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The 20 Most & Least Popular NZ Suburbs

The 20 Most & Least Popular NZ Suburbs

Biggest real estate website property buyers 'search' preferences turn up unexpected 'most & least popular' results

www.realestate.co.nz has drawn down data detailing the most popular and least popular areas that buyers have been looking at property in across the country for the last 3 months.

"It is important to note that we are very suburb sensitive when it comes to real estate (as most people are when it comes to their suburb) so I must reassure you that I haven't randomly designated the boundaries. The website uses the official names and boundaries for all of mapping including provinces, regions, local authorities, cities, towns, areas and suburbs", says realestate.co.nz Chief Executive, Alistair Helm.

The boundary data and timely updates are sourced from Terralink - the same data that's supplied to emergency services.

There are in total of over 1,600 areas in the 'suburb' category on the website including actual suburbs as well as townships and rural areas.

"To be clear, the 'popular' ranking = number of total viewings of listings in a suburb during a 3 month period (ending 30 September) divided by the average number of listings in that suburb (suburbs with 30 or less listings have been excluded to avoid skewed results).

TOP 20

District Suburb

1 Christchurch Dallington

2 Dunedin St Clair

3 Christchurch Cashmere Hills

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4 Dunedin Maori Hill

5 Auckland Westmere

6 Waitakere Titirangi

7 Auckland Ellerslie

8 Dunedin Roslyn

9 Auckland One Tree Hill

10 Auckland Grey Lynn

11 Auckland Mt Eden

12 Christchurch Sumner

13 Waitakere Oratia

14 Christchurch Merivale

15 Dunedin Andersons Bay

16 Waitakere Laingholm

17 Auckland Onehunga

18 Auckland Ponsonby

19 Auckland Glen Innes

20 Dunedin Port Chalmers

I think many people may be surprised by this data, it's probably quite different than what people would say if they were asked to guess. My analysis and that of other that I have shared this with is that the Top 20 is a collection of affordable suburbs that have a good selection of family homes with a high standard of service infrastructure and established mid+ decile schooling.

It's interesting to note the suburbs fall into two distinct categories - they surround the CBD or are quite a significant distance away. Obviously the satellite suburbs offer larger properties and homes, semi-rural views and lifestyles in the same price range.

Dunedin has tossed up two interesting suburbs that wouldn't fall into the affordable family home category - the affluent suburb of Maori Hill and its neighbour Roslyn feature some of Dunedin's largest, most established homes with some of the city's most breathtaking views - the Remuera of Dunedin. However Port Chalmers, Anderson's Bay and parts of St Clair fall into the 'travel for lifestyle' category.

These results have reinforced our research and feedback that indicates people are definitively using the website as a comprehensive resource and research tool for property investment rather than entertainment or tyre-kicking. It's very pleasing that people serious about the property market see the website as a valuable place to look for property rather than a place for looking at property.

The bottom 20 suburbs are shown in ascending order from the suburb of least demand of consumer visits to the website listings upwards (so for clarification Manakau* has slightly more demand per listing than Aotea)

BOTTOM 20

District Suburb

1 South Waikato Aotea

2 Horowhenua* Manakau*

3 Far North Kaeo

4 Kaipara Kaiwaka

5 Western BoP Athenree

6 Hurunui Waipara

7 Hauraki Waihi

8 Kaipara Mangawhai

9 Kaipara Otamatea Surrounds

10 Hurunui Hurunui Surrounds**

11 Taupo Mangakino

12 Manukau Otara

13 Far North Whangaroa/Kaeo Surrounds

14 Manukau Clover Park

15 Manukau Manurewa

16 Western Bay Of Plenty Te Puke

17 Manukau Clendon Park

18 Waitakere Westgate

19 Waikato Te Kauwhata

20 Otorohanga Otorohanga

NOTE: * This is the tiny settlement just north of Otaki (Spelt Mana rather than Manu - as per Manukau City) ** Hurunui Surrounds does not include the resort town of Hanmer Springs

This list of 20 suburbs has equally thrown up some interesting names and lots of questions. On initial examination the 'least popular list' may seem somewhat perplexing but it is again broken into two types and I think there is quite a logical explanation to it all. The 'least list' is dominated by rural areas that are too small to offer a lot of employment options and too remote to make daily commuting to the nearest town or city for work feasible.

The other suburbs are most likely suffering from damaged reputations. Manurewa in particular has sustained a series of negative and high profile incidents this year that may make people wary of moving in. However, Manurewa is a very well established family suburb featuring many well built homes from the 1950s & 1960s. There are some quite exceptional properties and gardens that will never make the front page but are worth searching for. Serious property buyers looking to bag a bargain will undoubtedly see the positive side of identifying the 20 least popular areas. There is not only value here but rare and special homes. They may be 'least actively viewed' in terms of website visitor numbers but how bad can a property be that's large, rural, peaceful and private?

ENDS


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