Auckland suburbs can all look similar from the air, but down on the ground there could be hundreds of thousands of dollars in differences. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski
Would you pay more to live in Khandallah than Ngaio? Or St Heliers rather than Glen Innes?
Data from Corelogic suggests buyers do - and the premium paid for a sought-after suburb can be hundreds of thousands of dollars more than its neighbours.
Corelogic head of research Nick Goodall looked at the median value of three-bedroom houses in neighbouring suburbs.
He found Epsom had a median of $1.92 million compared to a median of $1.52m in next-door Greenlane. St Heliers had a median $1.7m compared to $1.12m in Glen Innes. Mt Eden was a median $1.91m compared to $1.07m in Mt Roskill, Remuera was $1.8m compared to $1.62m in Meadowbank and Ponsonby was $2.4m compared to $2.04m in Grey Lynn.
In Wellington, Khandallah was $1.07m compared to $965,000 in Ngaio.
"Now, I'm not suggesting the only difference between the two suburbs is the suburb name, but it may be a factor which influences the value."
Other influences were likely to be school zones, whether there was a view, access to amenities and transport, as well as the age and quality of the properties, he said.
He pointed to Apirana Ave in Auckland, which has previously been cited as an example of the suburb divide.
There, number two is listed in property records as being St Heliers with an estimated value of $1.59m, according to Homes.co.nz, and number four is listed as Glen Innes with an estimate of $1.37m. In that case, number two is about 30 sq m bigger and on a bigger section.
People who lived close to the neighbouring suburb would sometimes choose to claim they lived there for extra "prestige".
"Miramar compared to Strathmore, when you blur those lines where they're close to the border line people are quick to claim they're in one suburb or the other. There's that element of vanity suburbs - if somewhere does have a bit of a better name of course you're going to claim it."
Property coach Andrew Duncan agreed school zones were the main driver of price differences between nearby areas, particularly when they appealed to young families.
But he said the style of housing was also a big factor.
"St Heliers versus Glen Innes is a good example - my in-laws live in St Heliers so I know the area reasonably well.
"They are both very similar suburbs in terms of amenities and distance to town, transport… but Glen Innes has very different construction styles - more smaller 1960s three-bedroom homes of similar design on larger sections that are slowly being developed with townhouses, versus St Heliers which has a lot of large, architecturally designed family homes with pools, big gardens, double garages…"
He said there would be some value purely tied to a property address.
"All things being equal - amenities, transport, school zones, size of home, people will pay more, sometimes a lot more, to be in a suburb that is considered more valuable, with a higher average property value, largely as they hope to benefit from increased capital gain over time."
He said there was also an element of awareness that drove the popularity of suburbs.
"Is the suburb well known by people moving from a different area? Which suburb do they first look up online?"
He said suburbs that were bigger or near a motorway exit would be more popular in terms of search volumes online.
"It takes buyers a bit of time to learn all the smaller suburbs in their target area if they are moving from another city, or from the other side of town. Owners with properties in suburbs that aren't well known outside their immediate area should ideally invest more in marketing and hire a salesperson with a large database, to ensure all buyers are aware their property is for sale."
Trade Me customer director Gavin Lloyd said some people would want to live in a well-known area, which drove demand.
He said the double grammar zone of Epsom was a big drawcard for buyers.