Auckland 'still affordable'

It comes after reports this week that more than half of the city’s inhabitants think first-time buyers should look to other centres for their first property.

A Herald survey revealed 54.3 per cent thought new buyers would need to move to other areas if they wanted to buy a home, because of the prices of properties in the country's biggest city.

The median house price in Auckland is $505,500 - more than six times the average wage in the city of $75,533.

But Whitburn said it was just a matter of looking outside the city’s most popular suburbs.