Housing

Housing that is warm, dry and affordable is crucial to people’s wellbeing. The right to housing is centred around the goal of housing that is available and affordable for all, and that no-one should be without shelter. During 2025, homelessness continued to increase and housing affordability showed little or no improvement. For those on lower incomes, the housing crisis continues.

The supply of new housing of all types is crucial to ensuring the availability of housing for everyone. Record low population growth and stabilising housing consent numbers contributed to new housing exceeding population growth during 2025. The increase in overall housing supply in recent years is one factor in the affordability crisis faced by those on low and middle incomes. Other structural factors such as access to social and affordable rental housing and inadequate incomes are also important.

Number of public housing units—2017–2025 (September actual)

The supply of affordable public housing rental units continued to grow in 2025, but at a slower pace than in previous years. The number of people waiting for public housing in 2025 was 2600 fewer than in 2024, but with over 19,000 people with high housing need on the public Housing Register, our country is still short of tens of thousands of social housing places.

Homelessness continued to increase during 2025, and the rise in street homelessness is one very visible part of this. But most severe housing deprivation is largely hidden from public view, and access to some specialised housing services for people facing homelessness actually reduced during the year.

Number of households in transitional housing, Housing First and emergency housing—2017–2025 (September months)

Most people on lower incomes are renting their homes, and most are renting from private sector landlords. Increases in lower quartile rents in the private rental sector have slowed and rental affordability has not worsened significantly in 2025, but large proportions of lower income renters continue to face unaffordable rents.

Lower quartile and median rents ($NZD)—2015–2025 (September quarters)

Home ownership is a distant prospect for most people on lower incomes. Median house prices have stabilised over the past few years but remain hugely unaffordable for lower- and middle-income earners. Lower interest rates for mortgage lending and declining personal credit debts countered a small increase in households’ overall housing-related debt.

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Data: Interactive Dashboard

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