Private Rental Affordability in New Zealand

New Zealand’s private rental market is persistently ranked one of the most unaffordable in OECD comparisons. According to its most recent data, New Zealand is ranked 2nd worst out of 43 nations, with 24% of private renters paying more than 40% of their disposable income for rent in 2024.

This is the first in a series of papers which provide an overview of who suffers most from our lack of affordable rental homes and measures trends in the supply of affordable rental housing over the last decade.

This paper measures affordability by calculating whether after tax income is sufficient to cover rent and still leave a reasonable budget for living costs. Budgets are estimated for each household composition, while household incomes and rents are sourced directly from records of tax, benefits and rental bonds, so we can accurately compare income adequacy across different types of renting households.