Mortgage payments increase

28 November 2008

Mortgage payments increase

Results from the Household Economic Survey (Income) (HES (Income)) show that an increase in housing costs was driven mainly by increases in mortgage payments in the year ended 30 June 2008, Statistics New Zealand said today. For those making mortgage payments, median (half spend more, half spend less) weekly mortgage payments rose from $256 to $328 between 2006/07 and 2007/08 (up 27.8 percent), due mainly to an increase in mortgage interest payments.

In 2007/08, 28 percent (135,700) of New Zealand households with a mortgage paid over $500 per week in mortgage payments, up from 18 percent (86,300) in 2006/07. The highest median weekly mortgage payments were made by those living in the Auckland region ($472); payments for the remaining regions were: $350 in Wellington, $307 in Canterbury, $262 in the Rest of the North Island region, and $242 in the Rest of the South Island region.

For households who paid rent, median weekly household expenditure on rent was $225 per week in 2007/08, up from $210 in the previous year (up 7.1 percent). Other survey results showed that median household income was $57,947 in the year ended 30 June 2008, an increase of 3.9 percent from the previous year (up from $55,796). The increase was driven primarily by wages and salaries.

For those receiving income from wages and salaries, the median annual personal income from this source increased to $35,000 (up 2.9 percent) in the 2007/08 year. HES (Income) is a shortened version of the three-yearly full Household Economic Survey. It ran for the first time in the year ended 30 June 2008, and will run in the two years between the full HES to collect data on household and personal income, living standards, and housing costs. Dallas Welch (Mrs)

Acting Government Statistician

28 November 2008

ENDS

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