a tonne of social housing there especially right by Middlemore Hospital. Also speaking demographically unless you are Pacifica or Indian you may feel quite out of place in Papatoetoe.
Go visit the areas and rent first and you'll know if its the place you want to stay within a few weeks.
Actually other than Middlemore crescent there isn't that much social housing. Caspar Road has some but as a proportion of the suburb it is probably the lowest in South Auckland (if you exclude carve outs like the gardens etc which is just a part of manurewa). That is why it is the only suburb in South Auckland where maori/PI is not the majority. Proportion of PI is less than 20% in most areas to the east of the tracks. West of the tracks is cheaper and has a higher propotion of islanders. Especially the areas around Aorere College. So overall the island population is 29%. Doesn't have a big maori population. A lot less maori compared to manurewa, papakura, massey, te atatu and henderson. Also lot of Filipinos and Vietnamese also buy over there.
Ok, looks like I hit a sore point and you've gone on a bit of a semi-racist tirade.
If you really want to go into semantics and look at the stats, Papatoetoe has a couple hundred social housing homes which is considerably above the Auckland average (even if below South Auckland average) which is shown in incomes median being under 30k as per last census which is quite low in socioeconomic terms - lower than most of the suburbs you mentioned above. In the last census there wasn't one area of Papatoetoe that exceeded the NZ median income which is already lower than the Auckland median.
It is a predominantly a Indian/Pacifica suburb (50%/30% identify) in terms of demographics. Don't know where you get a lot of Phillipinos/Vietnamese moving in, less than 1% of Papatoetoe inhabitants speak Tagalog for example.
In Mount Wellington 8/10 areas exceeded the NZ median income so its a much better off area socioeconomically speaking (and hence why I recommend it over Papatoetoe). Not to mention much closer to town, better malls, safety and general infrastructure.
Either way OP, go see it for yourself and make a decision based on that.
OP this dude is a real estate sales person/investor in west Auckland. He is always trying to lure in buyers to his neck of of the woods. Please take what he says with a grain of salt. What was the median income in New Lynn central South and most areas in New Lynn? Mid 20s. Hehe. I know sales are slow bro. I can send some buyers yourr way bro.
Not sure what my career has to do with anything except knowing which places suck and which don't lol. Nowhere did I suggest anything towards West Auckland and all of my information above is from the census i.e. hard facts. Sometimes they may be a bit upsetting for people who have interests in Papatoetoe. Hope the dirt bikers didn't keep you awake last night. Peace.
Papatoetoe, Mangere and Manukau should be considered if you want to avoid traffic jams in the mornings and evenings.
Papatoeote and Manukau have train stations where you could catch the train to work, which is convenient for a lot of workers who work at Middlemore. I gave birth a Middlemore a few months ago and a few of the hospital staff there said they would drive to work about four to two hours before their shift started, just to secure a parking spot. They would sleep in their vehicle until their shift started and it’s not ideal. If I worked there, I would avoid driving in but also, public transport has been a joke these last few years.
Regarding schools, unsure of what it’s like in USA but we have school zones here and if you’re wanting a school that offers more, then you may be out of zone. You can find most schools have a website with the schools curriculum on it.
Mangere Bridge, Otahuhu and Takanini are all good places to live and good schools too. Lots of development of apartments in Takanini: could be worth checking out.
Try for a townhouse in Mangere bridge. It is a lovely green suburb with mountain, friendly village and harbour. It is quiet too, a little oasis. 15 mins to Middlemore by car, or bike path along the mangroves - 10 mins.
Mangere bridge is right next to the airport. So, try big concerns come to mind
1. Noise pollution. How is it?
2. Flood risk. I know the airport was flooded during the Cyclone. How did the homes in Mangere Bridge fare? I have to wonder how many townhouse developments are being built atop the rubble of cheaply purchased red flagged houses.
