While many New Zealanders dream of owning their own patch of land, increasing urban sprawl and housing shortages has prompted architects to advocate for building up and not out.
Owner of Havelock North's Fat Parrot Architecture Pierre du Toit said the kiwi "quarter acre dream" is no longer feasible and that the population's expectations need to shift.
"People measure their success by home ownership and it needs a perception shift so people can accept that not everyone can own a house, and that a house isn't necessarily a freestanding structure on a 700hundred metre piece of land."
Mr du Toit said Hawke's Bay could derive many benefits if the region followed in Europe's footsteps and developed the city's empty spaces into apartments.
"Absolutely the solution is to build up. They should ring fence the city and not move an inch beyond it because there is heaps of land in the city. Even in Havelock North why is no one living in the centre of the village? If you look at a traditional village in Europe people live in the village. They don't even own cars."