CivicNZ

Affordability

Are housing costs taking a larger share of household income?

Insufficient

Non-owner-occupier households spending 30% or more on housing now account for 45.9%, up from 44.5% in the year to June 2023.

Stats NZ Housing in Aotearoa 2025 shows 45.9% of non-owner-occupier households spent 30% or more of disposable income on housing costs in the year ended June 2024 (42.8% in 2022; 44.5% in 2023). MBIE bond data gives the rent level by region.

Data as of 13 Oct 2026

Topic verdict rule: insufficient indicators. Official significance, published CIs, then like-for-like year-on-year — never hand-set.

Non-owner-occupier households spending 30%+ of disposable income on housing

45.9 %

Official series

Non-owner-occupier households spending 30%+ of disposable income on housing

Insufficient

45.9 % · weak confidence

Sample-survey share without a published confidence interval or significance call — CivicNZ does not invent a Better/Worse verdict.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Development · as of 1 Dec 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Percentage of non-owner-occupier households paying 30% or more of disposable income on housing costs.

MBIE geometric mean weekly rent

Insufficient

564 $/week · weak confidence

Seasonal series needs the same quarter or month a year earlier. A short within-year run is not a trend.

MBIE Tenancy Services · as of 13 Oct 2026 (opens in a new tab)

Geometric mean weekly rent of bonds lodged. MBIE prefers this to the median because rents cluster on round numbers. Source: Tenancy Services rental bond data.

Regional league

MBIE geometric mean weekly rent, by region

  1. 1Auckland Region (opens in a new tab)$624 a week
  2. 2Bay of Plenty Region (opens in a new tab)$593 a week
  3. 3Otago Region (opens in a new tab)$584 a week
  4. 4Hawke's Bay Region (opens in a new tab)$565 a week
  5. 5Gisborne Region (opens in a new tab)$563 a week
  6. 6Northland Region (opens in a new tab)$543 a week
  7. 7Nelson Region (opens in a new tab)$540 a week
  8. 8Waikato Region (opens in a new tab)$539 a week
  9. 9Wellington Region (opens in a new tab)$536 a week
  10. 10Taranaki Region (opens in a new tab)$524 a week
  11. 11Canterbury Region (opens in a new tab)$515 a week
  12. 12Manawatū-Whanganui Region (opens in a new tab)$498 a week
  13. 13Southland Region (opens in a new tab)$452 a week
  14. 14West Coast Region (opens in a new tab)$436 a week

Official one-way regional table. Rankings are associations, not causes. CivicNZ does not adjust for household mix. Data as of 13 Oct 2026. Official source (opens in a new tab)

Published breakdowns

Official tables by region, income and household type where the agency publishes them. Group differences are associations, not causes.

Tenure

GroupLatestData as of
Owner-occupied (opens in a new tab)26.6 %1 Dec 2025
Renters (opens in a new tab)45.9 %1 Dec 2025
Renters (rent only, Housing in Aotearoa) (opens in a new tab)49.2 %17 Jun 2025

Ethnicity

GroupLatestData as of
Māori (opens in a new tab)34.7 %1 Dec 2025
Māori renting households (opens in a new tab)64.1 %17 Jun 2025
Pacific peoples (opens in a new tab)33.1 %1 Dec 2025
Pacific renting households (opens in a new tab)69.9 %17 Jun 2025

Region

GroupLatestData as of
Auckland Region (opens in a new tab)624 %13 Oct 2026
Bay of Plenty Region (opens in a new tab)593 %13 Oct 2026
Canterbury Region (opens in a new tab)515 %13 Oct 2026
Gisborne Region (opens in a new tab)563 %13 Oct 2026
Hawke's Bay Region (opens in a new tab)565 %13 Oct 2026
Manawatū-Whanganui Region (opens in a new tab)498 %13 Oct 2026
Nelson Region (opens in a new tab)540 %13 Oct 2026
Northland Region (opens in a new tab)543 %13 Oct 2026
Otago Region (opens in a new tab)584 %13 Oct 2026
Southland Region (opens in a new tab)452 %13 Oct 2026
Taranaki Region (opens in a new tab)524 %13 Oct 2026
Waikato Region (opens in a new tab)539 %13 Oct 2026
Wellington Region (opens in a new tab)536 %13 Oct 2026
West Coast Region (opens in a new tab)436 %13 Oct 2026

Group gaps

Raw gap beside any official adjusted gap. Association only — not a cause.

household_type

Households spending 30% or more of disposable income on housing costs

Renters compared with Owner-occupied. Period Year ended June 2024.

