Moving to Wellington

Our Wellington team’s answer: most families moving from overseas choose the city, because it is very walkable and a car is less essential, so it suits people who don’t enjoy long commutes. The region is the choice for more space.

Other common areas in the greater Wellington region are the Hutt Valley, with its large outdoor recreation areas and river trails; Porirua, with newer housing and larger sections but longer commutes; and Kāpiti, with a fast-growing community along its long beaches.

The trade-off is that, further out, you get a bigger home, garden and garage for the money, but the commute is longer and commuting costs can cancel that out. Good train lines run into town and around the region for frequent commuters.

Our Wellington team delivers across the whole Wellington region, and if you’re having trouble deciding, we can store your belongings until you need them. If you’d like a local’s view of the suburbs, we can also help you find a home.

People with jobs in the city centre often opt for inner-city suburbs such as Te Aro, Mt Cook, Mt Victoria, Newtown and Thorndon, as these are only a short walk away. For families looking for schools, playgrounds and parks, suburbs such as Miramar, Seatoun, Strathmore and Kilbirnie have a good family feel. These suburbs are slightly further out, but they have frequent bus services and connections, and are still within a 30-minute commute of town.

Seatoun in particular is very popular for its village atmosphere, excellent primary school, coastal access and safe swimming beaches. Karori, the city’s largest suburb, sits in a valley with a mix of hills and flat land, allowing for bigger family sections and homes.

School zones are geographical boundaries around most state schools that help manage school rolls. (Zoning does not apply to private schools and some state schools.) Living permanently in a school’s zone gives your child the right to enrol at that school, and this is checked during enrolment with proof of address.

If you live outside the school’s zone, you can still apply to enrol, but entry depends on whether the school has space, and follows a priority order. If your child doesn’t meet any of the priority criteria, they may still be offered a place through a random ballot if there is space.
Our school search service can help you match a home to the school zone you want, and our New Zealand education guide explains how the school system works.

Every part of Wellington gets wind, so it’s worth taking into account, but exposed spots with harbour views often take the full force of the northerly gales. Because of the terrain, sun varies street by street. Homes that face west or north-west get the best sun, especially in the afternoon, as north is the sunny side in the Southern Hemisphere, while houses on steep eastern hillsides tend to lose the sun earlier.

Most Wellington homes are built from timber, which lets them flex and withstand earthquakes and strong winds. Older villas were built to let air flow, which can make them cold and draughty, so our team’s advice is to view a house on a windy day before you commit to it.

Healthy Homes standards require all rentals to have adequate insulation and heating, and newer builds have double-glazed windows and heat pumps, so make sure to check the healthy homes statement for any rental.

Many Wellington homes aren’t easy to access, with steps from the street, narrow or steep driveways, or no parking outside. Our team assesses all of this at the survey before your move; here’s how we handle steep and difficult access.

Our home-finding service can help you weigh up sun, warmth and access before you sign, and once you’ve found the right place, we can get power and internet connected for you.

Our team’s answer is that it depends where in the region you live.

In the city, walking is often the fastest option, and there is no shortage of public transport for longer or tougher trips. Buses are frequent and reliable, with good connections between suburbs, and there are e-scooters and hire bikes on most streets.

Cycling has become more popular in and outside the city, with protected cycleways, e-bikes for hire, and new routes such as Te Ara Tupua, the walking and cycling path between Wellington and Petone. The honest catch is the weather: hills plus a strong wind make walking or cycling hard going, so it depends on your tolerance for it.

Further out in the region, in places such as the Hutt Valley, services are spread out, so a car makes life easier. If you don’t always have a car or prefer not to drive, train lines such as the Hutt Valley Line and the Kāpiti Line run between Wellington City and each area.

If you’re not sure which suits you, an orientation tour lets you see the areas and transport options before you decide. Once you decide where in the region you’d like to live, Crown can ship your car to your new home.

Wellington is a university city, but there are plenty of ways to meet people whether or not you’re a student.

Wellington is full of independent cafés and markets within a short walk of each other, so you could try a different café every day and not run out of new and interesting spots. In our team’s experience, these are where you meet your neighbours and other new people.

Wellington hosts plenty of festivals and cultural events throughout the city and region, such as CubaDupa, a two-day arts and music festival held on Cuba Street in the city centre, and Wellington On a Plate, a themed food festival showing off the best of the city’s culinary arts and creativity, which spans the whole of August each year.

Other spaces and services include Te Papa, New Zealand’s national museum on the waterfront and one of Wellington’s top attractions, and Te Matapihi, the central library, which has free spaces and programmes. Newcomers Network also runs local events to help you settle into the city.

Crown offers intercultural support and a local orientation to help you meet people and find your way into Wellington life.

Yes. At first, you can stay in furnished temporary accommodation. Any furniture you hire will go into your permanent home instead of the temporary accommodation, so you can move into your permanent home before your shipment arrives.

Moving in earlier with hired furniture lets you enrol the kids in your zoned school much sooner, as you need proof of a permanent address to enrol. Renting for a short period first also lets you see any downsides of the house and decide whether it is truly the home for you. Our team also suggests checking what will fit before you ship it: smaller hillside sections, older villas and steep access can limit large furniture, and anything that doesn’t fit can go into short-term storage.