She said the youths were at the house "all the time", even on weekdays.
They didn't seem to be from Owens Tce, she said, and they had frequented the elderly man's front yard.
"I don't know what they were doing," she said. "It always did worry me, I must admit.
"It was just unusual for somebody of that age to have all these young people hanging around, we thought. But if you've got no family and you're lonely ... who knows?"
The neighbour said she thought the man had lived in the house at least since the early 1980s and apart from the youths, appeared to have had no visitors. "I never saw any family."
She believed the dead man had been the street's oldest resident.
"He had about four cars, apparently, and I think he used to let the young guys drive him."
A scene examination at Owens Tce continued today. The neighbour said she did not expect the young people to be back now that the teenager had been taken into custody.
"I feel safer now because I've got a feeling that they won't be hanging around."
Although the man's death upset her, she was not shocked.
"To be honest, I wasn't surprised when I heard it had happened."
However, one of the man's immediate neighbours was stunned to hear of the incident.
"It's a shock. I didn't expect it to [happen to] him, because he's not a bad person."
The neighbour said she didn't have much to do with the victim but he seemed pleasant enough. There had never been serious trouble in the street.
"It's not a nice thing to happen in your street, and you don't expect it."
Suppression orders imposed at Christchurch Youth Court prevent publication of details including the names of the victim and the arrested teenager.
The youth was expected to next appear in the High Court at Christchurch on August 21.