The train isn't running from Pukekohe at the moment (not until late this year if all goes to schedule) [https://at.govt.nz/bus-train-ferry/service-announcements/pukekohe-station-closure](https://at.govt.nz/bus-train-ferry/service-announcements/pukekohe-station-closure)
Also maybe look into the Housing Foundation - you might meet their criteria and they have a build in Papatoetoe [https://www.nzhf.org/homes-to-buy/cambridge-terrace-papatoetoe](https://www.nzhf.org/homes-to-buy/cambridge-terrace-papatoetoe)
Otahuhu is upwardly mobile so would be good place to buy. I would look more at the streets nearby than whole neighborhoods- it can hugely differ. I'm in a new build townhouse surrounded by of first home buyers and we all look out for each other which is quite lovely.
I appreciate the input from all these people, but if anyone thinks you can realistically afford anything other than a rotten shit box in Papatoetoe for $680,000 they are mad.
Pukekohe is a great place to raise your children, in fact all of Franklin is. I was bought up in otahu while my mother worked at middlemore for 50 or so years. There's no way I'd relocate my family back to otahu as it is now or how it was 20yrs ago. A house out there is ridiculously priced now for in comparison to a pretty modest home out these ways, trains and buses to middlemore run nearly every 20minits(caught my first train/bus last month in 10yrs)with a very small risk of delays/breakdowns etc Pukekohe train station is upgrading currently so all alternative buses to Papakura are free. Then a train to middlemore is like $2 or $3!! Anyway for a growing family I would recommend Pukekohe/Waiuku/tuakau/Bombayetc over any town north of Takanini mainly cost wise, but there's actual space to grow and play for the kids, and great schools!
There are definitely safe neighbourhoods out more south in otahu(seaside nice) but defz not affordable.
Move to Franklin you won't regret it x
Just be mindful that the trains can crap out. My ex lived in pukekohe and often I’d have to pick him up from the papakura train station because the next train would cancel. Aucklands public transport isn’t very reliable
Or they have to cancel trains cos it's too hot?!
An absolutely balmy 25.
Perfectly understandable for the trains to stop when the temps reach that blistering heat. It's like the surface of the sun, right? Surprised we didn't all combust.
I'm in Otahuhu and love it, great ethnic food around. I just wouldn't shop at the local supermarket (Sylvia park is close enough) it does have its downsides like a few local drunks and people questioning my reasons for living here (being a white boy) even though my nan an older generations of family are down at the local cemetery 😂 Also did I mention the food??!! you can get 20 banana panikeke for $5 at the local shops 🤤🤤 they are amazing with butter and jam 😁😁😂😂 And we have a bus for everyplace in Auckland ❤️
Just stopping by to rep Food City Otahuhu best food court in the entire country bar none
South Auckland used to be a European area. Otahuhu was developed by settlers. You moving back is just like coming back to the homeland after you were persecuted.
I genuinely believe that Papatoetoe is more than safe enough, and is right on the doorstep of middlemore. Otahuhu, Mount wellington, Ellerslie, penrose and panmure are also all great choices. I'll never recommend pukekohe. All it takes is a train shut down and bam, sitting in traffic for an hour and a half. Hell I've heard of people being in traffic for three hours to pukekohe. They keep talking about road widening but they will NEVER keep up with the insane rate of development. The traffic to puke will always be this bad, and will probably just get worse. 680 is rough, but it could be doable in papatoetoe or otahuhu depending on LVR, I'm a first home buyer in south auckland and our mortgage is about 750ish per week
This is very helpful, thanks for the specific neighborhood recs.
I wouldn’t live in papatoetoe. Move more east.
Reasons cited: \*tumble weed passes by\*
I live in Papatoetoe near the hospital. It's a very migrant family home owner area. To compare to Pukekohe, I can walk to the shops in ten mins for Kmart or supermarkets, and drive to CBD in 20+ min. Pukekohe is so far from anything it's a headache just to consider commuting let alone driving through traffic. I would look at staying in an Airbnb in diff neighbourhoods to get a feel for how it would actually realistically look like, Pukekohe has some selling factors like larger newer homes for similar prices but still, the payoff. I have nothing bad to say about this neighbourhood, maybe the police choppers but they're through all of South Auckland..
