Where to live in Auckland (Third edition)

Reviewed by Estelle Sarney, Heraldhomes Editor

Before she bought her first house, a woman I know went back several times at various hours of the day and night to check out the neighbours, the noise levels, who walked up and down the street, and the kind of people at the local shops. This was a jolly good idea because as much as we need to feel that the house we buy is the right fit for us and our lifestyle, we also need to feel a fit with the locals. And that's why the latest edition of Where To Live In Auckland is such a good handbook. Each suburb's map has colour codings denoting the type of people who live there. The eleven categories detail the average socio-economic status, whether they drink wine or beer, are into sport or the internet, even shopping trends.

After real estate, schooling is the next topic of conversation among many Aucklanders, and school zones can affect an area's property values by tens of thousands of dollars. WTLIA covers this, too, with updated school zone maps, school contact details, rolls, decile ratings and private school prices.

Editor Sharon Newey and publisher Stephen Hart (who also presents the home buyers' show House Call on TV2) have included other new features in this edition: Among the 53 neighbourhoods WTLIA profiles, there are three new ones - Helensville, Warkworth and Pukekohe. Financial and statistical information is current, and there's a new rental investment section.

All the other useful background from previous editions is still there, updated where necessary - typical dwellings, amenities and real estate trends - and there are new easy-read boxes listing average prices and rental returns.

Heraldhomes chose to use portions of WTLIA's copy on our Up Your Street page every week simply because it's the best round-up we've seen of this kind of information.

Barbican Publishing, $39.95