It’s Beautiful and Virtually Covid-Free. Just Don’t Try to Buy a House in New Zealand

Famous for its handling of the pandemic, its stunning mountain scenery and its trailblazing prime minister, New Zealand is now becoming known for something else — one of the least affordable housing markets in the world.

House hunter Femke Burger has just one word for it: brutal.

The 32-year-old insurance case manager has been looking for a home in the country’s capital, Wellington, for 10 months, often jostling with up to 100 other people at public viewings. She saw about 60 properties and had 10 offers rejected before finally succeeding. In that time, asking prices soared, forcing her to expand her initial budget of NZ$700,000 ($493,000) four times just to compete.

“That 10 months has cost me upwards of NZ$150,000 in terms of house price values. It’s just mind blowing and I don’t quite know how to make sense of that,” she said. “I’m offering everything I have — I won’t have any savings left in order to make this happen, and that’s a really scary prospect.”

New Zealand now ranks as one of the most expensive housing markets relative to income in the OECD. Auckland, home to a third of the country’s population, is the fourth least affordable city in the world, according to urban planning consultancy Demographia.

There are fears that house prices have entered bubble territory. They surged more than 20% in the year through February, taking the national median to NZ$780,000. In Auckland, it jumped to NZ$1.1 million.