'Marked improvement' in housing affordability - Cotality
A new report from Cotality indicates that housing affordability in New Zealand has returned to long-term average levels as of mid-2026. While buying a home remains challenging, the value-to-income ratio and deposit-saving time have significantly improved since the 2021 market peak.
Why it matters
This data suggests a stabilization in the New Zealand property market, offering a potential turning point for first-home buyers after years of extreme affordability constraints.
Buying a house isn't cheap — but there has been a "marked improvement in affordability" in the past four to five years, according to the latest figures from Cotality. The property analytics providers' latest Housing Affordability Report showed conditions improved across every major measure of affordability in the June quarter. It said the national value-to-income ratio fell to 6.7 in Q2 2026, matching its long-term average and down from the peak of 9.8 in late 2021. The typical time required to save a 20% deposit also eased to 8.9 years, slightly below the long-term average of 9.0 years and well below the cyclical peak of 13.1 years. Despite some <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/08/10/kiwibank-joins-other-major-banks-in-hiking-mortgage-rates/">upwards pressure</a> in the past few months, <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/08/18/why-most-homeowners-dont-need-to-lose-sleep-over-falling-property-prices/">mortgage rates</a> remained much lower than they were at the peak, as did house prices. In the meantime, incomes have continued to grow.
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