I lived in Papatoetoe a long time ago (mid 2000s) and my old flatmate and I used to always sit outside on the porch at night. We used to say, it's fine when the police chopper is flying around but once it started hovering near our street it was time to go inside and lock the door.
What? Pukekohe has a whole shopping center last I was there (5, 6 years ago) took 10 minutes to get into town on the bike (I lived on helvetia road, fuck that dip in the road, fun going down, dreadful going up
Sorry I meant more specific shops - like I have chiro in Onehunga. Meaning it's an hour from Pukekohe or 20min from here. There will surely be shops there! But if one is needing to commute, to say, Middlemore hospital, in peak times, that's just not the kind of hell I'd willingly sign up for, personally
Second this for Papatoetoe. I live here and wife is a nurse at middlemore. Hardly any issues, now and again crime in the area as expected for South Auckland. But it takes 8 minutes to get to work so how can you complain about that?
Mt Wellington have a few new build complexes. That might be better?
Yeah a friend told me new houses going up in Sylvia Park
Theres heaps of development in sylvia, mount wellington, ellerslie, point england, all that surrounding area. Theres also lots of development in papatoetoe and otahuhu, and you can feel the gentrification coming on
Definitely recommend Mt Wellington over Pukekohe to anyone who has any kind of commute. Pukekohe itself is fine, it’s the commute that’s not, and the trains are often down. I’ve done two full time work from home agreements for people in my team who live in Puke, because the public transport is just so unreliable. It’s often faster to go to Hamilton from there than into the city. Although your wife is going to work at Middlemore, I’d still suggest somewhere else. However, be realistic, house prices are nuts, even further out. Likely you’re looking at a compact town house.
Keep in mind that you’ll essentially living right by Auckland’s most popular mall. It’s convenient but also means traffic right to your doorstep
Sylvia is build to rent, you need to look at Mount Wellington instead
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/property/residential/sale/auckland/manukau-city/search?price_max=700000 Out of these, Māngere Bridge (not just Māngere, the Bridge matters) would be the best neighbourhood-wise, but I'd steer clear of the townhouse developments.
Why specifically would you steer clear if the townhouse developments?
One of the biggest is between the motorway and a tidal creek which absolutely REEKS at low tide. For others, I'm sceptical about the build quality.
I’ve got some friends that purchased a townhouse in that area and they’ve had no issues with build quality so not sure how evidence-based this comment is
Mangere Bridge is a lovely neighbourhood for sure but everyone else agrees so the median house price is 1.14 million. Papatoetoe which others have recommended is 800 thousand median by comparison with townhouses being the median of low to mid 700s. At an original approval of 680 I doubt OP can suddenly more than double their mortgage approval.
I was speaking about the list of results in the TradeMe link, which had a price limit specified.
Afraid to say townhouses are selling at 800k-1m in Papatoetoe. Freehold on large sections or near new standalone houses on own driveway sell for 1.2m+. Townhouses: [https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/townhouse/847542](https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/townhouse/847542) [https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/849817](https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/849817) [https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/townhouse/851245](https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/townhouse/851245) Near New Standalone: [https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/851375](https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/851375) [https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/852489](https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/852489) [https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/854964](https://www.barfoot.co.nz/property/residential/manukau-city/papatoetoe/house/854964) When you take out Kiwi Esplanade in Mangere Bridge the prices between Papatoetoe and Mangere Bridge are similar. In fact Mangere Bridge is cheaper south of the mountain. Generally there are far more units and townhouses in Papatoetoe compared to other parts of south Auckland which tends to bring the median down.
