It seems that it take Kiwi’s much longer to buy a house than it does for those living in the US, Ireland and Canada. (Australia is worse off). The measure used is average price of a house over average income in the region.
Three points from the great article:
1: It’s not the lack of land, it’s regulation of land that is causing the problem
2: The Government is on to it – an has 3 answers at least (we’l see how that goes)
3: Low income (per capita) is the other part of the problem
Three ways the article could be better:
1: It’s the internet – link to the source
2: Mention that over 5.1 times median income is rated “severely unaffordable” by the report’s authors. That’s all 3 NZ cities surveyed – Auckland , Christchurch and Wellington – at the “severely unaffordable stage (which is why I rent.) The national median multiple is 6.0 – double the affordable multiple.
3: Only 42/159 markets (cities surveyed) were judged “affordable” – such places as Wichita, Kansas and Fort Wayne, Indiana. That’s a housing boom just waiting to bust folks.
Lance Wiggs 