Home Ownership Increases And Housing Quality Improves

2023 Census data shows home ownership has increased and housing quality has improved, according to statistics released by Stats NZ today.

Around two-thirds of households in Aotearoa New Zealand (1,175,217 or 66.0 percent) now own their home or hold it in a family trust, compared with 64.5 percent in 2018.

“This increase in home ownership, although small, is a reversal of the falling rates we have seen since home ownership peaked in the early 1990s,” Stats NZ principal analyst Rosemary Goodyear said.

Two-thirds of private dwellings now have heat pumps

The 2023 Census data showed a substantial increase in use of energy efficient heating – about two-thirds of private occupied dwellings (66.8 percent) had heat pumps compared with just under half (47.3 percent) in 2018.

“Over one million homes now have heat pumps, which is around 370,000 more than at the time of the 2018 Census,” Goodyear said.

Canterbury region had the highest proportion of homes with heat pumps at 81.2 percent, compared with 71.1 percent in 2018, but Auckland saw the largest increase – from 39.5 to 66.3 percent.

Legislative change around healthy homes tightened standards for rental housing. The Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2020 requires rental housing to meet minimum standards of heating, including a fixed heating source, and to have insulation, ventilation, protection against dampness, and draught stopping.

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Fewer than 1 in 3 households with a telephone but 9 out of 10 have internet access

“Telephone use has dropped dramatically in recent years and is now around half the rate it was in 2018. In 2023, 31.0 percent of households said they had a landline, compared with 62.5 percent at the time of the 2018 Census,” Goodyear said.

While more rural districts still had higher rates of landlines than cities, Chatham Islands territory was the only area where landline use remained high, at 73.1 percent. In all other areas, it was lower than 50.0 percent. Grey and Tararua districts had the next highest rates – at 46.2 and 43.2 percent respectively. Waitemata local board area in central Auckland had the lowest proportion of households with a landline at 14.2 percent.

While most households, about 9 out of 10, had access to the internet, this varied by area. Internet access was lower in more rural districts. Buller district on the West Coast and Ruapehu district in the central North Island had the lowest household internet access at 79.9 percent and 80.9 percent respectively. The territorial authorities with highest internet access were Queenstown Lakes district and Wellington city at 95.1 and 94.8 percent respectively.

Among Auckland local boards, Aotea/Great Barrier had the lowest access at 66.3 percent and Ōrākei local board the highest at 95.6 percent.

Text alternative for Percentage of households that own their own home by territorial authority and Auckland local board area, 2023 Census

Colour-coded heat map of New Zealand shows the home ownership rates for each territorial authority and Auckland local board area. Home ownership is expressed as the proportion of households that own their own home out of all households in the area in the 2023 Census. Five colour-coded categories group proportions from highest values in the darkest colour to lowest values in the lightest colour. Categories are 76.0 percent or more, 70.0 to 75.9 percent, 66.0 to 69.9 percent, 60.0 to 65.9 percent, and less than 60.0 percent.

The highest home ownership rates have some clustering on the map around the north half of the South Island, around South Wairarapa, and around Thames-Coromandel. The category of 70.0 to 75.9 percent has the largest number of areas, nearly double the number of areas than other categories and are spread throughout the map from Far North area to Invercargill city. The lowest homeownership rates tend to be areas in Auckland, as well as Hamilton and Wellington city.

In alphabetical order, the areas where home ownership rates were at 76.0 percent or more are: Aotea/Great barrier, Carterton, Central Hawke’s Bay, Grey, Kapiti coast, Selwyn, South Wairarapa, Tasman, Thames-Coromandel, Waimakariri, Western Bay of Plenty.

In alphabetical order, the areas where home ownership rates were 70.0 to 75.9 percent are: Buller, Central Otago, Clutha, Far North, Franklin, Gore, Hamilton city, Hauraki, Hibiscus and Bays, Horowhenua, Hurunui, Kaikoura, Kawerau, Invercargill city, Manawatū, Marlborough, Masterton, Matamata-Piako, Nelson city, New Plymouth, Rangitikei, Rodney, Stratford, Tararua, Taupō, Timaru, Upper Hutt city, Waiheke, Waikato, Waipa, Waitākere Ranges, Waitaki, Westland, Whakatane, Whanganui, Whangārei.

In alphabetical order, areas where home ownership rates were at 66.0 to 69.9 percent are: Ashburton, Dunedin city, Hastings, Howick, Kawerau, Lower Hutt city, Matamata-Piako, Napier city, Ōpōtiki, Ōrākei, Porirua city, South Taranaki, Southland, Upper Harbour, Waimate.

In alphabetical order, the areas where home ownership rates were at 60.0 to 65.9 percent are: Chatham Islands, Christchurch city, Devonport-Takapuna, Gisborne, Kaipātiki, Mackenzie, Palmerston North city, Queenstown-Lakes, Rotorua, Ruapehu, South Waikato, Wairoa, Waitomo.

In alphabetical order, the areas where home ownership rates were less than 60.0 percent are: Albert-Eden, Hamilton city, Henderson-Massey, Mangere-Ōtāhuhu, Manurewa, Maungakiekie-Tāmaki, Ōtara-Papatoetoe, Papakura, Puketāpapa, Waitematā, Wellington city, Whau.

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