January 21, 2008 8:05pm by David Farrar

interest.co.nz

A Fairfax media site called interest.co.nz has a mine of information on home affordability. Sadly, most of it neagtive.

Check out their December newsletter. Some highlight or lowlights:

Mortgage payments on a median priced house are now 83.4% of the median income. A year ago it was 72.5% and in 2003 it was 44.0%
To afford (payments no more than 40% of take home pay) a mortgage on a median priced house nor requires an after tax income of $1,396.86. In 2003 this was only 632.71. On a gross annual basis, it means you need household income of $107,200 to be able to afford a median priced house.
The median mortgage is now costing an extra $85 a week, compared to just one year ago, due to higher interest rates.
In Auckland the median mortgage payments are now 99% of the median wage. Five years ago it was under 60%
In Wellington over five years the media mortgage payments have gone up from 47% to 87% of the median take home wage

A very useful site – well worth bookmarking.