Abstract: Like many Australasian cities, Auckland faces a growing housing ‘crisis’ through a chronic shortage in affordable housing stock. With its population set to rise by an estimated one million people by mid-century there is a serious need to consider new forms of higher-density housing. Such housing types need to be made attractive to a population that have traditionally idealised suburban stand-alone dwellings. One approach is to emphasise the benefits of ‘community’ living obtainable through medium -density developments. ‘Community’ is an ambiguous word, but can instil strong emotional responses and is almost always imbued with positive imagery. This paper explores the rhetoric and symbolism of community deployed to sell residential properties at Hobsonville Point, a new government-owned master-planned medium-density development of over 3000 new, 10km to the northwest of Auckland’s CBD. Specifically, we ask what understandings of community are promoted in this development, and how are these understandings represented in promotional material? We then draw on interviews conducted with early buyers and those considering buying in the development to explore what understandings of community they hold, and how this accords with the promotion of the development. The study is informed by analysis of newspaper articles, advertising and planning documents as well as field observation and interviews. Tensions are found between the social aspirations of developers and the economic realities of the housing market. It concludes that appealing to a contemporary yearning for nature and social cohesion at an urban coastal location has generated a situation in which community is being ‘sold’ yet, paradoxically, is yet to be found at Hobsonville Point.