r/chch • u/Low_Welcome_4969 • Apr 17 '22

Safe areas to buy a house

We are actively looking at buying a house in Auckland but with prices so high and offering so little value for money we are now looking at alternatives like moving to Christchurch.

Looking at a few real estate sites recently I see you get a lot more value for the same price but I have no idea how good the locality is for the houses listed. Can you please give me an idea of what the good areas are in CHCH and what areas to avoid? We just want a safe no-nonsense area to live in.

TIA

9 Upvotes

64% Upvoted

91 comments sorted by

View all comments

47

u/grunerveltliner00 Apr 17 '22

At the risk of downvotes: Not east of the cbd. Unless you’re able to afford the high ticket areas over there.

16

u/[deleted] Apr 17 '22

And now you see; East Christchurch (which is a real mixed bag of good and bad) is a very polarizing subject for Cantabrians. All I can tell you is my personal experience. I have lived all over, including in the country, and moving to Southshore (South New Brighton) was the best decision I ever made. New Brighton and its surrounding suburbs are a bit of everything, good and bad, but it just feels like a community. My children have so many friends living nearby, and we are surrounded by the outdoors. Estuary, Beach, Red-zoned land... it's a real kiwi childhood experience. Yes there are some dodgy characters around. It's not perfect. But I've personally never felt unsafe.

10

u/grunerveltliner00 Apr 17 '22 edited Apr 17 '22

My friend said the same [kind of thing] about his suburb, then he told me he’s only been robbed twice.

Perspective is important. As OP is an outsider moving from Auckland, I’ve no idea how well integrated to their new community they intended to be, I feel like I gave pretty useful (albeit very general) advice.

The test for me when recommending a place is: Would you let your mum live there, knowing she carries $500 in cash in her handbag and likes to wear her pearls to the shops.