In 2012, the median house price in Napier-Hastings was found to be 4.5 times the area's median household income, with the median household income at $57,100 and a median house price of $254,700.
Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce chief executive Wayne Walford said house prices would always remain market driven, while stagnant or failing wages were the result of businesses cutting costs because of the recession.
"Reducing salaries has been an option to try and minimise the wages component of cost as people try to get through the end of the recession."
He said that despite Napier-Hastings becoming increasingly unaffordable there was a marketing opportunity for the region because it was still cheaper than a number of other New Zealand cities.
The report's co-author Hugh Pavletich said the figures were a "worrying trend" and suggest Napier-Hastings, like most of New Zealand, was growing out of reach for ordinary Kiwi home buyers.
He said no urban area of the country surveyed in the report showed a trend towards affordability. Unsurprisingly, Auckland was the most unaffordable New Zealand city and the world's 347th most unaffordable out of 360 cities, with Hong Kong at the top.
The best or perhaps easiest place to buy a house in New Zealand remains Palmerston North/Manawatu, however incomes have slipped there, too, from $55,100 last year to $50,900 this year, although house prices have dropped from $240,700 to $231,100.
