Some people are moving out of Auckland rather than dealing with the traffic, and that was before the damaged Harbour Bridge compounded the city’s traffic snarl ups.
David Ding, from Harcourts North Shore central, which includes Glenfield, Unsworth, Totara Vale and Sunnynook, has had a number of vendors heading to Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupo, Napier – anywhere where the traffic is not so bad.
People are making big life decisions based on the traffic, he says.
“Lot’s of people are complaining ‘oh, I hate Auckland traffic, stuck in traffic for one hour, drive from Sunnynook to the city, I’d rather save money and go to a small town’. People are just sick of it so they move out.”
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In Ding’s patch Sunset and Target roads are particularly bad with traffic along Target Road increasing hugely over the last 10 years.
“It’s blocked like 3 O’Clock in the afternoon. Every Tuesday morning we have a meeting if you drive Sunset Road from Unsworth Heights to Glenfield, gosh, it’s a road block, I can’t really move.”
A road that should take two minutes can take half an hour to get along, he says. The problem is more people living in the area and more cars - but despite some leaving town the traffic isn’t having much impact on house prices.
Ding thinks that’s because traffic is bad all over Auckland.
“It’s not in particular Glenfield’s problem, or Unsworth’s problem or North Shore central’s problem. The problem happens to Castor Bay, Milford, Takapuna, even across the bridge, Mt Eden, Epsom. It’s everywhere.
“I think if people want to live in Auckland unfortunately they have to compromise so I think that’s why it’s not impacting the house price. If it was only this area’s problem there should be an impact but it’s an all of Auckland problem.”
Lake Road, which leads in and out of Devonport and doesn’t even have a bus lane, is also a commuter nightmare.
Suburbs that have ferry alternatives to driving over the bridge, such as Devonport or Birkenhead, will be more desirable. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Matthew Smith of Ray White says people raise the traffic as an issue all the time and some don’t buy in Devonport because of it.
“That’s why for a lot of people if they can be walking distance to the ferry it certainly makes Devonport a much more desirable location to be so they don’t have to use their car at all, they can just go and jump on the ferry.
“Most people who choose not to buy in Devonport is because they can’t live with the unreliability of it (Lake Road) because even if they choose the times they think are going to be clear sometimes they’re not so they can’t rely on that to get to meetings on time, get to work on time, get to the airport on time.
“It’s really, really bad and it’s the unpredictability thing about it which makes people not buy there at all. More people would buy and live in Devonport if that was not the case. Even if it was more predictable then they could work around it but there’s no work around right now.”
People can sit bumper to bumper for over an hour getting out of Devonport, Smith says, but even so property prices aren’t impacted because there are plenty of buyers – but the traffic problem needs to be addressed because it’s only going to get worse.
“Because of the new Unitary Plan there’s going to be massive infill housing three stories high right through Bayswater, Belmont and Hauraki. The amount of people living in that area is going to increase dramatically. They should really be working on this now before it’s absolutely too late.”
This is the case all over the city with new developments impacting traffic, agents say.
Over the bridge, Jill Findlay, of Harcourts Mt Albert, says traffic is always back of minds for buyers.
“Traffic is such a horrible issue in Auckland and I suppose the bridge has highlighted the problem, especially for the Shore going into the city or the city going to the Shore. West is a bit better, because there’s lots of routes out from the West.”
In Findlay’s patch intersections, like the one in Mt Albert Road, and coming off Te Atatu Peninsula, can get bottle-necked.
“Any of those places you’re going onto a motorway. Going down Carrington Road to get to work, you don’t want to be in there for long because everyone’s coming off from Waterview and Pt Chev, that on and off ramp, and then you’ve got the St Lukes’ one. Everything kind of joins up.”
Some people are hesitant about buying on main roads because of traffic and safety and make all sorts of considerations when buying, some opting for a house down a long driveway, but not everyone wants to share a driveway.
“The issue is the volume of traffic, the speed of traffic, the safety for your kids, the safety for your house. Those are the factors more than probably getting out onto the road because you can always sneak out probably if you’re on the main road, someone will let you in.”
