[Paul]

Found an interesting survey on global house affordability covering major areas of US, UK, Canada, NZ, Aus and Ireland.

Very detailed document but basically it is comparing the median household income to median house prices and using the multiple as the affordability index.
The most interesting thing to me was how it seems to be an international problem with housing affordability in the major population centres of all the countries in the survey.

The 3 main areas of NZ don't come out too well and neither do most of the UK's entries

survey here (http://www.demographia.com/dhi-ix2005q3.pdf)

[stu70]

Thanks for the post. I am of the opinion that surveys and stats are something that need to be handled with caution. They can present information not necessarily in the most accurate fashion. Forums such as these sometimes are better source of info IMHO;you get to hear first hand from people who have done it. Not saying stats are always wrong, just my personal preference. Cheers

[pieeater]

I heard the highlights of this report on local radio.If I remember rightly it said that to purchase the average house in N.Z. would cost on average 7 times the annual average income of a working couple.Thus making it one of the most expensive places in the developed world to buy a house.It also mentioned the ability to now get mortgages of %100 for a 35 year term,to 'help' purchasers buy their own home.It's all very interesting isn't it.When added to something my Father said on the phone the other day.He was being attended to by a Maori nurse from Whangarei in a Lancashire hospital last week.My Father loves it here in Northland,he has visited many times.In the low times when we have cosidered returning to the U.K.he usually asks why would you want to come back to this **.Blunt as old men can be he asked the Nurse why on earth she would want to be there too.She told him that although she loved and missed N.Z. she was there because the pay was better over there and felt that she would not be able to get ahead if she stayed here.It kinda supports the findings of the report in my opinion.Not bashing N.Z. here just accounting a true story.

[barryp]

It is hard to compare across countries, given widely different interest rates and widely different tax treatments of homeownership.

But I think it's still fair to try the comparison, because so much of current perceptions of economic well-being is tied to home price appreciation. Basically, it's risky when people treat their personal dwellings as ATM's. This is acknowledged as a risk by the NZ central bank, which may well raise interest rates today (tomorrow?)

It's also of great concern to migrants. One of the appeals to us when we started the process two years ago was how relatively affordable housing was in NZ, except in Auckland. That appeal is now less, unless you are blessed enough to bring over a large pile of strong money (euro or sterling).

[Paul]

It is hard to compare across countries, given widely different interest rates and widely different tax treatments of homeownership.

But I think it's still fair to try the comparison, because so much of current perceptions of economic well-being is tied to home price appreciation. Basically, it's risky when people treat their personal dwellings as ATM's. This is acknowledged as a risk by the NZ central bank, which may well raise interest rates today (tomorrow?)

It's also of great concern to migrants. One of the appeals to us when we started the process two years ago was how relatively affordable housing was in NZ, except in Auckland. That appeal is now less, unless you are blessed enough to bring over a large pile of strong money (euro or sterling).

Totally agree its only an indication which as you say kind of supports the perception of unaffordability (wherever you are)

It also has a knock on effect on such popular migrant destinations. As the prices rise in say Uk over the past 10/15 years, those people who chose to cash in and emigrate took a lot of money to buy in their new country. If this carries on over a number of years (which it has) then the prices in that new country can only go one way which is kind of what NZ/Aus etc have all seen. Obviously there are a number of other factors as well