Housing affordability, or more correctly its unaffordability, is a significant determinant of wellbeing. Many cities and communities are grappling with house prices (to rent or to own) which are now significantly out of proportion with incomes.
Unaffordable and unavailable housing creates a cascading series of other challenges, from less money for other households needs, especially food, to insecure housing and ultimately severe housing deprivation and even homelessness.
In the Waikato, collective leadership groups such as the Waikato Housing Initiative and the Waikato Housing Forum have been working address these important issues. Wellbeing Waikato (and its predecessor the Waikato Wellbeing Project) has played an important information and data brokering role in these forums, making sure that decision makers and funders have access to timely accurate data.
In 2025, we released a new report which updated the state of housing affordability in the region. The report: Hiding in Plain Sight: The Real Cost of Housing Unaffordability in the Waikato paints a stark picture. The median house in Hamilton now costs 6-7 times the median household income. Put another way, a family looking to afford this house on this income, with typical deposit and lending rules, will need over 13 years to save a deposit. If incomes and house prices continue their historic trends, in ten years’ time this will be over 20 years, and in twenty years’ time it would be nearer 30 years.
Successive governments and councils have made ongoing efforts to address housing affordability. There are examples of these interventions working (for example in Auckland and Christchurch) and the government’s going for housing growth and RMA reform programmes should make a positive difference.
However, the current evidence for the Waikato paints a continuing situation of unaffordability and exclusion, even for households earning solid incomes. Big system changes take time- we’re interested in what else can be done relatively easily and now.
This raises the difficult but important question- if prices are not yet affordable… “what would it take for housing to be affordable in the waikato?”
By this we mean what options and interventions:
Are based on sound evidence with examples of real-world viability
Are based on real-world financial feasibility models- not just theoretical models
Would result in housing which is truly affordable-especially in the household income range 60-150k
Are practical and can be deployed at a scale sufficient to make a measurable positive impact over a reasonable timeframe
Are equitable- not only to whanau currently shut out of the housing market, but to those who are currently in it and are heavily leveraged
We have partnered with Waikato Housing Initiative, Veros Ltd and FutureProof to explore this important question.
Register for the Webinar
Join us as we unpack the data, challenge assumptions, and explore practical pathways to improving housing affordability in the Waikato.
This session is designed for policymakers, developers, planners, funders, and anyone working on housing, infrastructure, or regional wellbeing.
Harvey will be joined by Veros' Managing Director Morgan Jones and Senior Property Advisor Paul Spurdle.
Date: 27 May
Time: 11 am (1 hour)
Format: Online webinar
Registration: EVENTBRITE
