[Mr&MrsExcited]

If anyone could provide an opinion on the following suburbs it would be much appreciated:

- Johnsonville
- Stokes Valley (Lower Hutt)
- Waterloo (Lower Hutt)
- Wainuiomata (Lowe Hutt)
- Silverstream (Upper Hutt)

Are they generally safe/quiet residential areas?
Which has the best transport links to Hutt City and Wellington City?

Thanks in advance

[Joanna]

All of the above are on a good railway line into the CBD. The only one that isnt is Wainuiomata which is over the hill from Lower Hutt. Johnsonville is a nice family suburb with good shops and its own indoor mall. I have heard that Silverstream is nice too but a bit further out. I am afraid I dont know much about Waterloo or Stokes Valley but they are also a bit further up the Hutt valley. The closest is Johnsonville. Johnsonville also has a good secondary school nearby called Onslow College. I hope this helps a bit.

[Georgebulldog]

Johnsonville is great for shops, I live in Churton Park just a 5 min drive away & find I don't go into Wellington any more (a bit of a shame realy)
Depends on where you will work in Wellington, my OH has now got a scooter as he found the bus took too long, about an hour, & wasn't worth getting a 2nd car just to get to the train station & would still have a 15 minute walk the other end anyway so would of been same as the bus trip. I would suggest looking into this if traveling times are a factor.
I realy liked Silverstream but glad we didn't move there as again traveling times, didn't like the look of Stokes Valley at all, just my opinion though
Have a look at
http://www.tranzmetro.co.nz/

&

http://www.metlink.org.nz/section10.php

for trains & buses
Hope this helps

[Wonderbob]

If anyone could provide an opinion on the following suburbs it would be much appreciated:

- Johnsonville
- Stokes Valley (Lower Hutt)
- Waterloo (Lower Hutt)
- Wainuiomata (Lowe Hutt)
- Silverstream (Upper Hutt)

Are they generally safe/quiet residential areas?
Which has the best transport links to Hutt City and Wellington City?

Thanks in advance

Only Johnsonville could be considered part of Wellington, the others are parts of cities in their own rights (e.g Upper Hutt City or Lower Hutt City), but none of them are that far from Welly, and all have adequate public transport links except Wainui. From a safety point of view, I'd rate them in this order:
1) Johnsonville 2)Silverstream 3) Waterloo 4) Stokes Valley 5) Wainui. Thought about renting in the city itself? You may even be able to walk to work if you do. It would cost more but this could be offset by reduced (or nil)commuter expense. Welly is a very compact city, so something to consider perhaps?

Cheers, Bob

[Ojai]

Just south of Johnsonville are Khandallah and Ngaio, where I live (Ngaio). I can do a quick walk to the train station, which drops me off in the CBD 15 minutes later. Really convenient, and the shops in Johnsonville are just off the train in the other directions.

[KD17]

If anyone could provide an opinion on the following suburbs it would be much appreciated:

- Johnsonville
- Stokes Valley (Lower Hutt)
- Waterloo (Lower Hutt)
- Wainuiomata (Lowe Hutt)
- Silverstream (Upper Hutt)

Are they generally safe/quiet residential areas?


Out of the above, in our opinion we'd rank them in the following order for safety
Johnsonville
Silverstream
Stokes Valley
Waterloo
Wainuiomata

You will find some very reasonably priced, quite large houses in Wainuiomata, and there is a reason for that. ! We were recently travelling back to Upper Hutt (where we live) on the train from the Rugby 7's and were speaking to to a young Maori lad, he lived in Wainui and in his words "that's where the home boys live" nothing wrong with that if you want to live in that kind of area, but you may find it not as good as Johnsonville.

You dont say if you are looking to rent or buy, but we would strongly recommend that you look before you commit to anything, and not to go by email photo's or what estate agents say.

