"I feel houses are actually more affordable than what that report is stating.
"The thing with that report is that in the Bay, you've got a higher percentage of retired people living in the area, so they're not earning an income. Then you also have a large proportion of properties which are beachfront, which have a higher value. So it's not actually a good reflection of what's affordable in the Tauranga region."
The median household wage for 2016 was $73,788 in the Bay of Plenty, up 9 per cent from $67,756 in 2015. In comparison, the REINZ median house sale price was up 14 per cent for the Bay region in June this year compared with 12 months earlier.
The median Bay of Plenty house sale in June was $555,000, up $69,000 from June 2016.
The Tauranga median was $660,000, up just 3.2 per cent from $639,000.
However, the report said the combined region was actually 3 per cent more affordable than the national average. However, this was swung by outlying figures such as the Central Otago Lakes.
Tauranga First National's Anton Jones said the data would be swayed by the Bay's unique makeup. He said the region's low wages - and demand - should begin to catch up as more people and business was brought to the Bay.
"It'll be more competitive. It's a very desirable place to come and live. There'll be more businesses set up here in the future; there will be higher quality jobs."
And with residential dwelling consents up 60 per cent on 2015's figures, supply could become less of a factor too.
There were 1018 dwellings consented between January and May this year, compared with 993 in 2016, and 637 in 2015.
"It's certainly changed in the 20 or 30 years since I've been here ... We've got some good stuff happening here, and it's going to get better," Mr Jones said.
Tauranga's Budget Advisory Service manager, Diane Bruin, said the figures confirmed much of what she and others had already known.
"The wages don't keep up with affordability with the housing process.
"Our economy has improved, but that's not necessarily coming through to the people.
"There are a lot of people who have moved here from places like Auckland, so houses are more affordable than where they have left, but the income isn't what they had.
"Everybody wants to come live here, but the income isn't quite up there."
Mrs Bruin said the divide between home ownership and income in Tauranga had shrunk, but the cost of housing had not come down enough.
However, she was hopeful.
"It's definitely better than it has been here. There will be a good cruise ship season and hopefully, that equates to more people in hospitality and being employed."
The report said Central Otago Lakes was the most unaffordable region in the country - 14.5 per cent more than Auckland, taking lower wages into account. Nelson/Marlborough was third least affordable.
What Bay election candidates say
Simon Bridges, National
Tauranga is experiencing exponential growth. The Government is working hard to support council to build more homes to meet this demand. Our approach to improving housing affordability is to increase supply, to incentivise builders to construct less expensive homes through the KiwiSaver HomeStart grant scheme, by encouraging smaller sections and homes that make it easier to build affordable houses and assist with the cost of infrastructure. These initiatives are delivering massive growth in residential construction in the Bay of Plenty.
Emma-Leigh Hodge, Green Party
The fact housing affordability has worsened is a product of this Government's failure to step in and curb the housing crisis. New Zealanders on the lowest incomes are now spending 51 per cent of their income on housing, and those in middle-income brackets are not much better. The Green Party in Government will make fixing housing a priority, with a capital gains tax on investors, stopping overseas speculators, a significant building programme, more robust tenancy laws, and a rent-to-buy system.
Rusty Kane, Independent
Homes in Tauranga are the ninth most unaffordable in the world, an all-time high. The median house price is around $600,000 being 10 times larger than the median income of $60,000 thereabout. The solution is to build more houses. It will need a major cross-party national housing plan, through private, government, and local government land and housing development throughout the country. High immigration adds to the problem; new immigrants should be required to build new houses.
Vanessa Lee, The Opportunities Party
Affordability will continue to decline until we plug the hole in the tax system that has created demand for housing as investment opportunities rather than accommodation. Tax reform will gradually lower demand, which will allow for incomes to catch up with property prices.
Clayton Mitchell
This is one of the largest problems we are faced with now and after the 2017 elections. New Zealand First will stop the sales of houses to foreign speculators and return those houses back to the housing market for Kiwis. We will reduce immigration to a sustainable level ensuring we allow people who we need, not those that need us. We will establish the NZ Housing Commission which will: a) Ensure housing and residential land availability. b) Ensure home ownership affordability. c) Ensure sufficient, rental home supply and affordability, to name but a few.
Stuart Pedersen, Act Party
Red tape is choking the housing sector and making inequality worse. Other parties - including National - think Soviet-style state house building programmes are the answer. These will simply waste taxpayers' money, and that is a tragedy for Tauranga residents and all New Zealanders. The answer is to slash the RMA and council zoning rules. Act will also push for half of the GST on new building to go to councils to fund infrastructure, dropping section prices and encouraging development.
Jan Tinetti, Labour
The housing crisis in Tauranga is complex. House prices racing far ahead of incomes means more and more families are locked out of the housing market, and foreign property speculators have been given a free ride making problems so much worse. This needs fixing fast. Labour will build 100,000 new affordable homes for first-home buyers. We'll also close the loopholes that give speculators an unfair advantage, and we'll ban foreign property speculators from buying up our existing homes.
