- NZ's national median is now over NZ$780,000 ($723,000) – 22.8% increase
- Auckland’s median is now over $1,100,000 (1,020,000) – 24.3% increase
- Cheaper property and higher salaries continue to lure New Zealanders to Australia
New Zealand is renowned for having much lower wages and salaries than Australia, which in part has explained the higher levels of migration to Australia from New Zealand than the other way around.
However, lower pay has not equated to lower house prices.
According to data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, house prices across the ditch soared over the past year with the national New Zealand median now being NZ$780,000 which translates to approximately AUD$723,000.
This reflects an extraordinary 22.8% year-on-year increase for a country just shy of five million residents – about the same population as Melbourne.
Auckland’s median is now NZ$1,100,000 – $1,020,000 – a 24.3% year-on-year increase.
This median puts Auckland into Sydney’s league, which is extraordinary for an array of reasons.
Greater Auckland’s population is 1.7 million – meaning it is the fifth most populated city across Australia and New Zealand , between Perth and Adelaide.
Sydney’s population is 5.3 million – more than the whole of New Zealand combined.
And in terms of the relative cost of purchasing a house, according to the OECD, Aussies earn on average 32% more than Kiwi counterparts, which is a gap that has widened since 2001.
According to the 2021 Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, which we previously reported on here at The Property Tribune, Sydney and Auckland are among the ten least affordable cities in the world of 92 major cities from eight English-speaking countries ranked.
Melbourne and surprisingly Adelaide are also among the top ten, with Perth being the most affordable of the major Oceania cities.
According to CoreLogic, New Zealand has historically had a large shortfall of housing, which has been a contributing factor to high house prices.
Whilst other parts of New Zealand have better affordability than Auckland in particular, many of these areas provide far fewer work opportunities, hence the popularity of migrating across the ditch.
Take Perth, for example, where the median house price is still below AU$500,000 according to REIWA, the unemployment rate is 6.2% despite the pandemic and the average salary is significantly higher than New Zealand.
This triple advantage is one of many reasons why many Kiwis continue to migrate to Australia – with many experts forecasting this to increase post-pandemic.
