Figures released to 1 NEWS show Housing New Zealand's urgent and general repair fees have risen almost twenty percent in three years.
Almost half a billion dollars a year is now being spent on maintaining state houses.
On average urgent repairs are done in a week, of which there were 55,000 last year. Another 55,000 houses received general maintenance.
"One part of it is maintenance, the other part of that is upgrading, improving homes for the longer term, so it's not all about repair," Housing New Zealand's Chief Operations Officer, Paul Commons told 1 NEWS.
"A lot of the money is spent on improving homes as well."
There are 63,000 state houses nationwide housing 180,000 people.
"It's a commitment from the Governments of the day that they want the houses to be brought up to modern standards, so the houses have never been as well insulated and warm and dry as they are today," Mr Commons says.
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