House prices are expected to continue skyrocketing for the rest of the year, meaning the market will keep getting more unaffordable.
It comes as values increased markedly across many districts in New Zealand over the past 10 years. The small North Island town of Kawerau has seen prices jump 132 percent in the last decade, with the average asking price sitting at $351,413, according to data compiled by realestate.co.nz.
But it won't just be small towns seeing an increase - Auckland prices are expected to continue rising too, property expert Ashley Church says.
"House price inflation will continue right through 2021. In the case of Auckland, that's because the Auckland property boom has basically started again," he says.
"It started a little bit early. That will carry on not just through 2021 but for the next seven, eight, nine, 10 years."
Nationally, house prices have risen 77 percent over the past decade, compared to just 34 percent for the average household income. Wages clearly aren't keeping up.
"You can just see the wide gulf we're starting to see," Infometrics senior economist Brad Olsen says.
"More importantly, as those house prices continue to rise at such a fast clip compared to incomes, it means that everyone's on such a backfoot that it takes longer and longer to get into a house."
If those saving for a home aren't already locked out of the market, they could be soon.
"Housing used to be part of the great Kiwi dream. That dream is very quickly slipping away."
Another area that saw a massive increase in average asking prices is Hasting, with prices up by 69 percent.
Hastings homeowner Quinn Ryan bought his house two years ago for $640,000, but it's already worth a lot more than that.
"This place has definitely gone up in value. It's worth around the million-dollar mark now," he says.
He bought his first house at 18 but knows it'd be much harder for those starting out now.
"So I've been in property eight years now, so definitely good getting into it younger, and it has just boomed. Since COVID as well, property's just gone berserk."
Regions that saw prices increase considerably over the past decade are Central Hawke's Bay (108 percent increase), Hamilton City (102 percent), Waitakere City (99 percent), and Central Otago (96 percent).
Only the West Coast townships of Westland and Greymouth (both 2 percent) failed to crack double-figure asking price growth in the last 10 years.
