About the City Centre Community

Auckland has recently been ranked the fifth best city in the world, in terms of quality of living, in a world wide survey conducted by Mercer. Auckland's CBD is a great place to live, being currently home to approximately 25,000 people and growing rapidly at the rate of around 18 percent per year.

It's easy to see why too. One of the biggest draw cards for people living in the city is the amount of time and money saved commuting each day. People choose to live in the CBD for convenience, when work or school is only a five minute stroll away. For city residents that work out of the CBD, commuting is often a lot quicker going against the main traffic flow.

City apartment residents love the fact that they can easily take a stroll along the waterfront instead of having to worry about mowing the lawns. Apartment living is one of the most popular choices for city living, and these range from smaller apartments, which are primarily owned by investors and predominantly rented to students, all the way up to high quality, spacious multimillion dollar apartments close to the waterfront, and everything in between. With over 38,000 students studying at Auckland University alone, many prefer to live in the CBD for convenience.

The city centre is often buzzing with a host of different events throughout the year like the Santa Parade, the Chinese Lantern Festival - celebrating Chinese New Year, and the Diwali Indian New Year Festival etc.

There is plenty of entertainment right on your doorstep, whether you are up for trying your luck at Skycity or enjoying a great movie at Village 8 Cinemas/Imax, or a live show at the Civic Theatre. To explore the night life, there are plenty of bars and clubs open till late/early hours of the morning. For the adventurous, the ferry terminals provide fun harbour cruises and easy access out to Devonport, Waiheke, Rangitoto and the Great Barrier etc.

Auckland CBD has two major universities.
-University of Auckland
-Auckland University of Technology (AUT)
There are also a range of specialized study institutions like; Whitireia Community Polytechnic, AIS, International Travel College (ITC), just to name a few.

Certain parts of the city are zoned for some top grammar schools - simply visit www.schoolzones.co.nz and type in the city street address you are thinking about buying in to see what schools you are in zone for.

Eating

Throughout the city and viaduct, you can find cuisine from almost every culture. With so many restaurants, you are spoilt for choice when it comes to dining out.

Shopping

The CBD has two major supermarkets; Foodtown on Quay St, and New World at Victoria Park, which has a free city shopper bus that goes around the city.

For some retail therapy, Queen St and High St, offer a wide range of fashion outlets. More boutique shops and unique offerings can be found on K'Rd and within Victoria Park markets.

Most homeware and general items can be purchased from the range of shops within the Downtown Westfield mall.

Transport

From the city, it is easy to get to almost anywhere you want via bus, train or ferry.
Within the city, the free City Circuit bus travels clockwise in a loop around key destinations such as The Edge entertainment area, The University of Auckland, Sky City, Britomart and Queen Street - The City Circuit bus does the circuit every 10 minutes, from 8am to 6pm every day, including weekends.
To get to the airport, airbuses depart from certain points around the city approximately every 15 minutes.
Regular Britomart trains are another popular travel choice to get to different parts of East, West, Central & South Auckland.

Transport Links