house prices

 

PHOTO:  ABIGAIL DOUGHERTY/STUFF In Auckland, at a suburb level, the researchers estimated that a 10 per cent increase in local population increased prices by 1.6 per cent.

If you’re looking for someone to blame for New Zealand’s soaring house prices, international immigrants are not it, new research says.

A new Motu Economy and Public Policy Research working paper looked at how international immigration flows affected New Zealand’s housing markets.

The median house price nationwide increased from about $120,000 in 1994 to $585,000, according to the Real Estate Institute.

The Motu researchers noted that, between 1986 and 2013, the number of foreign-born New Zealand residents more than doubled while the New Zealand-born population rose by only 9 per cent.

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