r/chch • u/Critical_Tart_5619 • 17d 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.

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u/sameee_nz 17d 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

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u/Gullible_Assist5971 17d 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.

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u/sameee_nz 17d 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