Chris Bishop speaks about the coalition Government's agenda to fix New Zealand's housing crisis at the Property Council of New Zealand Residential Development Summit.
Video / Sylvie Whinray
The Ipsos Housing Monitor 2025, released today, surveyed attitudes to housing in 30 countries, including New Zealand
New Zealanders are mostly happy with their current housing situation, but are more worried than their global counterparts about being able to pay the mortgage in the coming 12 months
Young Kiwis, more than any other nationality in the world except the Dutch, feel less able to afford their own home or a rental than their parents' generation
More than almost anywhere else in the world, young New Zealanders feel increasingly unable to afford a home of their own.
That’s one of the major findings in a new global survey on people’s attitudes to housing, which included 30 countries and more than 22,000 online responsesat the end of last year.
The Ipsos Housing Monitor 2025, released today, reveals that three in four New Zealanders (74%) feel their parents had it better in terms of buying a home or renting one to settle down in.
But for those under 35, this jumps to 81%, the second-highest in the survey behind only the Netherlands, and much higher than the global average of 70%.
The sentiment among younger New Zealanders is also stronger than in comparable countries including Australia (80%), the United States (74%), Canada (72%), and Britain (71%).
Similarly, 77% of New Zealanders think that young people will have a hard time affording their own home, even if they’re working hard in a good job.
And home ownership seems a distant dream for a majority of those yet to gain a foothold on the property ladder: two in three renters don’t believe they’ll ever be able to afford a home of their own, with price being the biggest hurdle.
Similar results emerged in a Kiwibank housing survey at the end of last year, which found a high proportion (76%) believing future generations will be shut out of home ownership without financial help from their parents. And 65% of Gen Z and 43% of millennials had support from the Bank of Mum and Dad to get on to the property ladder.
“Housing aspirations are broadly similar across different countries and generations; home ownership is the dream,” the Ipsos report says.
“All age groups, everywhere, think rising house prices are not a good thing. Housing ‘haves’ are able to see the bigger picture and are sympathetic to the plight of priced-out ‘have-nots’.”
Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced a multi-year shake-up of public housing agency, Kāinga Ora last May. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“There is a whole generation of young New Zealanders who have been locked out of the housing market because average house prices are too high,” Housing Minister Chris Bishop said last year.
“If we’re going to be a property-owning democracy, which [we] used to be, we need to make housing more affordable.”
But the Ipsos survey found that a majority (54%) of New Zealanders believe the Government is on the wrong track when it comes to housing, even as interest rates continue their downward trend.
This doesn’t mean that people are disgruntled with where they are living, however. The survey found that 73% of New Zealanders are happy with their current housing situation, and only 13% are unhappy.
Even a majority of renters (57%) said they were happy with their rental, higher than the global average (47%).
Home ownership in New Zealand peaked at 74% in 1991, fell progressively to 64.5% in 2018, and recovered slightly in 2023 to 66%, according to Census data.
According to the Ipsos survey, the biggest issue is price: “high property prices” (51%) and “cost of renting is too high” (49%) topped the list of the biggest housing challenge; with 70% of renters ticking the latter, well above the global average of 43%.
Three in five New Zealanders expected house prices to go up in the following year, while even more – three in four – expected the cost of renting to increase.
The Government reintroduced interest deductibility for landlords, and hoped it would put downward pressure on rental prices. But the latest inflation figures show rents rising by 4.2% in the year to December.
Next on the list of biggest housing challenges is the “rising cost of building housing” (32%), followed by high interest rates (27%).
New Zealanders are much more likely to cite “not enough housing being built” than the global average (21% versus 16%), and much less likely to say “taxes are too high” (19% versus 28%).
Kiwis rank high prices as the biggest housing challenge, according to the survey, in relation to both property prices and renting.
Only 24% said there was enough affordable housing to buy or rent in their local area, and a majority (64%) are not confident that this will be built in the next few years.
The survey showed that the cost of living remains a pressing concern: 46% of New Zealanders with mortgages are worried about covering their repayments in 12 months’ time, much higher than the global average (39%). A majority of tenants (55%) have the same concerns about paying the rent.
The survey also revealed a false belief: 47% of New Zealanders believe that average house prices rose in the last year. In fact, the average fell slightly (0.3%) and was 15% lower than the market peak three years ago.
The Ipsos survey showed a house in the suburbs as the most desired home, ahead of a house in the country or inner city, or an apartment. Photo / Fiona Goodall
Location, location, location
The Ipsos survey results suggest that New Zealand buyers aren’t willing to move to a place they don’t like for a cheaper home.
The rankings for the most important characteristics are:
A good location (49%)
Value for money (39%)
A low crime rate (35%)
Outdoor space (29%)
Privacy (28%)
This bucks the global trend, where value for money (47%) is ranked above good location (45%).
Kiwis also prefer a detached house in suburbia (41%) than one in the country (23%) or in the inner city (12%). Apartments were less preferable than houses.
Kiwis are much more concerned than the global average about their ability to cover their mortgage repayments. Source: Ipsos Housing Monitor 2025
Kiwis are also far more likely to say rising house prices are good for them (29% compared to the global average of 19%). Unsurprisingly, this sentiment is very strong among New Zealand home owners (41%), while most renters (80%) disagree.
A majority (59% on average) in all but four countries (Poland, Italy, France, and Japan) agree that it’s too easy for landlords to take advantage of tenants. In New Zealand, 61% agree with this.
The sentiment is unsurprisingly higher among renters than home owners, but a majority of the latter (56%) still think the power imbalance lies too heavily in favour of landlords.
The Ipsos survey was based on about 22,000 online adults under the age of 75 in 30 countries, including 1001 adults in New Zealand. The surveying was done over a two-week period up to December 6, 2024, except in New Zealand where it took place over a two-week period up to January 3, 2025.
The margin of error in the New Zealand sample is 3.5%.
A survey showed 82% of homeowners and 57% of renters in New Zealand are happy or somewhat happy with their current housing situation. Source: Ipsos Housing Monitor 2025
Derek Cheng is a senior journalist who started at the Herald in 2004. He has worked several stints in the press gallery team and is a former deputy political editor.