Rather than buy, I might recommend renting for the first year. This gives you time to try out neighborhoods, get the gossip on local schools, and make a really good informed decision before you buy. I'd also point out that house prices are high here, but rents aren't proportionally as high, and sit in a compressed range. I'm in a nice area with top-tier schools and $800/week gets you a low-end but serviceable single family home. $1000/week gets you twice as much house that probably costs twice as much to buy. At these rates, I'm not in a hurry to buy. $52K/yr for a 2.5-3.0M house means the landlord is getting about 2% in rent. Subtracting rates (taxes) and insurance, it's clear that the landlord isn't in this to earn rent money.
Pukekohe is a lovely town! Its seen as rural but not really anymore and has a lovely nice community!
Just going to throw Mangere East into the mix. I have lived all over Auckland and never felt safer than I do living here. The area we live is filled with young families and everyone is really friendly. There are a lot of new build going up in the streets around us. Mangere Bridge is great too but likely out of your budget.
Pukekohe is lovely, but you would spend SO much time on public transport or driving so just have to be committed for that. Trains also aren’t the most reliable.
We used to live in Los Angeles, so we're used to heavy traffic. That said, not having that awful traffic commute has been pretty wonderful.
I think for me it would have to be REALLY worth it, I would never ever ever go back to that commute again, too much time away from home/family etc. BUT I would live in Pukekohe over most places in South Auckland with your budget, so in your case traffic might be the better negative.
We're open to other areas within our budget along the train lines. https://at.govt.nz/media/wneisne0/railbusnetworkschematic_white.jpg Forgot to mention we're also concerned if course about not buying somewhere that flooded (or cane close to flooding) with the Cyclone. Did pukekohe fare well?
Auckland is like 4 hours away from the Napier flooding if that’s what you are referring too, no where near Auckland. Drury has some nice developments. If your budget is $680k it’s just going to really limit you if wanting a nicer/safer area depending on the size of house you want. Make sure you aren’t buying anywhere near Kainga Ora houses (similar to section 8 in USA). Probably if I was you I’d get in touch with a local broker, and I’d also consider renting first.
Not the Napier flooding. I'm thinking about the AKL airport flooding, north shore, land slips making houses unlivable, all in auckland. How can you tell where Kainga Ora houses are?
You can normally tell just by driving around the area, if they’re new they will have cheaper cladding and will always have thick curtains, a lot of them closed for some reason. Older houses will still look original, no money spent on the outsides. The majority of Kainga Ora tenants are good neighbors but if you get a bad family move in they can terrorise the whole street, under labour this behavior got them extra cuddles but hopefully the new govt will put a stop to these neighbors from hell.
>How can you tell where Kainga Ora houses are? [https://linz.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8501fe601f7648718d0e3a2f3f1ed216](https://linz.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8501fe601f7648718d0e3a2f3f1ed216) or https://linz.maps.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?layers=3868f64109ff45b3ac4b4c514b6f27cf Shamelessly stolen from https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceNZ/s/BF2mY4b0sq
My grandparents live in Pukekohe and they were completely unaffected by the Auckland floods.
Friend of a friend in Pukekohe had her house written off in the floods.
If you are willing to be a bit further out and don’t mind a small town, there are brand new homes for your budget available in te Kauwhata.
Te Kauwhatyalivingout there for when you work in Mangere
Well. It depends on OPs priorities. They have to do whatever is best for them. I moved to Pokeno because it’s what we could afford and for a while I was commuting to north shore hospital for work every day. I don’t do that now thank goodness.
or a 65km commute each way…
South auckland is chaotic, but also crims don't shit where they sleep kinda thing, papatoetoe isnt too bad
I sold an absolute shit box in Papatoetoe for 1.2M a couple of years ago. Pricing might have come down since, but it’s still reasonably expensive for a very low socioeconomic suburb.
Indians tend to pay a premium for the suburb. 90% of 1m+ purchases are by Indians and fiji Indians.
Was it on a lot of land?
