NZ needs 10,000 new houses - report

About 10,000 new homes need to be built in New Zealand to keep pace with population growth and ease the current housing squeeze, a report released by Westpac shows.

The report says the number of houses built halved in the two years to 2009, while population grew 0.4 per cent as fewer Kiwis crossed the Tasman.

The resulting squeeze on housing - only the third since reliable data began in the 1960s - had boosted the average number of people per house in New Zealand from 2.52 to 2.55 during 2009.

A rapid growth in construction activity was needed to ease the squeeze, the report says.

"By our calculations the current rate of house building will be enough to keep the number of people per house constant through 2010, but will not be enough to bring it down," the report says.

Westpac is picking a 23 per cent growth in residential construction for 2011, and even that would only just be enough to keep up with population growth.

To read the full NZ Herald article, click here

Posted: 25 Jun 2010

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