We purchased our house in November, after being here 9 months. We were interested in another property and the agent wanted us to put a bid in for it, but we were away that weekend, so we said we would wait till we got back - she was most upset and told us that we would be likely to lose out - but that was ok by us if that was the case. We didn't get that property as it went to a British couple who had been in NZ all of 1 week and wanted to get on the property market, she told us later that the price it went for was much higher than we or any kiwi would have paid, but because they were Brits and didn't know any better, they paid way over the odds for it - so be careful out there. The agents know how to play it and see immigrants as a ticket to printing money.

Good luck with your research


Keith & Debby
over 1 year in NZ and loving it just the same as day 1

[irishliz]

We live in Khandallah which is next to Johnsonville. Johnsonville is a nice area with plenty of shops, schools etc. As with others who replied we didn't want to live too far out and Oh gets the bus outside the door and is in CBD in 15 minutes. We chose Khandallah specifically for its great primary school.

If you have any other questions feel free to pm me.

[Pookeko]

If anyone could provide an opinion on the following suburbs it would be much appreciated:

- Johnsonville
- Stokes Valley (Lower Hutt)
- Waterloo (Lower Hutt)
- Wainuiomata (Lowe Hutt)
- Silverstream (Upper Hutt)

Are they generally safe/quiet residential areas?
Which has the best transport links to Hutt City and Wellington City?

Thanks in advance

Hi,

As with all other responses, I think Johnsonville is the most desirable of your list of suburbs. Wainui isn't bad but it is quite isolated and the hill is pain to travel over every day. I grew up there and it was full of young families in the 70s. I went back for a visit a few weeks ago and actually I was quite impressed with how much nicer it looked (trees grown up etc). Still a quiet sleepy deadend kind of place though! =] It doesn't have any train service but has a few bus services to the Hutt central train station, and would be an ok commute if you were working in the Hutt.

Upper Hutt is quite a long way from Wellington, if you were working there it would be a hassle IMO, probably not too bad if you were working in the Hutt though. Silverstream is quite well regarded - as are Johnsonville and probably Stokes Valley. Not sure about Waterloo. Wainui is not well regarded, but as I said it's not a bad place there is much much worse: have a drive around parts of Porirua (which I think really should be a better place to live, I think it has/should have a lot going for it!).

Just by the way, there is talk of a peak hour congestion charge into Wellington which would be a toll on the motorway/s into the CBD. I think it's just an "idea" at this stage.

Stokes Valley is ok I think, but with all the suburbs you mention you might like to check school zonings and get further opinions on schools if that is important to you. It can be important from a home resale point of view (if you are intending to buy) anyway even if you don't have children.
A note here to say that while Johnsonville is a pretty good subrub (train terminus, bus service further into Wellington CBD, mall - which is about to be upgraded, and two supermarkets) only the western side is zoned for Onslow College, I believe that East Johnsonville and Newlands (ie. on the other side of the motorway) are zoned for Newlands College and it is my impression that Newlands College is not as highly regarded as Onslow.

Johnsonville used to be not that desirable really and I'm amazed to see how much prices have shot up there. The other suburbs along the trainline are very nice as previously mentioned - Khandallah, Ngaio, Crofton Downs, Wadestown (though this one is not actually on the trainline, but you travel past it, and it is very nice =) ). These 4 suburbs are my personal favourites - I'm still looking for that elusive bargain there... :laugh

When I'm looking at property (with open2view and trade me) in Wellington on the internet, I find these websites helpful:

Wgtn rates website (http://www.wellington.govt.nz/services/rates/search/search.html), gives you the annual rates (rateable values aren't always very current it would seem though, usually add on another $50k for the current RV, in the suburbs that I'm looking in), and aerial photograph of the layout of the section & house.

Google maps (http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&hl=en&tab=wl) - for terrain (and aerial photograph)

Sun and elevation website (http://www.keyring.co.nz/intro/index.jsf), for an indication of how much sunlight the house might receive - particularly important in Winter! :yes Also good for an indication of nearby bus & train stops, as well as supermarkets and (some) school zonings.

It all helps with your research anyway. :D