Workers being told to hunker down, house prices breach the million-dollar mark and a new twist in the Boris Johnson lockdown parties saga in the latest New Zealand Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
A Whangārei man claims he still cannot afford to buy a home despite having a deposit saved and spending 10 months homeless, living rent-free in his car.
And now his home ownership dreams are moving even further out of reach with his youth work employer expected to fire him next week because he isn't vaccinated against Covid.
The man - who didn't wish to be named - said his plight highlights both how skyrocketing house prices are leaving many would-be buyers behind and how vaccine-hesitant Kiwis now face challenges in every aspect of their lives.
He said he hadn't been a typical rough sleeper.
When on the streets, he was earning about $70,000 a year and had a "six-figure" deposit in the bank after his mum sadly passed away and he sold her rural home in December 2020, he said.
Yet, along with fast-rising prices, the main reason he hadn't yet bought a home was fear the mortgage repayments would put him on his financial limit with just a single income.
"(Buying a home) could be done by tightening the belt, but it would be just breaking even each week," he said.
And while he was a unique case - as a full-time-employed, homeless house hunter - the man said he wasn't the only buyer battling rising house prices.
According to the most recent OneRoof-Valocity Property Report, Northland's average property value jumped $190,000 - or 29 per cent in the year to November 2021.
The report found 28 suburbs in the region now have houses worth $1 million or more.
Young couple Matt and Terai Elia told the report they paid nearly $900,000 for a four-bedroom house in Whangārei's Totara Parklands, a price well above the $415,000 they paid for a home in Christchurch with a big section.
The Whangārei man, meanwhile, said he had been to more than 40 open homes in the past year but was continually discouraged by the fierce competition for houses and how fast prices are jumping.
He also spent 10 months of 2021 living in his car.
That happened after he initially had trouble finding a rental when he sold his mum's house.
Working one week on in either Hamilton and Auckland and then one week off, he said he is provided accommodation while at work.
It was during his weeks off back in Whangārei that he stayed in his car, with occasional nights crashing on a relative's couch.
Living out of his car helped save rental costs, but it wasn't enough to keep up with house prices.
Buying a house with a home loan debt over $350,000 would've meant he "would be just covering the basic costs of living for the next 15 years", he claimed.
"You factor in your mortgage repayments, you got to be insured, got to pay rates - and bear in mind interest rates were at a historic low," he said.
"So the housing market eroded away the savings I was making."
Living in his car also took a big physical and mental toll.
As well as putting on 8kg from too many takeaway dinners, it was freezing in winter and stressful.
"You've gotta pick your spots, I had to move at 3 or 4 in the morning a few times with drunken groups turning up or parties not too far away," he said.
"I found a couple of spots where people are living in vans and cars and will park together so there is safety in that group."
He also saw a lot of women with children parked in people mover cars, "and that concerns me".
Thanks to a gym membership, he was able to shower each day.
However, during the Covid lockdown when the gym closed, he instead had to sneak into the back of a campground for his showers.
The man agreed people will likely doubt his story.
"I guess you're thinking by now there must be more to this situation than I'm letting on, but there is no controversy here, I am a health-conscious individual, do not use drugs" and have no addictions, he said.
A Whangarei man (not pictured) had a deposit saved and spent 10 months living rent free in his car but has still been unable to buy a home. Photo / Supplied
Recently, he moved into a rental just south of Whangārei, yet his dream of home ownership now looks further away than ever.
That's because he has chosen not to get a Covid vaccination.
Despite the vast majority of New Zealand and global health experts saying the Pfizer Covid vaccine is safe, the man doesn't believe them.
"I'm not anti-vax , I just don't like the technology - it's unproven from my opinion," he said.
He's also willing to lose his job over his belief, he said.
As a youth worker, the deadline to be double vaccinated at his workplace is next week.
He is holding on to hope a last-minute exception might come up so he can work for a while longer but is resigned to ultimately losing his job at some point,
