The nationwide housing shortage and soaring prices are only going to get worse, according to a new report from the think-tank The New Zealand Initiative. Researcher and report author Leonard Hong says demand side solutions such as the bright-line test are just tinkering around the edges, and only freeing up enough supply can solve housing unaffordability and overcrowding.
His projections are that between 2019 and 2060, even with low migration and low fertility, New Zealand will need nearly 15 and a half thousand additional dwellings each year, in addition to the current undersupply of 40,000. He says long-term demographic transformations and changing household sizes are affecting overall housing demand.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
