Carmen Hall: Government needs to address housing affordability

Owning your own home will come with a hefty price tag especially in the Bay of Plenty. Photo / Getty Images

COMMENT:
Our house, according to the bank, has increased in value by nearly one third since we bought it about four years ago.

That is food for thought and if I am honest the massive increase has given us some peace of mind if we ever decided to cash up and relocate out of the Bay of Plenty to somewhere cheaper.

Read more: Property report: Tauranga's most affordable suburbs revealed
A lot of Kiwis aspire to buy their own home but the odds are not in young people's favour.

We were lucky and bought on the cusp of the last boom. At the time you could say we fluked it as Pāpāmoa was experiencing massive growth and our house was walking distance to desirable amenities such as a school, daycare, supermarket and the beach.

At the time we just wanted a roof over our head and had to work hard to amass the 20 per cent deposit following the sale of our house in Invercargill which only resulted in small change.

This newspaper reported on Saturday the top 2019 suburbs in Tauranga and Rotorua, according to data from CoreLogic.

The highest median value in Tauranga was Mount Maunganui at $953,400 while in Rotorua it was Lynmore at $678,050.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, the lowest median value was Western Heights at $343,000 in Rotorua and Parkvale in Tauranga at $480,200.

CoreLogic senior research analyst Kelvin Davidson said Tauranga had some of the most expensive values in the country while low listing numbers in Rotorua had driven up prices.

Granted, bank interest rates are at an all-time low and lenders have loosened up on some of the criteria depending on individual circumstances.

But there is no doubt people are having to take on huge debt to get on the property ladder and that does not come without risk.

New research from OneRoof also showed only a third of New Zealand homes were mortgage-free - despite a prolonged period of low-interest rates.

Meanwhile, 13 per cent of over-65s were renting and another 13 per cent were still paying off a mortgage.

The Government needs to get its act together and address the affordability and housing crisis that shows absolutely no signs of slowing.

A good start might be offering developers more incentives to build homes for those who most need them and increasing the financial assistance to help those who need a hand up.