KEY POINTS:
Chris and Gaby Munro of Sunnynook on the North Shore earn a combined $95,000 a year. But it's not enough for a house.
Throughout last year, they held out hope, but now they are resigned to renting for at least another year, despite being a high-earning, high-achieving couple.
Theoretically, they and their two children should be far from the renting rut.
Ten, even five years ago, the family would have been paying off a mortgage, settled into their own suburban place, safe as houses.
But rising house prices have thwarted them.
"I've had to stop myself looking at Property Press and spending all my evenings on the internet looking for houses," Gaby Munro admits.
This week Property Investors Federation vice-president Andrew King scoffed at a report that said people earning $70,000 could not even afford to buy into the cheapest quarter of Auckland's market.
He cited Glenfield, Panmure, Pukekohe and Te Atatu as areas where decent three-bedroom houses could be bought for $350,000 or under.
Stop buying coffee, overseas travel and flash cars, Mr King advised would-be buyers.
So an outraged Chris Munro emailed the Herald's website.
"Typical comment from a property developer who hasn't actually crunched the numbers for the average family," he wrote.
"If you're dual-income-no-kids, yes, you have no excuse. I have a family of four to feed. We just couldn't make the numbers work, considering the entry price on Auckland's North Shore is high $300,000s, even on the most depressing budgeting regime."
Mr Munro had issued a challenge so we sat down with the family to find out who was right.
Is Mr King out of touch? Are Chris and Gaby Munro expecting too much?
Is a family earning way over double the national average of $44,495 a year now barred from the market?
Mr Munro, 38, a graphics production manager who works in Parnell, and Mrs Munro, 38, a part-time fashion seller working on the Shore, could almost be classified as rich.
Their combined gross of $95,000 leaves them $60,000 a year after tax, and they have saved $14,000.
Even if they found a suitable $350,000 house near where they live, they would need to spend more than half their household income just to pay off a mortgage.
Yet spending any more than a third is classified as being under housing stress.
Borrowing $336,000 for 20 years to buy a $350,000 house, the BNZ's mortgage calculator says they would need to pay $1345 a fortnight on the loan, or $34,970 a year. Their annual rent is $18,200.
Mr Munro said if they bought a house, they would need to budget about $40,000 a year, as a minimum of $5000 was needed for maintenance and repairs. But finding $40,000 a year is impossible even if the food budget is cut to $200 a week.
Feeding a family of four, paying for childcare and school fees, finding enough for the petrol, clothing, electricity, phone and other living expenses - the family are just able to make ends meet paying the rent now.
So they have resigned themselves to renting at $350 a week at least until daughter Evie, 4, starts school.
"It's like banging your head against a brick wall," Mrs Munro said of many months spent house-hunting.
Stuck is how they feel. It's hard for the parents to explain to Joel why the house he is growing up in is not home.
Do they spend too much?
It doesn't look like it. When we visit the Munro family on Anzac Day, daughter Evie has a pink flower in her hair and pink butterfly wings, having just celebrated her fourth birthday.
Balloons decorate the lounge-room floor and the remains of the butterfly birthday cake with its chocolate icing and confectionary are in the dining area.
The furniture is humble: an aged TV. The last overseas trip was "before children".
There's nothing flash about this place. No Sky TV. No one smokes. Gaby Munro had to let her gym membership lapse. Chris Munro needs to get a tooth capped but can't afford it. Gaby has not seen a dentist in four years and is fearing the worst.
They share one car worth about $3000. They have a cellphone, shared and only for emergencies.
She shouts herself two coffees a week. He has none - and he takes his lunch to work and gets the bus.
They have rented the same neat-as-a-pin Sunnynook house for four years, having struck an agreement with friends who are the owners.
"Four years ago, this place was worth $279,000. Now it's worth more than $400,000," said a dispirited Gaby from the driveway.
Are they being too fussy?
This was the view of many talkback callers and letter-writers this week, summed up by the challenge from Property Investors' Federation vice-president Andrew King, who cited four Auckland suburbs where people on $70,000 a year could afford to buy a $350,000 house.
So we showed the Munros houses from these areas in this price range - but they had reasons for turning them all down.
* Glenfield: Would buy there, but no stock available. One $369,000 flat in Simon Ellice Dr is rejected because there is no outdoor playing area for the children.
* Te Atatu: Not an area they know or want to live in. Rejected all properties, including a $349,000 home.
* Pukekohe: Looked around Weymouth but found nothing in their price range. Rejected a Pukekohe house for $329,000 because of location.
* Panmure: Too far from work, school, church and their community. Spurned $350,000 houses.
The family have searched a wide North Shore area, including Sunnynook, Glenfield and Beach Haven. Son Joel goes to Westminster Christian School at Albany, so staying in the area is a high priority.
"We looked anywhere on the North Shore," said Mrs Munro.
What's wrong with other parts of Auckland? Mrs Munro relies on friends for support when the children are ill.
This enables her to work and earn money. If they moved to say Te Atatu, Joel would have to shift schools, Evie would have to change a settled child care and ballet class arrangement and the family would be too far from their church, friends and support network.
