Affordability rank surprises

Houses in Napier and Hastings are the fifth most expensive in the country, according to a new report.

Houses in Napier and Hastings are the fifth most expensive in the country, according to a new report.

Demographia International's latest housing affordability survey found median house prices were five times higher than median household incomes.

The survey was based on 2013 data from the Real Estate Institute New Zealand and Statistics New Zealand where the median price of a Napier-Hastings house was $292,200 and the median household income was $57,700.

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said he was surprised by the survey, as he considered Hawke's Bay a very affordable place to live.

"The beauty of Hawke's Bay is its affordability," he said. "Overall, we have a very high standard of living and a very affordable way of life."

Mr Dalton expected the region's large number of low income workers had affected the figures.

"We're largely a rural and land-based economy, which has a lot of low paid workers in those sectors.

"The challenge for Hawke's Bay is to upskill our workforce," he said.

Survey authors Hugh Pavletich of Christchurch and Wendell Cox of the US said the New Zealand Government should take some responsibility for failing to address housing affordability.

"This year's survey rates Auckland housing at 8.2 times annual household incomes; Tauranga 6.8; Christchurch 6.1 [the same as New York]; Wellington 5.2; Napier-Hastings 5.1; Hamilton 4.7; Dunedin 4.6 and Palmerston North 4.1 times. Overall, the major New Zealand metros are rated severely unaffordable at 5.2 times annual household incomes ..."

The authors cited factors such as inadequate land supply, inappropriate infrastructure financing and "exasperating bureaucratic process bottlenecks".

Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith said there had been improvement.

"I just don't accept there's been no progress when the latest building consent figures confirm the fastest rate of new-house building in seven years in key centres like Christchurch, building consent rates doubling in the past 12 months and in Auckland growing about 30 per cent," he said.

Dr Smith said housing affordability problems went back 25 years but the Government planned additional reforms this year, particularly around the Resource Management Act.

Labour housing spokesman Phil Twyford said the Government had priced young New Zealanders out of the housing market.

"After six years in power, National's housing policies have not fixed the housing crisis, they have made it worse," he said.

"National has failed to significantly increase the supply of new homes. And even if the Government's ambitious targets are met over the next three years they still won't eliminate the 18,000 shortfall of new homes that has built up under National."

Planning expert Dr Joel Cayford said people should bear in mind the survey didn't "compare apples with apples".

"It's pretty difficult to compare New Zealand prices with international prices as a lot of New Zealanders live in houses, whereas a lot of other countries in the survey are largely made up of people living in apartments," he said.

"Besides, housing affordability is all about people going into their first homes, so a survey on housing affordability should compare the lower quartile of house prices, not medians."

Using median household income was also an issue as a lot of people had earnings that weren't declared as income, he said.