Tauranga is the least affordable main centre in New Zealand despite improvements
Tauranga remains the least affordable main centre in New Zealand for housing, though affordability metrics have improved from their 2021 peaks. The city's high costs are attributed to a combination of property values, mortgage rates, and local wage stagnation.
Why it matters
Housing affordability is a major economic issue impacting the cost of living and social stability in New Zealand's urban centers.
Tauranga’s housing costs are easing from record highs, but the city remains the least affordable in New Zealand. Photo / Rafael Ben-Ari, Chameleons Eye
Tauranga is still New Zealand’s least affordable main centre, but it’s getting better.
Housing has become more affordable compared with the city’s recent history, with property prices, mortgage costs and time needed to save a deposit all improving from their peaks.
But Tauranga remains more expensive than other main centres, with local incomes struggling to keep up with housing costs.
Experts say the city’s affordability problem is tied not only to house prices and supply, but also to wages, infrastructure and the make-up of its property market.
Property insights firm Cotality’s latest New Zealand Housing Affordability Report measured property values, mortgage costs, deposit savings and rents against household incomes.
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