An Auckland first home buyer says the competitiveness of getting on the property ladder in New Zealand is "demoralising".
Jade Wang this morning told Breakfast she works three jobs and lives with her parents, paying board, instead of renting in order to save up to buy her first home.
The 27-year-old has been lucky enough to secure a new build townhouse in Mt Wellington, but said the process of buying took its toll.
"It's so demolarising, like you see, you hear about friends missing out on auctions, like I see people cry at auctions like the next runner up, they cry because they'd been searching for months. It's just really disheartening," she said.
Wang this morning said because if this she avoided auctions completely.
"People's mental health is really effected by the huge competitiveness of auctions and I guess I didn't want to just compete with everybody.
"And you have to do all your due diligence for every property and if you keep missing out, missing out, missing out like that adds up and I just don't have that kind of money to spend on that.
"That's why I went for a new build, so you just buy off the plans, you just also can have a 10 per cent deposit rather than a 20 per cent so it's a little bit easier. The price is there, you know what you're paying for so it just takes the stress out a little bit."
But, while she's secured a home now, Wang said it shouldn't be that difficult for Kiwis like herself.
"I feel like in New Zealand you shouldn't have to work three jobs to try and save and try work at home, like, I understand I have the luxury of my parents' help and not everyone has that, but everyone has a right or opportunity to buy a home in New Zealand where they don't have to be like this."
Wang is not alone, though, with the latest Trade Me Property Price Index figures for June revealing record average price increases year-on-year.
In June, the national average asking price saw the largest annual increase ever, climbing 18 per cent to an all-time high of $826,200.
Nationwide, small houses (1-2 bedrooms) saw the most price growth of any house size in June, with a 23 per cent annual increase to a record-breaking $624,900.
Medium (3-4 bedrooms) and large houses (5+ bedrooms) also reached a new high after some solid double-digit growth.
Meanwhile, urban properties, like apartments, townhouses and units, saw townhouses came out as the hot favourites. The average asking price for a townhouse in New Zealand rose 22 per cent on June last year to all-time high of $796,200.
Trade Me property sales director Gavin Lloyd, also on Breakfast, this morning said as for location, Wellington was the stand out in June.
The average asking price in the Wellington region saw a 24 per cent increase on June last year to a record-breaking $864,000 - an increase of $166,300.
"A 24 per cent increase year-on-year, with Auckland not too far behind at around about 16 per cent," he said.
Following Wellington's trend, the average asking price in Auckland saw biggest price growth ever in June, jumping 16 per cent year-on-year to all-time high of $1,089,300. That's a record-breaking annual increase of almost $150,000.
So why are prices looking so hot?
"We've got big supply issues nationwide and those two regions (Auckland and Wellington) aren't immune to that," Lloyd explained.
He also said Trade Me property had seen about a 10 per cent increase in traffic year-on-year, adding that off the back of New Zealand's Covid-19 lockdown there was a lot of demand for property in New Zealand - adding to the pressure for buyers like Wang.
"It's been a challenge, certainly in the last 12 months, where demand has been at unprecedented numbers," Lloyd said.
But there were three regions where there wasn't record year-on-year growth - Gisborne, Northland and Otago, he added.
"We are seeing signs around the country that things are hopefully gonna start slowing down, you know, we've seen certain restrictions come in in the last few months that will likely have an impact on the housing market in the months ahead."
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