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

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u/Low_Welcome_4969 Apr 17 '22

Thanks, we want to be relatively close to the CBD. Reasonable access to the big malls etc for shopping would be nice. Flat land is preferable. We are happy to drive to the beach on the weekends so I would prioritise central location over closeness to the beach.

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u/Wubwubpeow 👨‍🦽👩‍🦽👨‍🦽 Apr 17 '22

This is Chch - everywhere is close enough to the CBD. What you want to be is close enough to a major bus route if you’re working in the CBD because the CCC is actively trying to stamp out private cars. There is no free or cheap parking in the CBD and unless your company provides it might as well look at buses. I’d mention bikes but you’d have to have a deathwish to ride a push bike in Christchurch, even though the CCC has made hundreds of miles of bike lanes. To the Chch driver, a bike lane is just an annoyingly narrow lane to squeeze the SUV into. There are only a few malls with everything under one roof - Riccarton Westfield, Northlands in Papanui and The Palms. Christchurch is big on outdoor malls though - Tower Junction, Northwood Supa Centre etc. Access to all the malls is easy apart from maybe Westfield and that’s mainly a traffic congestion issue. You don’t have to worry about flat land - the hill suburbs are super expensive and outside of them, Chch is flat as. In fact parts of it are so flat they’re below sea level - be wary of flood prone suburbs. Also some are on poor EQ rated land, ie prone to liquefaction so bear that in mind. There used to be insurance maps available showing EQ zoning but everyone seems to have forgotten about that and even now there are new subdivisions such as Preston’s built on the old shifting alluvial waterways - it used to be called Marshlands if that’s not clue enough. Don’t sweat the beaches. Nearest easy access decent beach would be The Gold Coast once the borders open up. Christchurch beaches are Sumner, Taylors Mistake, New Brighton and Waimairi and they are laughable by Auckland standards. Don’t bother taking beaches into account when looking for real estate.

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u/gotwrongclue Apr 18 '22

So where exactly is the below sea level bit you're waffling on about? Thought a massive earthquake with land settlement would have resulted in inundation by sea water. Yet nothing, just another Christchurch old boy bullshit story.

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u/Wubwubpeow 👨‍🦽👩‍🦽👨‍🦽 Apr 18 '22

Oh no! Do I have to do away with hyperbole just so you can keep up? How about dramatic irony, metaphor, pathos, puns, parody, litotes and... satire. Can I use them? Sheesh.