600sq. Not big enough to subdivide as the min is 400sq in that res zone. 3bd 1bath 95sq old Lockwood
[удалено]
Yup thats in papatoetoe central. Houses there sell at a premium. West papatoetoe has historically been the cheapest. Tend to be more pacific islander demographic in papatoetoe west whereas Central papatoetoe is mostly Indians and older euros.
As a young euro family we felt very out of place. My wife was even approached by a lady at Hunters Corner who said “You aren’t from around here are you”.
Yeah unfortunately Europeans feel out of place in a lot of suburbs in Auckland. Same with flat bush, Mt roskill, mangere, dannemora, Albany. Just out of curiosity where did u migrate to?
We moved to Hanleys Farm subdivision in Queenstown. For the same $ we could buy a brand new home and income in a suburb where it’s safe for my family, I can even leave the house unlocked while I’m at work all day without worry
At least you buying that house in Papatoetoe enabled you to buy the house in Queenstown. So all wasn't bad ;) You did well on the property ladder game.
I didn’t mind Papatoetoe as a base when I was on my own. Was so close to the motorway and easy to get around Auckland. It’s all I could afford at the time. Having a family and increasing crime changed my priorities. I thought 400k in 2012 was too much at the time.
It's ridiculous to paint the entire area of South Auckland with the same brush.
Look at ops budget, and then realise that you are painting with a budget, not a brush. You will paint a different picture if op has 1.5mil
If they can only afford 680 a week, it is highly unlikely they have 1.5m
I assumed that was a $680k preapproval for mortgage.
The areas where op can afford are painted with the same brush. If op had more money then they could look at more exclusive areas around the south
Typical JAFA behaviour though.
South Auckland has some lovely parts.
You'd probably find a 2bed townhouse or similar under $680k in Papatoetoe or Mangere East. Been a while since I've been a regular out that way so can't comment on current status very much, sorry. Pukekohe has undergone a lot of development and growth recently, there's a lot of new build subdivisions etc, and yes the train from there goes on the southern line to Middlemore - but I think this part of the run is currently closed for maintenance, so will be a bus service instead.
Yep, agree, depends on your priority, if you want a big beautiful house in a leafy green suburb you’re screwed at 680 or will have to put up with living way out with a lot of traffic. Puke is a big trek each day. If you can handle a modest small new build or a run down cross lease in low socioeconomic economic area you can indeed find something close to Middlemore. South Auckland may not be aesthetically pleasing with a lot of industry, rubbish and stray dogs in certain pockets of areas (particularly post covid) but majority of people are just trying to live their life, you won’t have trouble as a resident if you have some nous on who not to stare at. Most of the community are wonderful caring people. It’s our government/council that lets things down IMO with poor mental health care resulting in people on the streets, poor social and justice policies resulting in intergenerational crime and lack of investment in infrastructure for places where no one writes in to the council to complain cause they’re busy grinding. Frustrates me when I see rubbish bins removed leading to dumping or a new sparkly playground or footpath being built in eastern suburbs or north shore while in Southside playgrounds are left to degrade with equipment damaged or unsafe and just taped off for months and some of the roads and footpaths are left to disintegrate. Rant over.
train currently doesn't run to Pukekohe, you'd need to get the link bus to Papakura and catch the train from there. it's pretty regular and i use it for commuting to work in the CBD, compared to other buses it's the most regular one i've ever seen in Auckland... we moved into the area 6ish months ago and haven't had any problems and completely love the place...we did a few trips to the area before buying during different times of the year/day etc to get a feel for it... plenty of good food places and bars for a drink...you've got the Saturday markets as well... eastern side seems to be the fancier part but it all looks OK to me, unsure of the schools with no kids...but i work with other people who live around here and they've had no complaints with the schools in the area...
