Homes are ‘just right’ at the end of the line
New data unveils Goldilocks zone where houses are not too far away and not too expensive, writes Ben Leahy
New Lynn and Glen Innes may be the Goldilocks zones for young Auckland families because they’re not too far from the city and not too expensive, new research shows.
Both suburbs are less than a 35-minute train ride from the city centre and have homes near their train stations that are considerably cheaper than Auckland’s $885,000 median value.
Homes and apartments within 500m of New Lynn station are typically worth $588,000 and just 34 minutes by train from the city along the western line, new research by the Herald and analysts CoreLogic shows.
Glen Innes on the eastern line is an even snappier 13 minutes into the city and has homes near the station typically valued at $689,000.
So while millennials and young professionals may once have turned their noses up at New Lynn, they are now heading there in droves, according to Ray White real estate agent Michael Gee.
“I’m getting a lot of inquiries from firsthome buyers in prices ranging from the $600,000s into the $700,000s,” he said.
“And a lot of them are wanting something within 15 to 20 minutes’ walk from the train. They work in the CBD and want easy access to the city and back home.”
The findings are part of a HeraldCoreLogic study of whether it is better for young families pushed out of the inner city by astronomical prices to buy along the western, eastern or southern train lines or the northern busway.
The research looked at the price of homes located within 500m of train and bus stations.
In addition to New Lynn and Glen Innes, it found Manukau could be another good option for young couples.
Officially on the eastern line but located in South Auckland, Manukau is 37 minutes from the city and even cheaper at $393,000.
However, most of its housing stock near the station are small apartments, better suited to couples than families.
Further south, Papakura is 50 minutes from the city with a median price of $589,000, while Swanson at the end of the western line is 54 minutes from town and has homes valued at $870,000.
In the north, Albany is 36 minutes from town but has homes close to its bus station worth $1.4 million. Silverdale at the end of the bus route has median values of $1.2m.
CoreLogic head of research Nick Goodall said it showed young buyers didn’t necessarily have to move to the city’s edge to get a foot on the property ladder.
Those young families could also gain another advantage by buying close to train stations in up-and-coming suburbs as their house values might go up faster.
A research paper by the Auckland Council’s chief economist unit last year found homes and apartments within close walking distance of train stations already attracted a better price than similar ones further away.
The effect was greatest on the eastern and southern lines, where properties within a 260m walkto a train station were 19 per cent more valuable than similar properties further away.
Homes on the western line could also soon benefit from this effect when the City Rail Link project opened and cut commute times into the CBD, the report said.
Home values along train and bus lines could be further boosted as more people used public transport.
According to Auckland Transport, nearly three times as many people now ride trains to and from work compared with 10 years ago, while the northern busway had grown from not existing to 5.5 million trips a year.
Auckland Council planners were also trying to further boost these numbers by zoning housing corridors along the transport network as higher density to allow more people to live in apartments and townhouses there.
Planners hoped this in turn would attract more cafes and shops to set up close to transport hubs and make them more appealing places to live.
In Glen Innes and surrounding suburbs, this was being aided by the major Tamaki Regeneration redevelopment converting old housing into 10,500 new homes for sale and public housing.