[GT0132]

Originally Posted by smoo

Auckland? More like Mumbai or Beijing.

What is the appeal, out of interest? You want to escape the rat race then you're looking at the wrong place ;)

The pros,

Weather
Job opportunities
Proximity to other areas so you can gtfo of the joint for a day/weekend - Coromandel, Bay of Islands, West Coast beaches, Rotorua/Taupo etc.

But have you seen what $5-600k will (or wont) buy within a 20km radius of the CBD...
Any further, then consider commuting times to/from CBD, or to the other side of akl before making a decision. And not just peak hour, you're pushing it if you need to go anywhere in the middle of the day, even worse on the weekends.
Yet people are falling over themselves to move there, it rates highly as one of the most liveable cities, and I'm ****** if I know why.

I do like Devonport-Takapuna-East Coast Bays, but moved from there end of 2011. Daily commute was from there to Wiri and I spent up to 3.5hrs in the car each day.
Have since bought a house in wlg city and a couple of acres rural Cambridge... for about the same price as an average ECB 4bd house. If I were to go back to my old job it would be quicker and cheaper for me to commute to Manukau from Cambridge than my old slog from the Shore (now that the Waikato expressway is going as far south as Karipiro), and in fact a lot of Aucklanders have relocated down there, and still work in akl. Undeniably better value for money and a better lifestyle, but rural/small town isn't for everyone. In that case I'd take Melbourne over Auckland anyday.

Thanks for your post mate.

I guess my thinking was that Auckland has all the good parts that Sydney has without the bad. For example, good beaches, good for boating and water activities (as mentioned by Magpie) , reasonable climate but not with the large population that Sydney has.

Also compared to my hometown of Wellington, far superior weather (particularly wind) , easier access to international flights , better employment prospects in my area .

I didn't realise the traffic hassles were the same if not worse than here. I've done some further research and the consensus seems that Auckland public transport is pretty poor which probably explains its traffic problems as people have to rely a lot more on cars to get around . I also learned that you can't walk or catch a train over the AKL harbour bridge unlike Sydney.

I haven't been to AKL since 93 so it's probably changed a lot since then.

As for house prices being high there , having experienced the Sydney market , Auckland is cheap by comparison. I'm 23kms out of Sydney (South) and house is valued at $1.2M, so to pay $800k NZ for a place 20 kms out seems reasonable.

I like your idea of acreage in Cambridge. I took your reference to wlg to mean that you bought a place in Wellington.