New Zealand's home ownership rate is the lowest since 1951, according to a new look at census figures over the past 100 years.
A Statistics NZ report, A Century of Censuses, also shows that the average household size has halved over the past century, from 5.2 people in each dwelling to 2.7, and the median age has risen from 25 to 38.
The home ownership rate, 53 per cent in 1916, rose to 61 per cent in 1926, but fell sharply in the Great Depression to just 50 per cent by 1936.
It reached 69 per cent in 1971 and peaked at 73.5 per cent in 1986 and 1991.
It was 64.8 per cent in the 2013 census.