What’s in this Chapter?

  • Housing tenure
  • Housing costs and affordability
  • Household crowding
  • Urban housing intensification
  • Government housing provision
  • Housing accessibility
For full details, graphs etc, refer to the chapter in pdf format »

Key Results - Housing

  • Levels of home ownership continue to decline, after reaching a post-war peak in 1991.
  • Home ownership tends to be lower among Maori and Pacific Islands people, who tend to have larger and younger families as well as lower incomes.
  • The cost of purchasing a home is increasing as house prices and mortgage costs have increased relative to incomes.
  • Rental accommodation is becoming more affordable due to household incomes increasing at a higher rate, on average, than increases in rental costs.
  • Despite higher house prices, those who own a home pay a lower proportion of income than those who rent, on average.
  • The housing market has shown considerable growth over the period 2001 to 2006, with only a relatively small increase in household crowding.
  • Rapid urban intensification has occurred in some cities over the four years from 2002 to 2006, peaking in 2004 then slowing in 2005 and 2006.
  • The greatest increases in apartments as a proportion of residential building consents were in Auckland and Wellington, followed by North Shore and Manukau.
  • The construction of new apartments appears to be closely related to changes in household tenure. There was a substantial increase in the proportion of tenancy bonds lodged for apartments as a proportion of all tenancy bonds over the same period.
  • Central government continues to be the dominant provider of subsidised rental housing.
  • The cities with the highest proportion of social housing provided by local government were Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch.
  • Of the 12 local authorities only Rodney and Auckland provide no social housing.

Housing

This chapter presents a range of indicators that focus on housing. Housing is a basic need and has one of the biggest impacts on people’s wellbeing and quality of life. Home ownership is an aspiration for many New Zealanders and the single biggest investment that most will make.

Why is this Important

Housing is a fundamental component of quality of life. Without appropriate shelter, people cannot meet their basic needs and participate adequately in society.

Housing issues can have flow-on effects for health, education and community wellbeing. The changing demand for housing and supply constraints can put pressure on an urban area’s natural and social environment and affect a city’s ability to provide suitable infrastructure and services.

Key Points

Home ownership rates are decreasing. This decline may be attributed to a number of factors, including higher costs of home ownership and changing population demographics. Also, changes in the number of homes owned through family trusts may have distorted the home ownership statistics.1

The cost of home ownership has increased, throughout New Zealand and in all of the 12 cities. Cost increases can be attributed to a combination of factors at international, national and local level.

Housing has become more affordable, on average, for people who rent as household incomes have increased at a faster rate than rents.

There are a substantial number of people suffering forms of housing stress,2 such as living in crowded housing or paying a disproportionate part of their income on housing costs, although this has decreased in recent years.

1 The 2006 Census was the first time in which a question about family trusts was explicitly asked, so there is no robust trend comparison with previous census periods to allow us to determine if the rates of home ownership through private trusts has been increasing.
2 The term is used in DTZ Research. (March 2007). The Future of Home Ownership and the Role of the Private Rental Market in the Auckland Region. Centre for Housing Research Aotearoa New Zealand and Auckland Regional Council. This report defi nes households experiencing stress as those paying more than 30.0% of net income on housing.

Housing Tenure

  • Levels of home ownership continue to decline, after reaching a post-war peak in 1991.
  • Home ownership tends to be lower among Maori and Pacific Islands people, who tend to have larger and younger families as well as lower incomes.

Housing Costs and Affordability

  • The cost of purchasing a home is increasing as house prices and mortgage costs have increased relative to incomes.
  • Rental accommodation is becoming more affordable due to household incomes increasing at a higher rate, on average, than increases in rental costs.
  • Despite higher house prices, those who own a home pay a lower proportion of income than those who rent, on average.

Household Crowding

  • The housing market has been able to accommodate considerable growth over the period 2001 to 2006, with a relatively small increase in household crowding.

Urban housing Intensification

  • Rapid urban intensification has occurred in some cities over the four years from 2002 to 2006, peaking in 2004 then slowing in 2005 and 2006.
  • The greatest increases in apartments as a proportion of residential building consents were in Auckland and Wellington, followed by North Shore and Manukau.
  • The construction of new apartments appears to be closely related to changes in household tenure, with a substantial increase in the proportion of tenancy bonds lodged for apartments as a proportion of all tenancy bonds over the same period.

Government Housing Provision

  • Central government continues to be the dominant provider of subsidised rental housing.
  • The cities with the highest proportion of social housing provided by local authorities were Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch.
  • Rodney and Auckland provide no local authority owned social housing.

Housing Accessibility

  • The waiting lists for Housing New Zealand accommodation have decreased by nearly 10.0% from 2002 to 2006.