NZ Tops IMF’s Housing Unaffordability List

New Zealand has topped the International Monetary Fund’s list for housing unaffordability and has outpaced 31 other countries in the house prices to income ratio category. It hit nearly 130 points on the index with the year 2010 being the middle point.

New Zealand also was listed second in regards to annual house price growth in the report.

“Kiwi house prices rose 11 per cent, second only to Sweden’s 14 per cent,” as reported in Stuff.

The International Monetary Fund’s report looked “at the gap between rents and house prices, which showed house prices growing faster than rents in about half the countries surveyed.”

New Zealand’s gap between house prices and rent was wide with the country ranking fifth highest at 124 points behind Turkey on 145 points, Sweden, Germany and Israel.

“It is no wonder that homelessness and unaffordable housing have replaced Lord of the Rings as the angle for international news on New Zealand,” said Phil Twyford, Labour’s housing spokesman in an official statement.

“We now have the most unaffordable housing, relative to incomes, out of 31 of the world’s richest countries.”

Article Source: IMF, August 2016

Image Source: Wikipedia