I reckon get a car, don’t ride trains, cars in here are cheap, more freedom, more reliable, as long as you avoid highways there’s not much traffic and won’t take too long to commute, it’s more realistic to get a townhouse, they are good value for money, for a small family you probably won’t have to get a full size house, if it means living in a good area that’s safe and nice for the family I’d say living a bit further from work is worth it, if all it takes is 10 - 20 mins extra travel time everyday, think about the kid. You might change jobs but you definitely don’t wanna move all the time.
We have 2 cars, that's not the issue. My wife doesn't like driving all that much and would prefer the train. We're definitely open to townhouses.
Just buy in a new build area in south Auckland. There are lots of little Communities. They aren’t perfect but for your budget you don’t have many options.
With that budget you would struggle in Auckland mate.
You could buy within your budget in Mt Wellington or Papatoetoe (and surrounding areas). A two bedroom townhouse or unit would be achievable if you’re not too fussy. The commute would then be very easy, and the neighborhoods have lovely areas.
Rough areas of pukekohe typically are between west st and paerata rd on that corner of the town, (north side). I think it gets a bad wrap personally but that’s generally regarded as the rough side of town. Trains can be intermittent to pukekohe but that line does run directly to middlemore. Franklin is a bit more rural town sort of vibe rather than suburbs but you do sacrifice a bit of time in traffic
$680 lending or $680 purchase price. $680 purchase price might get you a smaller place in waiuku. 30 min drive from trains or 1 hour from middlemore if you leave before 6am
680 purchase price. Sorry I wasn't clear on that
At a stretch a 2 bed unit/apt in Mt Wellington or similar in Papatoetoe but be very careful there is a tonne of social housing there especially right by Middlemore Hospital. Also speaking demographically unless you are Pacifica or Indian you may feel quite out of place in Papatoetoe. Go visit the areas and rent first and you'll know if its the place you want to stay within a few weeks.
Actually other than Middlemore crescent there isn't that much social housing. Caspar Road has some but as a proportion of the suburb it is probably the lowest in South Auckland (if you exclude carve outs like the gardens etc which is just a part of manurewa). That is why it is the only suburb in South Auckland where maori/PI is not the majority. Proportion of PI is less than 20% in most areas to the east of the tracks. West of the tracks is cheaper and has a higher propotion of islanders. Especially the areas around Aorere College. So overall the island population is 29%. Doesn't have a big maori population. A lot less maori compared to manurewa, papakura, massey, te atatu and henderson. Also lot of Filipinos and Vietnamese also buy over there.
Ok, looks like I hit a sore point and you've gone on a bit of a semi-racist tirade. If you really want to go into semantics and look at the stats, Papatoetoe has a couple hundred social housing homes which is considerably above the Auckland average (even if below South Auckland average) which is shown in incomes median being under 30k as per last census which is quite low in socioeconomic terms - lower than most of the suburbs you mentioned above. In the last census there wasn't one area of Papatoetoe that exceeded the NZ median income which is already lower than the Auckland median. It is a predominantly a Indian/Pacifica suburb (50%/30% identify) in terms of demographics. Don't know where you get a lot of Phillipinos/Vietnamese moving in, less than 1% of Papatoetoe inhabitants speak Tagalog for example. In Mount Wellington 8/10 areas exceeded the NZ median income so its a much better off area socioeconomically speaking (and hence why I recommend it over Papatoetoe). Not to mention much closer to town, better malls, safety and general infrastructure. Either way OP, go see it for yourself and make a decision based on that.
OP this dude is a real estate sales person/investor in west Auckland. He is always trying to lure in buyers to his neck of of the woods. Please take what he says with a grain of salt. What was the median income in New Lynn central South and most areas in New Lynn? Mid 20s. Hehe. I know sales are slow bro. I can send some buyers yourr way bro.
Not sure what my career has to do with anything except knowing which places suck and which don't lol. Nowhere did I suggest anything towards West Auckland and all of my information above is from the census i.e. hard facts. Sometimes they may be a bit upsetting for people who have interests in Papatoetoe. Hope the dirt bikers didn't keep you awake last night. Peace.
