Feature article

New Zealand housing crisis: what’s really going on?

We delve into why our long-running property challenges continue to hold tight.

12 December 2025

AI summary

Despite recent softening in house prices and rents, New Zealand's housing crisis remains deeply entrenched due to decades of undersupply and planning issues. This has created severe unaffordability for renters and first home buyers.

The government's Going for Housing Growth programme aims to tackle this by freeing up land and reforming the RMA. These policies target long-term affordability challenges. While the situation is stabilising, sustained action is required to solve the crisis and create a more accessible property market.

What we’ll cover:

A quick snapshot of the housing crisis

What caused the crisis?

A long term slide in housing supply responsiveness

Affordability pressures

Rents and rental shortages

Who is most affected by the housing crisis?

Children and vulnerable families

A safe, dry home shouldn't be a luxury for our youngest Kiwi. Unfortunately, poor-quality housing is still shaping the health outcomes of thousands of New Zealand children every year.

Māori & Pacific whānau

Renters

First home buyers

What the Government is doing to tackle the housing crisis

Going for Housing Growth is built around three main ideas:

The Government's plan is to tackle the housing crisis by pushing councils to allow cities to grow both up (intensification) and out (expanding the urban fringe).