Indicators still flash for housing crisis

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A mismatch between housing supply and demand has seen escalating rental costs and registrations for social housing in recent years, with major impacts on household budgets and whānau wellbeing in Tairāwhiti. The following housing indicators in the Infometrics regional economic monitor for the final quarter of 2013 provide insights into the current situation.

About 180 new residential building consents were issued here in 2023, an increase of 13 percent; there was a 24.8 percent decrease nationally.

House sales decreased by 14 percent in 2023, compared with 2022 — versus a 0.7 percent lift nationally. A total of 369 houses were sold, 36 percent less than the 10-year annual average of 575 sales. The number of new real estate listings decreased by 36.4 percent compared with 2022 (national decline was 12.1 percent). The 361 new listings here was 49 percent less than the 10-year annual average of 711 new listings.

Average house values in Tairāwhiti were down 5.6 percent in December 2023 compared with a year earlier (NZ decline, 2.2 percent). The average current house value here of $610,183 is 34 percent less than the New Zealand average of $928,184.

Housing is more affordable in Tairāwhiti than nationally, with the mean house value 5.1 times the mean household income here, compared with 7.0 times nationwide.

Residential rents in Tairāwhiti have closed in on the national average over the past five years, increasing by 8.2 percent to an average of $527 a week last year, compared with the New Zealand average of $550  (up 6.0 percent). Growth in residential rents here peaked at 18.3 percent in the year to September 2022.

Since 2022, renting has been less affordable here than the national average. Mean rents are now 23.1 percent of mean houshold incomes, compared with 21.5 percent nationally.

An average of 92 households were in emergency housing in Tairāwhiti last year, an 18.6 percent reduction on 2022. (Nationwide there was a 17.0 percent decrease.)

Housing register applicants rose 2.5 percent to an average of 604 in 2023 — the most alarming sign of a housing crisis that deepened over 2019-2021. The eight-year annual average of housing register applicants here is 361.

The number of public houses in Tairāwhiti increased by 0.9 percent in 2023 (national increase 2.9 percent) to an average of 1325, up slightly on the five-year annual average of 1298.

Kāinga Ora First Home Grant purchases have dropped in recent years — with 45 properties purchased using this grant of up to $10,000 in the 12 months to September 2023, compared with a seven-year annual average of 105 ; however, this was up 15 percent on the previous 12 months. (The national increase was 49 percent.)