PHOTO: First-home buyer
A Whangārei woman looking to get on the property ladder is feeling demotivated as the gap between the average house price and household incomes continues to widen across the country.
According to new data from CoreLogic, it will take the average New Zealand household 11.7 years to save for a 20 per cent deposit. Historically, it took 7.9 years, CoreLogic chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said.
The drastic fall in affordability is also down to value to income ratios.
Across the country, the average property price is just over $1 million – 8.8 times higher than the average household income.
The three regions with the highest value to income ratios include Tauranga at 11.9 times higher, Auckland at 10.1, and Dunedin at 9.1.
Meanwhile, if a household can acquire bank approval for a loan, as of Q4 2021, it will take 48 per cent of your income to service it – up from 33 per cent the same period in 2020. In Auckland, the figure is 55 per cent.
Katie Leeuwenburg told Breakfast the report is “not great news”.
“Growing up, it’s something you always kind of expect will happen, that you’ll own a home one day.”
She said while house ownership “wasn’t a huge priority” for her when she was living overseas in her 20s, “but now, having moved back to New Zealand, I kind of feel like I should be a bit of a grownup and buy a house”.
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