Owning home becoming a dream

Aucklanders are facing hardship in retirement because they can't afford to buy a house, a new report warns.

A 500-page Auckland region housing market assessment, published yesterday, says half of the region's 120,000 households renting their homes from private landlords are already in "financial housing stress" - paying more than 30 per cent of their gross incomes on rent.

Retired people are the worst affected, with rent eating up more than 30 per cent of their incomes for 56 per cent of retired renters, compared with 30 per cent of renters who are still employed and 48 per cent of other renters such as beneficiaries.

In contrast, only about 15 per cent of people who own their own homes pay more than 30 per cent of their incomes on the mortgage, and at present the vast majority (about 86 per cent) of retired people own their own homes.

But one of the report's authors, Steve O'Malley of Darroch Research, said growing numbers of Aucklanders faced the prospect of being unable to buy a house before they retired.

"In New Zealand, for ever, it has been assumed that people as they move into old age would be pretty well provided for in terms of their housing.

To read the full NZ Herald story, click here

Posted: 20 Nov 2010

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