I recently read a blog post about the cost of housing in Auckland, New Zealand and then followed the links through to some other blog posts which discuss the cost of housing in other major cities around the world (largely Northern American) and I was blown away. I thought I would do a few blog posts which cover living in Auckland (the good and bad) and what your housing dollar can buy you outside of Auckland.
Let’s begin with the rants about living in Auckland (or any other major city in the world!):
Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city by far, of the 4.2 million people living in New Zealand (per the 2013 census); 1.42 million of them live in Auckland. Given approximately one-third of New Zealand’s population reside in Auckland it is no wonder that there is traffic and housing issues left, right and centre.
I’ve been living in Auckland for over a year now and while I really enjoy it here I know for a fact that we will not be living here forever. The reasons above, largely traffic and housing issues negate the want to live here in the long-term.
When I moved to Auckland the only thing I knew for certain was that I did not want to sit in traffic every day just to get to and from work. I am by no means an early riser and would not cope well at all if I was forced to sit in traffic each day.
Perhaps I have been spoilt by the short commutes of a smaller town, where it would take me about 10-12 minutes to get from my work in the CBD to my home on the other side of town. A 15 minute commute was a pain in the butt and meant that there was traffic on the roads AND that you got caught in every red light on the way home. (You Aucklanders think I am joking – I am NOT! ;)).
Don’t even get me started on the mystery of overtime. Which, in some circumstances I do understand. Especially if you are trying to climb the career ladder into a profession you absolutely love or if you are running your own business. I have found that people tend to be a lot less efficient up here (a huge generalisation I know but it is what I have found) and therefore productivity tends to be low and thereby the need for overtime increases to get the work completed.
The kiwi dream is to own a home you can call your own. Unfortunately the prices of housing in Auckland compared to what we could get elsewhere means that we will be going elsewhere when it comes our turn to getting on the property ladder! Whilst a step on the property ladder is not in our immediate future it is something that I do keep in the back of my mind. I will discuss this further in my post about what your housing dollar can buy you outside of Auckland.
From what I have seen so far from living in Auckland, people don’t seem to leave Auckland. I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with this; it is merely an observation I have made. By not leaving Auckland I mean both in a ‘travelling our country’ sense as well as a ‘I was born here and will raise my kids here’ sense.
I was really surprised when I moved here the number of people who have never been to Wellington! Wellington is our capital city and beautiful (I may be biased as I was born there, but do not remember living there), I have also met a number of people who have physically never left Auckland to explore other parts of our amazing country – some have gone overseas and some have truly never left Auckland.
I’m not sure if the people who have never left do not realise what is out there or if they believe they can get it all in Auckland. While Auckland is ridiculously beautiful and you can get a lot of the beauty that is New Zealand from different areas in Auckland, I could not imagine never leaving my city and I feel that these people are missing out greatly. Perhaps that is just the explorer in me though!
While this post has been highlighting some of the somewhat negative aspects of living in Auckland please stay tuned for my post on Why I love living in Auckland (because at this point in my life it is awesome!) and What your housing dollar can buy you outside of Auckland (just in case you’re curious).
I’d love to know your thoughts on what you love and loathe about living in a big city. Please do comment and let me know 🙂
My “big city” is Wellington because it is the perfect balance of having everything you need, without too many people/cars/traffic. I live (rent) in an old villa with a big backyard and garden, and I’m only 12 minutes walk to work.
The Auckland equivalent – Parnell? – would be out of reach!
I must say I have a soft spot for wellington as I was born there 😉 It is definitely a lot more affordable than Auckland. Wellington’s also quiet compact so everywhere is reasonable close which is nice. I would shudder to think how much a villa with a backyard in parnell is as I know the price of our tiny one bedroom with no yard in Newmarket (rented)!
I love this post. Like we were saying today, even though we’ve technically lived in Auckland all our life – I feel like my hometown is Pukenui. I love small towns (especially coastal ones) and if I’m completely honest, living in Auckland makes me feel claustrophobic. Too many people. Not enough wide open spaces.
The benefit of living in Auckland though, is that most of the blogger/media events are here. And of course, when you do want something specific it’s pretty easy to find it here.
Housing wise, I can’t see me and Ricky ever settling down and buying a house here – and if we did, it would be for investment purposes only!
I’ve travelled outside of Auckland a lot. But it’s funny, every time I leave, whilst I love the escape I can only handle it for so long. I think I need both. I need the big city and I prefer to live in it. I complain about traffic but I also kinda love the rush and bustle. But escaping is like a reset. A moment to rest before getting back to it. Like ying and yang I suppose. 🙂
What’s been great about Toronto was discovering how despite it being crazy big, it’s also so much like home. There are loads of corner stores selling fresh fruit and veges and gardens and trees. It’s not what I expected at all!
That’s so awesome that toronto is kind of like home! (side note I’m super jealous!). I do enjoy the hustle and bustle of the city sometimes as well I guess it makes the escapes all that more special!
I moved to London from Wellington. I found London so big that just going to another suburb feels like you’ve gone to a new city.
I much prefer the public transport system in London compared to smaller towns. I lived in one town in the uk where there were no buses on Sundays and during the week there was one every hour till 7pm when they shut down for the night. It was a bad day when you were running late
Thanks for stopping by Jenna! I LOVE London’s public transport system, Auckland could definitely learn a few things about the speed and frequency of transport that’s for sure! I can definitely see how being in a smaller town having to rely on public transport would make for a bad day!