Helping hardworking Kiwis into quality, family-friendly homes.
At Start Living, we develop more than buildings – we create the places where real lives happen. Our focus is on delivering smart, affordable homes designed for people, not spreadsheets. We believe the term “affordable housing” has lost its meaning. So instead, we focus on Starter Homes – homes that give Kiwis a foothold, a future, and a place to grow.
Whether it’s your first home, your first child’s bedroom, or the place your family looks back on with love – this is where life begins.
Affordable Should Never Mean Average.
A Starter Home should be accessible – but never feel like a compromise. That’s why every Start Living home is cleverly designed, carefully planned, and proudly built. We cut waste, not corners. We maximise quality by focusing on what truly matters – functionality, dignity, and liveability.
Our Design Values ➞
1.
Use Every Inch Wisely
Minimise wasted space like hallways. Maximise usable, liveable rooms.
2.
Storage Where You Need It
People have stuff. Our homes give it a home too – wet shoes, bikes, and all.
3.
Privacy Built In
Smart layouts, thoughtful sightlines, and “double-door” entries create comfort and control.
4.
Form Follows Function
From long kitchen benches to low-maintenance exteriors – it’s about real use, not showy features.
5.
Communities Come First
A great home means nothing without a great neighbourhood. Our projects are master-planned with parks, walkways, and community in mind.
Current Projects
Start Living is delivering modern, well-designed homes across Auckland, each crafted with long-term quality and urban convenience in mind. Every development reflects our commitment to thoughtful architecture, practical layouts, and attainable living for Kiwi families.
Whether under construction or coming soon, these projects represent our vision for better, smarter neighbourhoods.
Decades of Experience. One Shared Purpose.
Start Living is led by Kitt Littlejohn and Ian Munro – two of New Zealand’s most experienced housing professionals with over 50 years of combined experience. After decades spent working across councils, central government, major developers, and infrastructure projects, they saw one too many missed opportunities. Start Living is their answer – a commitment to doing things better, smarter, now.
Kitt Littlejohn - Director
Kitt Littlejohn is a qualified lawyer with almost 30 years’ experience in resource consenting, council processes and development advice throughout New Zealand.
Kitt is a founding partner of START Living, responsible for project strategy and consenting, stakeholder engagement, development structuring, and legal compliance and oversight. He brings extensive multi-disciplinary experience to START Living, including project consent management skills, advocacy, crisis governance, and public relations.
Born in Taranaki and raised by his mum, Kitt grew up in lots of different houses and many back-yards, a trend he continued as a student in Christchurch, and as a young professional in Auckland when he arrived in 1997. Kitt fondly remembers the first home he bought in Auckland, only made possible after borrowing the deposit from a mate he cooked with at Uni. His 'home' has evolved since then to house a family, pets, too-much sports equipment, a DIY workshop, prize winning tomatoes, teenagers’ cars and not enough sleep. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
Kitt knows from living that homes house lives; that they create places of stability for families to grow, for communities to develop and for memories to be made. Getting the first one right can make all the difference. This is the vision of START Living.
In addition to START Living, Kitt continues to advise clients on complex resource management projects, is regularly appointed by local authorities as an independent planning commissioner, is a mediator, and a director on the boards of Haydn & Rollett, Ergon Properties and Waiheke Marina Marina.
Ian Munro - Director
Ian Munro is an accomplished urban designer and planner with a rare breadth of expertise. He holds Master’s degrees in planning, architecture (urban design), environmental law, and traffic engineering. Ian is a member of both the New Zealand Planning Institute and the Urban Designers Institute of Aotearoa, and has served as an independent commissioner for councils across the country since 2007.
Over his career, Ian has contributed to the creation, review, or approval of housing developments totalling well over 50,000 dwellings across New Zealand. His work spans cities, regions, and communities — always with a focus on how well-designed places improve lives.
Ian has a deep personal connection to the challenge of first-home ownership. He grew up in a modest starter home on the edge of Auckland, in a car-less household with no fences or floor coverings to start with — just the basics and a lot of hard work. That lived experience fuels his passion for making homeownership more achievable for others. Having benefitted from the opportunities this country provided his own family, he’s now determined to help more Kiwis access homes that are smart, affordable, and built to last.
Andrew Mackay - Business Development Partner
Andrew Mackay is Business Development Partner for and personal adviser to the Directors of START Living Ltd.
Andrew Mackay is the go-to expert for all things property finance, investment advising, and deal analysis. With years of experience in both senior and subordinated finance placement, Andrew excels at navigating the intricacies of structured finance and bringing projects together.
But Andrew is not just about numbers and strategy. He’s a visionary leader with a proven track record of steering high-performing sales teams to new heights, while helping businesses make sound financial decisions and reach their full potential. Andrew’s strength is not only in identifying business opportunities, but bringing the research and innovation needed to turn them into tangible results.
Beyond the numbers, Andrew is a proven sales leader who thrives on guiding businesses toward their true potential. By helping clients make informed, strategic decisions, Andrew empowers them to not just succeed—but to excel. His leadership is driven by a passion for turning ideas into action, and creating lasting relationships built on trust and mutual growth.
For Andrew, property is not just about transactions; it’s about crafting legacies and empowering future generations. He believes every deal, every partnership, is an opportunity to build something that lasts — an opportunity to create real, positive impact and to build a foundation that spans generations.
With a personal philosophy centred on seeing every first home as a step toward generational empowerment, Andrew is a perfect fit with the ethos of START Living and a core contributor to is corporate vision.
Homes Coming Soon.
We’re currently developing our first communities in carefully selected neighbourhoods across Auckland. These will be connected, family-friendly environments where life can flourish.
Let's Talk About Building Your Future.
We’re currently developing our first communities in carefully selected neighbourhoods across Auckland. These will be connected, family-friendly environments where life can flourish.
