Where to live in Auckland

VICKI HOLDER reviews a new in-depth guide to the city's suburbs.

It took an Englishman to respond to Aucklanders' growing fixation with real estate.

Last year, Stephen Hart produced the most comprehensive guide on the subject to date when he published Where to Live in Auckland, which profiles 49 of Auckland's suburbs in depth.

Coming from London, where two similar guides had been published, Hart saw it as an obvious choice of topic to capture an eager audience, especially when the market was so buoyant.

But it's the way the subject has been approached that makes the guide so compelling. Although it gives vital information and insight into everything you need to know about the city's current property market, it's far from a dry, boring tome.

Filled with glossy, colourful pictures and snappy, easy-to-digest paragraphs organised into chapters on each neighbourhood, it's a meaty book you can dip into. Open any page and you'll always find something to spark your interest.

To put the book together, writers were assigned to cover north, south, east and west Auckland. Within their focus they delved into every neighbourhood. After talking to as many residents, real estate agents and representatives of local business and community associations as they could, they came up with snapshots of trends, typical dwellings and the character of the neighbourhood, prices, rentals, lists of amenities and a synopsis of who lives there.

Editor Sharon Newey and her team of writers were encouraged to make no apology for having opinions about the neighbourhoods they were writing about. Many summaries on areas are written with a delightful sense of humour.

Consider the following excerpt from the chapter about Epsom: 'Epsom is a gentrified, gentle, flat, tree-lined suburb of established gardens and top schools. Some would say that all adds up to boring, but for the people that live here behind their decorous fences and tree-studded front gardens, that's exactly what they've paid the high prices for, thank you very much.'

Star ratings from one to five beside each of the amenities and the neighbourhood are fairly subjective.

However, given the research involved in arriving at an understanding of each area, they are well-considered. Just to make sure everybody felt comfortable with the ratings, they were carefully reassessed during editorial round tables to make sure they were "in sync" with common opinion, says Newey.

The team also came up with an intriguing profile of the kind of people who live in each area. The nine groups comprise elite professionals, urban establishment, suburban nurseries, independent young achievers, social singles, retired simplicity, comfortable townies, blue-collar battlers and rural living. It's fascinating to look up your own neighbourhood to study the colour-coded map to find out who you're likely to find living next door.

Chapters are interspersed with commentary from a local personality who adds a personal dimension about why they live there and what they like about their neighbourhood.

There's also information about local heroes - not necessarily the local tourist spot, but something that typifies the area, such as Avondale's Hollywood Cinema, forever associated with the cult movie The Rocky Horror Show.

Some areas are assessed on whether they have a smart buy aspect, and advice is offered on the kind of property the writer considers a good investment.

Interesting facts are dispersed in little boxes throughout chapters, such as the importance of saving the bush in Titirangi, how the vineyards and orchards are fast disappearing in Henderson to be replaced by shopping malls and the reason for the pull of lifestyle blocks in Whitford.

There are school zoning maps for secondary schools and the schools' academic results, statistics giving a profile of Auckland's population, average rentals, useful contact details and a glossary of real estate and housing terms.

Newey believes it's the first time ever that school zones have been detailed so comprehensively with maps and narrative. She says it represents a huge amount of research, as the writers had to gain permission from all the schools involved and convert the maps into a verbal description.

If you're an Aucklander, if you frequently visit Auckland or you're thinking of moving there, Where to live in Auckland is an essential tool with many snippets you'll be hard pressed to find anywhere else.