Have your say: national house prices hit a record NZ$925,000, should the government force prices down?

As house prices continue to rise, some members of the public have called on the Labour government to force prices down and make home loans easier to obtain, giving more people a chance to own a home. But do they really speak for ordinary New Zealanders?

Coincidentally, local property website OneRoof recently commissioned data analytics company Kantar to survey New Zealanders' attitudes towards house prices. In October this year, the company interviewed more than 1000 randomly selected New Zealanders, asking the following questions about their views on house prices:

 

1: What do you think of current house prices?

2: What is your view on housing affordability over the next two to three years?

3: Do you currently own at least one property?

4: If you sold your home now, how confident would you be of buying another at current prices?

5: New Zealand's average house price has doubled over the past 7 years to as much as a million New Zealand dollars. Who do you think is responsible?

6: Do you agree or disagree that the government should force house prices back to pre-pandemic levels?

The survey found that most New Zealanders believe current house prices are too high. This view was particularly strong among respondents in major cities such as Auckland and Wellington, especially younger people. Most New Zealanders were also pessimistic about the property market's future, believing housing affordability would continue to deteriorate over the next two to three years.

More than two-thirds of respondents currently owned a home in New Zealand, although ownership was more common among those aged over 40 and those living outside Auckland. When current property owners were asked whether they were confident they could buy another property at current prices if they sold their home, around a quarter said they were very confident, while another quarter had no confidence at all.

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Most New Zealanders blamed property investors and overseas buyers for soaring house prices, although the Labour government and the previous National government were also seen as bearing responsibility. Interestingly, only just over two-fifths of respondents agreed that the government should force house prices back to pre-pandemic levels. Strong agreement was more common among first-home buyers, younger people and respondents with annual household incomes of NZ$50,000–100,000.

 

OneRoof poll results

1: What do you think of current house prices in your area?

Just over 80% of New Zealanders believed house prices were too high, with responses varying by age and region. Respondents aged over 60 were significantly more likely to consider prices “about right”, while those aged 18 to 39 were significantly more likely to consider them “too high” (67%). Auckland and Wellington residents were notably concerned that current prices were too high (68% and 77% respectively), while Canterbury residents were indifferent (50%) and residents elsewhere in the North Island considered prices slightly too high (26%).

2: What is your view on housing affordability over the next two to three years?

Most respondents were pessimistic about housing affordability over the next two to three years, with more than two-thirds expecting it to keep deteriorating. Those aged over 60 were more likely to expect a slight improvement in the housing market over that period (19%), while 40% of respondents with annual household incomes of NZ$50,000–100,000 expected affordability to deteriorate significantly. Responses to this question showed no significant differences by gender or region.

3: Do you currently own at least one property?

4: If you sold your home now, how confident would you be of buying another at current prices?

Among current homeowners, most (50%) were unsure whether the proceeds from selling their home would allow them to buy another immediately. Just over two-thirds of all respondents currently owned at least one property. Ownership was more common among those aged over 40, those with personal and household annual incomes above NZ$100,000, and those living in the North Island outside Auckland and Wellington. Aucklanders had a significantly lower ownership rate than people in other regions. Those very confident of buying another property at current prices were predominantly men, including people living in Canterbury and those with higher personal and household annual incomes, above NZ$100,000.

5: New Zealand's average house price has doubled over the past seven years to NZ$1,000,000. Who do you think is responsible for this surge?

The survey found that most New Zealanders blamed property investors and overseas buyers for rising house prices. Those aged 18–29 and 30–39 were more likely to blame property investors (68%) and the Labour government (43%). By contrast, only 28% of those aged 40–49 blamed the Labour government, while only 18% of those aged over 60 blamed National. Male respondents were significantly more likely to blame the current government (43%), the previous government (28%) and first-home buyers (6%). In Auckland, more people blamed banks (26%).

6: To what extent do you agree or disagree that the government should force house prices back to pre-pandemic levels?

Most respondents believed the government should try to force house prices back to pre-pandemic levels. Support came mainly from younger people (29% of those aged 18–39 strongly agreed), lower-income households (26% of those with annual household incomes of NZ$50,000–100,000 strongly agreed) and first-home buyers (38%). Those aged over 50 tended to somewhat disagree (15%). Men were more likely than women to strongly disagree (23%).

 

YIJU survey

Next, YIJU would like to invite readers to take part in an interesting survey. Alongside publishing OneRoof's poll results, we invite Chinese New Zealanders to make their own choices, so we can find out: do polls by mainstream organisations also represent our Chinese community?