Wellington Suburbs - your opinion

We are looking to sell up and move back closer to the city. Maybe even in the next few months....(we have started tossing the idea around in the past week or so)

What do you reckon would be a good suburb and why?

Newlands and Johnsonville are off my list - they are too damp for my liking. I do have some ideas of where I want to live but would appreciate your thoughts too.

(We would probably be looking at spending between $450-500K if that helps)

The Hutt/Petone is great! I personally prefer the Hutt valley, I cant stand the traffic and narrow streets in the wellington suburbs.

Wow, big changes!  What's DH going to do about his job?

I loved living in Newlands, but I gotta agree unless you're on the north facing side it's really damp and it's always so windy!!  I'd also cut out Karori and Ngaio for damp and Tawa on the main road side of the tracks gets damp too.  Broadmeadows is nice but it has a crappy bus services (only 4 buses per day or something ridiculous like that).  Khandallah is lovely but windy.

The motorway side of Tawa (where we live) is good, some days (even during winter) we don't need to use any heating at all because our lounge and bedrooms are suntraps and Tawa is a nice family suburb with heaps of daycare centres, playgroups, parks etc.

If you went for the other side of town (towards Newtown and further) you need to be prepared for a big morning commute because the tunnel and the basin get conjested, but it would be no worse than where you are now (probably better) and I love the Mt Vic/Mt Cook areas - haven't lived there since we were childless though so I don't have a clue what it's like for families.

I love Kelburn and Thorndon.  I don't know what they're like pricewise, or for families, but I love their proximity to the gardens and to town and walking past all the beautiful old townhouses.

Wherever you go in Wellington try and get a place that is north facing so you can make the most of the all day sun.

 

ETA: move to Tawa and then Michaela and Charlotte can have more playdates!!

Edited by MrsMojo

We are thinking of moving about half way back, maybe to Whitby, that way we both commute but its not so hard for me (I am finding it a struggle travelling into and out of town so much - last night I didn't get home till 6.40pm after leaving at 4! Was due to the traffic and storms etc)

Oh, and we want a modern house - we are not DIYers and prefer our comforts,

We are in berhampore and just bought and your budget would fit in this area, vogeltown/ mornington/Kingston, you might squeeze into Brooklyn but I felt it was a long was out.. I love the southern and eastern suburbs, Island bay was my aim, but it is so popular that prices are elevated and there is not much space, most are subdivisons, so lacked the garden space we wanted. We found a couple of places in haitiaitai but lack of sun and damp put us off. Kilbirnie/Rongtai/Lyall Bay were good chaeper alternatives too and you could probably get something nice in your budget, (which was our budget when looking 2 months ago)
I love living where we are now, 20 minutes walk to Island bay and 10 minutes to Newtown and work.    I don't do suburban so can't comment on other suburbs as they didn't register on my radar
Hope that helps

Edited by Redbedrock

me and DH moved into the city when we got married and spent ages looking at suburbs to buy in, we liked karori vos it was kinda by itslef but with only one main way in and out traffic was hell, we looked at kelburn - too hilly, kilbirnie - too far away and on and on it went, and cost too much money. we ended up moving to petone, i can be quite resonable. we ended up with a huge 4dbl bedroom house for 400k which i dont think is too bad. DH rides his motorbike into the city for work and only takes him 10 mins. we are sheltered from most of the weather too and real close to public transport / schools / supermarket etc..

We live in Churton Park and paid $480K for our 4bed house which was built in 2005. We're like you and like our comforts and were able to move in without needing to anything. I was 30 weeks pregnant with twins at the time

There's also a good bus service from Churton Park into town.

Also if you're thinking of moving to Whitby then I would suggest looking at Aotea which is a newish development and you get good value for money there.

What about Aotea Lagoon? My brother has had a house built there and seems to be enjoying it. I think to because the market has quietened down there are a few properties on the market.

i can second what mrsmojo says about Tawa - I also live on the motorway side of the main road and we get all day sun (when the sun puts in an appearance!). It is a really easy commute/drive to the city and Porirua shopping centre, and a nice community feel to the place.

I lurve Kilbirnie!

Oh to be buying a house!! So jealous.