Raw gap

19.3 percentage points higher

45.9 vs 26.6 percentage points

Official adjusted gap

Not published

An explained share is not published — CivicNZ does not invent one.

HUD republishes HES tenure splits. No official residual after income, household type, or region is published on that page.

Measured factors

  • Context only

    Household income / quintile

    HES also publishes a 40%+ rate for lower-income households, not an adjusted tenure gap.

  • Stratified

    Tenure (rent / mortgage / own outright)

    Official owner / renter split.

  • Not published

    Household type

    The official table for this comparison does not apply or stratify this factor.

  • Context only

    Region

    MBIE bond data is regional for rent levels, not for this HES rate.

  • Stratified

    Ethnicity

    Housing in Aotearoa: 64.1% of Māori renting households and 69.9% of Pacific renting households spent 30%+ of income on rent, versus 49.2% of all renting households.

  • Not published

    Mortgage interest

    The official table for this comparison does not apply or stratify this factor.

  • Not published

    Dwelling quality / size

    The official table for this comparison does not apply or stratify this factor.

  • Not published

    Hours and employment mix

    The official table for this comparison does not apply or stratify this factor.

  • Not published

    Tax and transfers

    The official table for this comparison does not apply or stratify this factor.

30%+ housing-cost rate by tenure (HUD / HES)

Group202220232024
Renters42.8%44.5%45.9%
Owner-occupied20.6%24.8%26.6%
All householdsNot publishedNot published33.4%

All-households rate for 2022–2023 is not published on the HUD indicator page.

What this does not tell us

  • A gap is an association in the official table. It is not evidence that a policy, culture, or household choice caused the difference.
  • CivicNZ does not invent an official adjusted gap or an explained share when the agency did not publish one.
  • National averages hide households that pay typical prices on below-average incomes.
  • Renters and owners have different income and age mixes. The official table does not hold those fixed.

Official source (opens in a new tab) · Data as of 1 Dec 2025

region

MBIE geometric mean weekly rent

Auckland Region compared with Southland Region. Period June 2026.

Raw gap

$172 a week higher

624 vs 452 $/week

Official adjusted gap

Not published

An explained share is not published — CivicNZ does not invent one.

Bond data is a lodged-rent distribution by region. MBIE does not publish a quality-, bedroom-, or income-adjusted regional residual in this extract.

Measured factors

  • Not published

    Household income / quintile

    Bond files do not include tenant income. A rent-to-income residual is not published here.

  • Not published

    Tenure (rent / mortgage / own outright)

    The official table for this comparison does not apply or stratify this factor.

  • Not published

    Household type

    The official table for this comparison does not apply or stratify this factor.

  • Stratified

    Region

    Official regional-council bond statistics.

  • Not published

    Ethnicity

    The official table for this comparison does not apply or stratify this factor.

  • Not published

    Mortgage interest

    The official table for this comparison does not apply or stratify this factor.

  • Not published

    Dwelling quality / size

    Bedroom and dwelling-type splits exist in some MBIE extracts; this compiled row is all dwellings.

  • Not published

    Hours and employment mix

    The official table for this comparison does not apply or stratify this factor.

  • Not published

    Tax and transfers

    The official table for this comparison does not apply or stratify this factor.

Geometric mean weekly rent, June 2026

Area$/week
Auckland624
New Zealand564
Wellington536
Canterbury515
Southland452

Geometric mean of bonds lodged in the month. Last updated 13 October 2026.

What this does not tell us

  • A gap is an association in the official table. It is not evidence that a policy, culture, or household choice caused the difference.
  • CivicNZ does not invent an official adjusted gap or an explained share when the agency did not publish one.
  • National averages hide households that pay typical prices on below-average incomes.
  • A higher Auckland rent is associated with a different dwelling mix. It is not a finding about landlord conduct.

Official source (opens in a new tab) · Data as of 13 Oct 2026

Notable findings

Insufficientmoderate evidence

Non-owner-occupier households spending 30% or more on housing now account for 45.9%, up from 44.5% in the year to June 2023.

Non-owner-occupier households spending 30%+ of disposable income on housing moved from 44.5% to 45.9% (June 2023 → June 2024). Verdict Insufficient is derived (no_published_ci), not an editorial call. The movement is an association in the official series.

Official or openly licensed primary sources only. Definition changes and revisions can move a series without a real-world change.

Read the numbers →Official source (opens in a new tab)

What this does not tell us

  • MBIE geometric mean rent is a lodged-bond distribution. It is not what every tenant pays.
  • The HES 30%+ renter rate includes housing costs, not rent alone, except where Housing in Aotearoa says rent.

Back to affordability