Kelly Makiha: Quite frankly, our house prices are sad

Owning your own home is becoming unreachable. Photo / File

OPINION

One of my last memories of my dad before he died was being taken for a ride on the back of his tractor as he drove me around the farm and showed me all the latest things he'd done to the place.

He loved that farm so much and was so proud to show me around whenever I travelled home to the South Island.

He always told us the story how he was only 20 and bought the property for $18,000, much to the horror of his family and friends who thought it was a gamble he'd regret.

Of course, it wasn't.

He planted every tree himself to ensure the animals were well sheltered and with the help of us unimpressed teenagers, made sure every thistle was grubbed.

Not long before he died, I asked his advice about buying our first home. We were renting it at the time paying $190 a week. The mortgage repayments were going to be $210 a week. Dad wasn't sure. He thought I might be setting my sights a bit high.
That sounds funny now.

Buying our first home was always a goal. We saved, we researched and like many young couples we took the plunge - sacrificing many things along the way.

When we reached our goal, there was a real sense of accomplishment. Suddenly we discovered a love of gardening, home renovations and staying at home. We took pride in our place.

Times have changed and frankly, it's sad.

According to CoreLogic NZ's latest figures, Tauranga's average property value is now $888,930 and Rotorua's is $600,000.

Striving to own your own home is completely unreachable for most now. You simply can't save that kind of money for a deposit.

Instead of working hard and saving for an end goal, the dream is so hard to achieve it makes you wonder why you'd bother.

The last thing our younger generations need is a lack of enthusiasm to get ahead financially as their lives are already more complicated than what ours were growing up.

As the reality of homelessness bites, one of the greatest gifts you can give your children is teaching them good money habits so they can be homeowners one day.

But if our housing crisis and lack of homes, in general, doesn't improve, children won't be keen to fly the nest to make lives for themselves.

What is even more concerning is it appears to me that taking risks financially will get you further ahead in life than good, old fashioned hard work and saving.