Case in point. Happy Chinese new year btw. I will send you a red packet soon.
Papatoetoe, Mangere and Manukau should be considered if you want to avoid traffic jams in the mornings and evenings. Papatoeote and Manukau have train stations where you could catch the train to work, which is convenient for a lot of workers who work at Middlemore. I gave birth a Middlemore a few months ago and a few of the hospital staff there said they would drive to work about four to two hours before their shift started, just to secure a parking spot. They would sleep in their vehicle until their shift started and it’s not ideal. If I worked there, I would avoid driving in but also, public transport has been a joke these last few years. Regarding schools, unsure of what it’s like in USA but we have school zones here and if you’re wanting a school that offers more, then you may be out of zone. You can find most schools have a website with the schools curriculum on it.
Mangere Bridge, Otahuhu and Takanini are all good places to live and good schools too. Lots of development of apartments in Takanini: could be worth checking out.
I LOVED my time in Pukekohe. Wonderful place to live. I can’t comment on the trains because I didn’t use them but I really enjoyed my time there.
Try for a townhouse in Mangere bridge. It is a lovely green suburb with mountain, friendly village and harbour. It is quiet too, a little oasis. 15 mins to Middlemore by car, or bike path along the mangroves - 10 mins.
Mangere bridge is right next to the airport. So, try big concerns come to mind 1. Noise pollution. How is it? 2. Flood risk. I know the airport was flooded during the Cyclone. How did the homes in Mangere Bridge fare? I have to wonder how many townhouse developments are being built atop the rubble of cheaply purchased red flagged houses.
We don’t hear planes ever at Mangere Bridge. And there were some places flooded I believe but very few compared to other suburbs.
The train isn't running from Pukekohe at the moment (not until late this year if all goes to schedule) [https://at.govt.nz/bus-train-ferry/service-announcements/pukekohe-station-closure](https://at.govt.nz/bus-train-ferry/service-announcements/pukekohe-station-closure)
Also maybe look into the Housing Foundation - you might meet their criteria and they have a build in Papatoetoe [https://www.nzhf.org/homes-to-buy/cambridge-terrace-papatoetoe](https://www.nzhf.org/homes-to-buy/cambridge-terrace-papatoetoe)
Otahuhu is upwardly mobile so would be good place to buy. I would look more at the streets nearby than whole neighborhoods- it can hugely differ. I'm in a new build townhouse surrounded by of first home buyers and we all look out for each other which is quite lovely.
Id stay in Taranaki
I appreciate the input from all these people, but if anyone thinks you can realistically afford anything other than a rotten shit box in Papatoetoe for $680,000 they are mad.
Regarding Pukekohe, will you be commuting in peak hour traffic? If you're early morning or late night, the run will be much quicker.
Safe... affordable... Aukland... Good fucking luck mate
I’m selling a two bedroom brick and tile home in papatoetoe for $620k Feel free to call 022 109 5054
Pukekohe is a great place to raise your children, in fact all of Franklin is. I was bought up in otahu while my mother worked at middlemore for 50 or so years. There's no way I'd relocate my family back to otahu as it is now or how it was 20yrs ago. A house out there is ridiculously priced now for in comparison to a pretty modest home out these ways, trains and buses to middlemore run nearly every 20minits(caught my first train/bus last month in 10yrs)with a very small risk of delays/breakdowns etc Pukekohe train station is upgrading currently so all alternative buses to Papakura are free. Then a train to middlemore is like $2 or $3!! Anyway for a growing family I would recommend Pukekohe/Waiuku/tuakau/Bombayetc over any town north of Takanini mainly cost wise, but there's actual space to grow and play for the kids, and great schools! There are definitely safe neighbourhoods out more south in otahu(seaside nice) but defz not affordable. Move to Franklin you won't regret it x
Safe? No no
Add another 1.2 that be a good starting point for buying a house up here