Property dominates New Zealand debt

Property dominates New Zealand debt

29 September 2016

Real estate loans accounted for 87 percent of total individual debt held by New Zealanders in the year ended June 2015, Statistics New Zealand said today.

The analysis on debt also showed some older people had debts on real estate even as they went into the retirement age.

Real estate loans were well offset against property assets, with 29 cents of debt for every dollar of real estate assets.

Half of all New Zealanders over the age of 15 have a debt.

For all those reporting a debt, the average debt was $79,000. Compared with other age groups, people aged 35–44 had the highest average debt of $109,000.

The data showed that people who reported a real estate debt paid off loans on owner-occupied property as they got older while still having loans on other real estate properties.

The average loan owed by those aged 25–44 years on owner-occupied property was $145,000, dropping to $107,000 for those aged 45–64 years. However, the average loan on ‘other’ properties across each of these age groups remained at about $176,000.

Half of Kiwis in debt, with most debt in properties used data from Household Net Worth Statistics: Year ended June 2015 released in June 2016.

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