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Debbie Jamieson/The Press
Servicing an average mortgage in Queenstown could cost 90% of household income, according to new figures.
New housing affordability figures show it can take almost 18 years to save for a deposit on a house in Queenstown and 90% of household income to service the mortgage.
The CoreLogic figures show that while housing is slowly becoming more affordable across New Zealand, there are several South Island hotspots with some of the worst figures in the country.
North Island holiday area Thames-Coromandel is the least affordable in New Zealand with Queenstown second.
The Kaikōura District, the MacKenzie District, Nelson City, Taupo and Kaipara make up the top seven spots.
CHRIS MCKEEN/STUFF
House prices likely to rise post-election, regardless of who wins, Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod says.
CoreLogic chief economist Kelvin Davidson said the figures don’t measure income from investment returns and that might make affordability look worse than it is in places like Queenstown, Thames-Coromandel and Nelson.
But those who deal with the consequences of housing affordability directly say the figures reflect exactly the kind of issues the towns are facing.
ANDY MACDONALD / STUFF/Nelson Mail
A new report finds it takes 11.1 years to save for a 20% deposit on an average house in Nelson and cost 57% of a household’s income to service the mortgage.
Nelson mother-of-five Jen Sasa said she spent six months in “inappropriate” emergency housing last year after her family was forced to leave their rental property of 13 years because the landlord was returning from overseas.
She needed a four-bedroom house but could not find anything suitable for less than $660, which she could not afford.
“Even at $500 there’s only a small amount left for food and power,” she said.
She looked at putting a cabin on her mother’s property but could not get council permission.
Her commitment to find a property before Christmas saw her emailing and contacting everyone from real estate agents to Kainga Ora, her local MP and the Salvation Army.
Eventually she found a property and was able to move in two days before Christmas.
“The kids were rapt. They were over the moon,” she said.
According to the CoreLogic figures it would take 11.1 years to save for a 20% deposit and cost 57% of a household’s income to service the mortgage on an average house in Nelson.
Braden Fastier/Stuff
Nelson Tasman Housing Trust Director Carrie Mozena says demand for affordable rentals is increasing.
Nelson Tasman Housing Trust director Carrie Mozena said there was increasing pressure for affordable rentals in the area and there were about 100 people on the trust’s waiting list.
Nelson had low wages, many seasonal workers and a challenging building landscape and regulatory environment, which contributed to the unaffordability, she said.
A growing senior population, including retirees moving from main centres to Nelson also contributed, she said.
Queenstown Salvation Army community ministries director Andrew Wilson said the figures were not a surprise.
Unaffordability caused many people to leave town, fuelling the transient nature of the community, he said.
It was normal for a family to be paying $1000 rent per week, causing stress and driving people to seek support for living costs, he said.
“We’re seeing about 100 people a week seeking food support.”
Queenstown social media feeds are full of people looking for rental accommodation amidst reports of people sleeping in cars and camping grounds because they cannot find anywhere to live.
Debbie Jamieson/Stuff
Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust executive officer Julie Scott says there are more than 1000 eligible households on the trust’s waiting list.
Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust chief executive Julie Scott said her organisation had more than 1000 eligible households on our waiting list.
The CoreLogic figures show an average property value of $1,716,650 in the district and average household income $129,252.
Scott said the households on the trust’s waiting list had an average income of $71,000.
Anecdotal evidence showed a recent surge in registrations was driven by a shift in the rental market with landlords either taking back their houses or increasing rents to unaffordable levels, she said.
“Ultimately most people would love to be in a position to buy with us. However, a lot of these people need immediately an affordable secure tenure property.”
Supplied/Stuff
A new home built by the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust at Longview, Lake Hawea.
The trust has just allocated homes to eight Wānaka families in a new development site at Lake Hāwea, which would ultimately have 28 affordable homes.
The homes are sold under the Secure Home ownership model – where the purchase price is based on the cost of house construction and owners pay a below-market ground rent on the land – and are selling for between $350,000 and $427,000.
The average ground rent is $117 per week.
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