The shocking pay rise Kiwis need for current house prices to be ‘affordable’

The value of houses needs to drop by 55 percent or Kiwis need a 120 percent pay rise for current house prices to be ‘affordable’, according to analysis.

But the Government refuses to admit it. It won’t set a target for housing affordability outcomes from its major market intervention.

“The escalation in house prices we’ve seen has really been unsustainable for everyone,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday during a visit to Hamilton and her hometown of Morrinsville.

During a visit to her old intermediate school, Ardern gushed over a wooden cop car crafted for her policeman dad Ross Ardern, with his initials ingrained and the year ’92.

“I made this!” she said.

That year, 1992, was also a time of peak homeownership in New Zealand, the very last time house prices were three times incomes – the measure of affordability.

Since then, house prices have continued to increase.