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Download AudioChild Poverty Action Group is calling for better monitoring of rental housing stock on the back of new research it commissioned showing renting is increasingly unaffordable.
In the first study of its kind, independent researcher Greg Waite found the overall stock of available affordable rental housing shrunk by between 1 percent and 5 percent between 2018 and 2023; while population grew by 8 percent.
He says the decline was felt in 12 out of 16 regions.
Auckland is now one of the most unaffordable cities to buy or rent in the world.
“It is particularly tough in Auckland. You are seeing some gains, some improvement through new building of smaller properties but they are limited through a ver
y difficult backdrop for renters,” Mr Waite says.
New Zealand is unusual in allowing tax free profits from resale of property meaning investors have been piling the property market for 40 years and prices have increased much more than wages – and the reintroduction of tax deductibility on interest payments will make it worse.
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