A generation of New Zealanders are increasingly faced with a stark choice between owning their own home or starting a family, warns one of the country's leading sociologists.
The grip of a second housing boom since the turn of the millennium is slowly revealing its consequences — a quantum change in the pattern of our lives.
Massey University sociologist Paul Spoonley said Generation Y, those born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s, had to decide between having a baby or buying a house. Delaying either would have major repercussions.
"The old ambition of getting a job, buying a house, having a family — well, firstly, it's not going to happen in your teens or early 20s any longer — but also the dream of owning your standalone home is becoming very difficult. That's a major cultural change for New Zealand."
The number of live births in New Zealand has been dropping since 2008 and figures show the median age for first-time parents and the average age people buy their first home has soared by almost a decade in the past 50 years.
Other factors have played a role but academics agree that the dramatic price increases in Auckland's super-charged property market deserve some of the blame.
Auckland demographer Dr Janet Sceats said house prices were affecting "absolutely critical life decisions".
She questioned Kiwi women about work/life balance a decade ago as part of a Japanese Government study into their birth rates, one of the lowest in the world.
"Japanese women are choosing not to have children. And that may be the route we are starting to embark on because it's just too hard. The [New Zealand Union of] Students' Association survey [findings] may be a glimmer of what's happening here."
The association's email survey of 5,000 students this month found four out of 10 would either put off having children until they had paid off their student loan, or would wait longer than they would like to have kids. Some respondents also indicated their debt would delay home ownership, which was seen as essential for starting a family.
Spoonley said young people would have to find solutions, including shared housing, renting or moving in with parents, which could ease childcare costs.
"The way in which we make that decision to nest and whether that means a house or a house plus kids, it has become financially a very difficult one to make. It's so difficult [because] not only do you need the capital to buy the house in the first place, but you do several things at the same time — you're at the very early stages of having bought a house so you've got all these incredible costs when you've probably just halved your income [to care for children]."
Professor Paul Spoonley. Photo / Supplied
But those unable to get into the market are forced to give up the hope of a family or become renters for life.
"At the moment we're putting in the hands of inexperienced people the lives of our people," said Auckland University professor of property Deborah Levy.
"Our house is our investment and where we live and is part of our lives and sometimes we forget that. And that is being controlled by banks and more economic variables, but it has social consequences.
"The banks, the economy and everything is affecting the New Zealand lifestyle. Your home is your whole life, it's everything."
