A new housing poll shows 40 percent of New Zealanders want the Government to bring house prices down to pre-COVID levels.
The OneRoof-Kantar housing survey shows rising house prices are a concern for the majority of New Zealanders.
The results show more than 80 percent of those polled think the current house prices are too high, while 68 percent believe that housing affordability will worsen in the next two to three years.
The view that house prices are too high was particularly common among those living in Auckland and Wellington, especially in the 18-39 age group but respondents aged above 60 are significantly more likely to think house prices are "about right".
There is mixed reaction to how current home owners feel about purchasing another house, with over half of respondents sitting on the fence.
Those who say they are very confident at being able to purchase another house tend to be living outside of the North Island, in places like Canterbury.
The survey found that most New Zealanders place the responsibility for increased house prices on property investors at 62 percent while overseas buyers received 52 percent of the blame.
"It is surprising that 52 percent of people still say overseas buyers are responsible for house prices doubling in the past seven years, given there has been a ban on almost all foreign buying since late-2018 and only 40 percent of the price doubling since 2014 occurred before the ban," independent economist Tony Alexander says.
With house prices rising sharply over the last 18 months, OneRoof is not surprised that housing affordability has become a critical issue for New Zealanders.
"The jump in house prices in the last 18 months has fuelled concerns among many that the market is out of control," OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan says. "The average property value for all of New Zealand has risen $225,000 in the last 12 months alone to just over $1m.
"The survey results show there is a lot of uncertainty about the current state of the housing market and, concerningly, suggest that Kiwis are polarised around house price levels."
There has been mixed reaction to how the Government should tackle the high house prices. 42 percent believe that the Government should forcibly bring house prices down to pre-COVID levels, compared to 31 percent who disagree.
Vaughan says that further interest rates and new lending controls are likely to take the heat out of the market but this could add to the confusion to what direction the market is heading for many New Zealanders.
