Why work when houses make more money?

CoreLogic New Zealand’s chief property economist Kelvin Davidson says 771 of New Zealand’s 983 suburbs have had median value increases of $100,000 or more in the past year.

And only 24 suburbs suffered with increases of less than $50,000 during this time.

This growth in values he says, resulted in many owners earning more on paper from simply having a property than going to work every day.

“Needless to say, this is paper wealth effectively coming at the expense of non-owners and unfortunately for would-be first home buyers the latest data refresh highlights yet again the challenges they face,” says Davidson.