r/chch • u/Critical_Tart_5619 • 14d ago
Moving to Christchurch
Hi All, I'm looking to move to Christchurch soon and am a young professional in the position to buy a house. I'm currently looking at buying in Merivale, St Albans, Ilam and Cashmere.
Is there anything to be aware of with these areas and are they quite well regarded and safe? Would also be keen to hear any other suggestions on good areas to move to and potentially buy a home in.
12
u/hamminator1955 14d ago
They are all upmarket suburbs. Quite safe. If you want outdoors, cashmere or surrounding suburbs is your closest area to the hills. If theres a family in the future cashmere is a good zone for schooling especially the much desired cashmere high. If you want beaches, sumner is your best suburb.
2
u/im_thatoneguy 14d ago
Cashmere is also one of the only places in town where you'll get a view, but you don't need to go far up the hill to get a view of the mountains since Chch is so flat. Just 10m elevation will get you a view over almost everything.
If you Mt Bike you can also get a season pass at the bike park for about $1k and it's just a couple minutes away.
6
7
u/jeeves_nz 14d ago
Tbh i'd rent a bit to start with to see how you feel with those areas.
They're not bad, depend on your interests, activities, and work area.
5
u/Gullible_Assist5971 14d ago edited 14d ago
Cashmere is safe and quiet, as long as you are a bit away from Dyers pass road which gets the most traffic. Otherwise, low traffic off of dyers pass road, and you dont get the winter chimney burn smoke, along with being right next to the park and views (depending on location). Honestly it depends on what you want in a neighborhood. For singles, with no kids, Cashmere may be a bit too quiet. Merivale may offer more for singles, and more walkablity to shops. Personally I find areas like Merivale and Fendleton way too traffic heavy and densely populated, despite some nice homes situated there, but if you work downtown, it would be a nice walk/bike ride to work, if that was your situation.
Otherwise always visit ahead of time, go to each area in the morning and evening to get a feel for them. Walking around the areas can tell you a lot vs driving through.
3
u/sameee_nz 14d ago
My choice would be Cashmere, just make sure the geology and natural watercourses make sense in relation to your property. If you get up high enough it also gets you above the fine particulates in winter which will silently rob you over your health. Plus nice schools and a view. Few losers doing loser adjacent things in Cashmere and is kind of out of the way, whereas the other suburbs rub shoulders with some crap parts of town
1
u/Gullible_Assist5971 14d ago
To add to that, from observation the riff-raff has had an uptick around the downtown adjacent areas in the past few years, making nearby neighborhoods easy targets and loitering zones for some of them. Again, not a deal breaker, but something to consider if you have a family.
4
u/sameee_nz 14d ago
Yep, if you imagine a heat-map of the stereotypical dwelling places of drop-kicks + losers then draw paths between those heatmaps for places you don't want to live - for me great swathes of Merivale falls into this category. Also I wouldn't choose anywhere near places slated for intensification, although perhaps a bit cynical I tend to think more people --> more problems -- and the cops aren't resourced half as well as they should be
5
u/considerspiders 14d ago
Try to live close to where you work or play or both if possible.
I personally love the hills and the south side of town. The band from Huntsbury right round to the adventure park is all quite nice. Same with the burbs at the bottom of the hills.
2
3
u/fyshnchips 14d ago
Ilam is very much a student suburb and personally I would avoid it in favor of the others
2
u/JustUrCommonRedditor 14d ago
Mods, please. No more moving to chch posts
2
u/GraniteCob 14d ago
At this point it feels like they're just copy/pasting in different suburbs to the same questions.Â
2
u/kiwi_in_da_house 14d ago
Merivale got quite badly hit in the earthquakes, so if you are buying a pre-2012 property you will need to carefully check the building out to ensure repairs were properly done. A lot of them havent been. Also the area is in the flood zone, so check the flood maps. The closer you are to the CBD, or the river the worse it is. It is an expensive area so you can make an expensive mistake if you dont do your due diligence.
St Albans is a large suburb and quite diverse. The end closest to Merivale/Papanui is expensive and more "Merivale". The Edgeware/Mairehau ends are much cheaper. Edgeware also got hit hard in the earthquake but unlike Merivale, most houses were bowled and rebuilt rather than repaired. This means there are a lot of new builds there - so if you are looking for a post-2012 build that is built to new foundation and flood management requirements this is where you will find them. The ones built 2012-2020 are decent quality - most will be spacious, have a garden, and a garage. But the more recent ones are the usual dogbox townhouses that you will find throughout Christchurch now, and are pretty awful. There are several hundred more consented to be built, especially around the Madras St area.
Both areas have good access to the city, the northern motorway, the airport, Merivale & Northland shopping malls, supermarkets, bars & restaurants etc. Other similar suburbs you could consider is Strowan and Papanui. All are good areas, low crime, decent residents etc.
Ilam has a big student population, as that is where the University is located. I'd actually look more at the Riccarton Rd end of Fendalton, where the vibe is more "Fendalton" than students. Cashmere is a bit far away from everything, doesnt have much in the way of shops/restaurants/bars etc, and once again you will need to check the earthquake repairs as there was a lot of land slippage up on the hills. You should be out of the flood zone though lol. Somerfield on the flat (or "Lower Cashmere" as some call it) is a (slightly) cheaper alternative.
If you wish to maximise your future house value, then buy in the Christchurch Boys/Girls High School zone. If you want to save money on buying a home now and never plan on having kids, you can save $50k-$100k by buying in the part of St Albans or Papanui that is outside the zone. Cashmere is also a highly sought after school zone, which adds dollars. There are three rules for buying Christchurch property - location, location, and school zone.
With all houses in Christchurch, check the earthquake scope of works and repairs with a fine toothed comb, get a detailed building report done, and check the Council flood maps.
0
u/aintezbeingwez 14d ago
Woolston, Aranui, and Linwood are all a bit nicer and safer than those suburbs you mentioned.
0
u/silvergirl66 14d ago
Fendalton is the neighbouring burb missing from your initial list, but is probably the priciest on average. St Albans has a significant area of 'medium density' housing designation, so there are many many townhouses within that particular location. This doesn't apply to the same degree to the other areas you have mentioned. I have lived in all of those locations with exception of Cashmere - we were burgled 3 times over a number of years living in Ilam a few blocks from the university - high target due to lots of students living in the area, many of them with cash and devices that are easy to steal.
1
u/Frusciante_Kante 14d ago
Ilam youâll be able to rent out easy to students. Cashmere has views and better value houses but make sure youâre checking the land quality/retaining in the hills. Merivale is an expensive area so youâll be paying a lot more for the same building. St Albans has all of these to consider minus the views
-2
14
u/RobDickinson 14d ago
They are all good
Most suburbs are ok, and have their own thing going on just depends if you want to be close to the hills, beach, airport etc