Houses out of reach for young: poll

Most people think young New Zealanders can no longer afford to buy their first homes because they are too expensive.

And if they happened to come across a spare $100,000, most young people would rather put it in the bank or pay off debt than invest it in property anyway.

A Herald DigiPoll survey asked 1000 people their views on the property market, what prices would do and who should be allowed to invest in large portions of land.

The findings showed most thought the market was too difficult for young people to enter and that prices would rise or stay the same rather than fall in the immediate future.

Those views could explain why an Australian study, which echoed what was happening in large New Zealand cities, found young people were not leaving their parents' home until a much later age.

Although there are few statistics on the ages of buyers, the Real Estate Institute has said it was also worried about young people not being able to enter the property market.

"We are also concerned about the ability for young people to purchase their first home and we have been saying for some time that there is a need for some sort of assistance programme to help young people into their first home," said its national president, Howard Morley.

Mr Morley said that assistance could be by way of help with a deposit or servicing of the mortgage - similar to the scheme in Australia where first-home buyers are offered a $7000 grant.

In November Housing Minister Steve Maharey announced plans to help by lowering the cost of a first home and servicing of loans but details are still unknown.

In the meantime, the housing market continues to spiral up, with median house prices reaching a record high in November. The institute said total sales reached 9502, up from 8191 in October, and the national median price hit a record $260,000, compared with the October median of $252,500 and $235,000 a year ago.

Most people polled said they expected house prices to rise or stay the same last month. Only 18 per cent expected prices to fall.

People were also asked about foreigners buying large New Zealand properties and the opinion was fairly evenly split, with 44.5 per cent saying it was okay and 48.9 opposed to it.

Young people were more likely to approve of foreign ownership, with 55 per cent of 18- to 39-year-olds supporting it, compared with 33.3 per cent of people over 60.

A bill making it tougher for foreigners to buy large properties was tabled in November, after the Overseas Investment Commission's approval of an application by Canadian singer Shania Twain to buy two high-country stations at Wanaka for $21.4 million.