Tips on best district and suburbs for lifestyle block in Auckland

Hi All,

Just joined LSB and looking for some information on the best districts and suburbs around Auckland to buy a lifestyle block. Having lived in the inner city suburb for a while we plan top move out and experience the rural lifestyle. We have school going kids so a good school would be one of our requirements.
We were thinking the suburbs of Taupaki, Kumeu, Riverhead & Huapai would be a good start but don't know much about these suburbs.
Any info or suggestions and tips would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

If you google Auckland council and open their GIS, you can peruse areas and get a good idea of what people are paying in rates. Many you can also stand in the "street" and look at the topography, so get an idea of what areas look like.

And then, after you've browsed the maps as Stikki suggested, it's time to plan a few Sunday drives out to those places for a good look around. Stop at some of the Real Estate places in those areas and see what's on offer. I lived in Kumeu for a short time a few years ago - the speed of development out there now is frightening! I suspect properties in those fringe areas will be in high demand these days and extremely pricey. You might want to think about how fast urban Auckland is encroaching on those rural communities - it might be wise to check a little further out - Kaukapakapa, South Kaipara (Parakai), Waitoki, Wainui, etc. - all with schoolbus services to Helensville.

Thanks for the inputs. We are currently living in Sydney and plan to move back to Auckland next year. So doing as much research as I can from here.
Our key concern is a good school. I hear Huapai District school is good. Any other schools anyone can suggest. How does zoning work in rural areas?

I would look South.
Somewhere near Tuakau/Pokeno or toward Mangatawhiri/Mangatangi.
The soils are good, rolling countryside and the climate is a little different to Auckland. More settled.
Also I would rather do battle with the Waikato District Council than Auckland Council.

I live out west where you're looking. Whilst there's lots of development going on there's still quite a few blocks, but they're pricey and only going to become more expensive. The unitary plan that was released this week will almost certainly mean that more blocks will be bought for sub-division etc. As suggested you may need to expand your search to Helensville, Kaukapakapa and South Head depending on your budget.

I'd also think about your commute. Where are you working? If it's in town I'd rather deal with the North-Western motorway than the Southern. They can both be bad, but the NW has a lot of work going into it at the moment so it is getting better (but long-term I'm sure it won't be enough to deal with demand). Kumeu on the other hand has been getting busier and busier, and there seems to be no plan for managing it.

Personally, I think it's a better option than the south, you're close to some great beaches, Waitakere rainforest, Woodhill and Riverhead forest, plus some great places for eating out.

I'm not an expert on schools, but there's a good primary in Waimauku, but a real lack of secondary schools to serve the area.

Does anyone know if the rail network running through taupaki,huapai/kumeu has any suburbun passenger service?

hal01 wrote: Does anyone know if the rail network running through taupaki,huapai/kumeu has any suburbun passenger service?

That's an ongoing saga that still hasn't been sorted. They upgraded the stations right through to Kumeu/Huapai and Waimauku years ago - I think completed in 2011 or thereabouts but the project was canned a couple of years later. A recently formed organisation called the Public Transport Users Association is campaigning for the rail service to Huapai and, given the government's dream of building thousands of new homes in the area, they just might succeed.

Hiya..

just a quick skim, so sorry of I am repeating... we left 10acres in Kumeu 18mths ago .. we were there 30 years .. we have been thru that area a few time since then and I can not believe how many houses are being built out there.. that whole area is no longer what I call rural..
its very expensive and when we our rates ( 10acres rural road .. no lighting, footpath, rubbish, water, etc ) was 4kpa and the schools, whilst excellent, are over crowded...there has been no infrastructure put in place to deal with the 000's of homes being built and sh16 is grid locked at peak..
there is no commuter trains.. apparently they were getting full at peak, so AT changed the timetable to outside rush hour, no one used them so they stopped the service all together. the nearest train station is Swanson.. a good 20-30min drive from Kumeu centre..
if you are working in the CBD.. expect to take around the 1.5hr mark at peak to get into town.. YUK..

we moved the northland and have a lovely big block,.a lovely big house and 15min drive to work...much better

stephclark wrote: we moved the northland and have a lovely big block,.a lovely big house and 15min drive to work...much better

You moved at the right time Steph. I hear that land is skyrocketing around waipu and the outlying areas of Whangarei. Something to do with all those people getting out of Auckland? :whistle:

Try looking north up toward Warkworth and into Kaipara Flats - we bought a descent block with bush and paddocks last year. Schools are pretty good in Warkworth I believe, but our daughter goes into school in Albany... New motorway scheduled to finish 2022 which will then improve the drive...

This is an older post so not sure if its relevant.
Waimauku School is considered to probably be the best in the western suburbs but it is large, has limited space and like all schools iin the area is overflowing at the seams.
Huapai is fine, just not as highly regarded as Waimauku
Hobsonville has a new primary and high school which has an extremely good reputation and would probably be the one I would choose but they dont take people from out of zone.
Apart from Hobsonville, I wouldnt recommend any of the high schools in the area
Surely where you move will be determined more by budget than anything else?