NZ no longer least-affordable housing market

Falling house prices have prompted New Zealand's housing affordability to improve slightly in the past year, compared with other countries.

Instead of leading six countries for the most dire house price/wage comparison, we are now only the second-worst nation and tagging Australia when it comes to the most unfavourable income and property comparison.

In a surprise move, the Tauranga/Western Bay of Plenty market is now less affordable than Auckland.

Demographia, an international survey business run by Hugh Pavletich of Christchurch and Wendell Cox of the United States, today issued its fifth annual report showing our housing fortunes improved slightly on an international scale.

The United States, Australia, Britain, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand were studied and the results revealed our house hunters still faced one of the biggest gaps between earnings and house prices.

A year ago, NZ was worst off out of the six, a result questioned by the Prime Minister at the time, Helen Clark, who dubbed it misleading, saying the survey's sample of countries was too small and it lacked enough European nations to have any real meaning.

This year, the survey has expanded to compare earnings with house prices in 265 cities, up from 227 cities last year.

To read the full NZ Herald article click here

Posted: 26 Jan 2009

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