State of the Nation New Zealand: home is where the money is

Tuesday, 21 May 2013, 10:19 pm
Press Release: Roy Morgan Research

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

State of the Nation New Zealand: home is where the money is

For many Aucklanders, the prospect of owning their own home is looking less likely by the week. Rapid population growth, soaring property prices and inadequate supply have left New Zealand’s largest city with a serious housing shortfall. The latest Roy Morgan State of the Nation report reveals the figures behind this situation.

Increased demand for housing close to the city centre has been a key factor driving up Auckland’s property prices and making it harder for prospective buyers to enter the market. Currently, the city has the country’s lowest home ownership rate (32.3% of residents, compared to 35.2% in Wellington and 37.7% in the rest of New Zealand).

The percentage of Aucklanders paying off mortgages (35.4%) is also under the national average (36.6%).

Home ownership in New Zealand: Auckland, Wellington, and the rest of New Zealand

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (New Zealand), April 2012 – March 2013
Base: New Zealand population aged 14+

Crowded houses

Little wonder, then, that Auckland is now home to the country’s highest percentage of renters – 32.3%, as opposed to 29.6% in Wellington and 24.7% in the rest of New Zealand.

What’s more, Auckland households are more likely to consist of five or more residents (23.9%) than households in Wellington (18.8%) or the rest of the country (16.2%).

Number of people in household: Auckland, Wellington and rest of New Zealand

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (New Zealand), April 2012 – March 2013
Base: New Zealand population aged 14+

High household density is most widespread in South Auckland, where families tend to be larger and the average socio-economic status lower. For example, 12% of households in this part of the city have three or more children, considerably more than the national average of 7.3%.

Maori and Pacific Islander households are also prevalent in South Auckland, many of them from either the E or FG quintiles (well over half of New Zealand’s Maori and Pacific Island populations fall into these categories) — and many being left behind in the current housing price boom.

Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan Research, says:

“Although the Government is trying to address this situation with strategies such as the Auckland Housing Accord and the New Auckland Unitary Plan, it will be some time before the balance is restored. Many thousands of new homes are needed to meet the demand, and in the meantime, property prices show no sign of declining.

“While housing prices are rising across New Zealand, Auckland’s situation is exacerbated by its population growth. With more people than available homes, it’s inevitable that prices will keep creeping up.

“Auckland’s sizeable Maori and Pacific Islanders populations must also be considered: with many of them falling into the lower socio-economic quintiles, they are at a distinct disadvantage in what is already an uneven playing field.”

In this Roy Morgan State of the Nation Report, we have measured all of these issues and more – plotted them over time – and explored in more detail how they have played out, in terms of Society, Technology, Economy, Politics, and Environment. Click here to view the report and other Roy Morgan reports and data.

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Roy Morgan Research is the largest independent Australian research company, with offices in each state of Australia, as well as in New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom. A full service research organisation specialising in omnibus and syndicated data, Roy Morgan Research has over 70 years’ experience in collecting objective, independent information on consumers.

In Australia, Roy Morgan Research is considered to be the authoritative source of information on financial behaviour, readership, voting intentions and consumer confidence. Roy Morgan Research is a specialist in recontact customised surveys which provide invaluable and effective qualitative and quantitative information regarding customers and target markets.

Roy Morgan Research New Zealand

Roy Morgan Research was set up in New Zealand in the 1990s and has been collecting information across a wide range of industries in New Zealand ever since. Roy Morgan currently has over 10 years of trended data on a geographically and demographically representative sample of over 12,000 New Zealanders aged 14+.

Margin of Error

The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.

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Roy Morgan Research

New Zealand's leading social and market research company

A full service research organisation specialising in omnibus and syndicated data, Roy Morgan Research has over 70 years' experience in collecting objective, independent information on consumers. Roy Morgan Research was set up in New Zealand in the 1990s and has been collecting information across a wide range of industries in New Zealand ever since. Roy Morgan currently has over 10 years of trended data on a geographically and demographically representative sample of over 12,000 New Zealanders aged 14+.

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