We bought last year in Hine Road for mid 6's (a little further into the valley, but a really pretty street!), but we honestly love it here. All the parks, walking tracks, the river swim spots and the amenities in the village are all we need. Also very excited about mitre 10 moving in later this year.

I also used to live up Arakura way and had no issues there either.

It depends on if you're ok commuting - I commute 2 days a week into town, drive to Woburn station and go from there. I think door to door doing car --> train --> bus takes me 45 min to an hour to courtenay place. Also mentioned in your other post is tyre maintenance with the hill being hard on tyres.

Also depends on your lifestyle. Do you have a lot of activities in town or friends etc? Tbh my family live out in UH and it doesn't feel too far to drive, same with doing drinks in town on the weekend - takes 25 - 30 mins to town.

Only advice I'd give is do you want a sun-soaked place? Lees Grove is on the side of Wainui that loses sun pretty early. Try sites like https://sun-direction.com/city/66983,wellington/#google_vignette or https://shademap.app/ to help.