You do know half of houses are below the median?

Stuff reports:

Nearly 80 per cent of renters across New Zealand lack the resources for a home deposit, according to new figures which Labour says shows many Kiwis are locked out of the market.

However, Housing Minister Nick Smith says the numbers are “no surprise”, and have not significantly worsened in recent years.

Labour has compiled new data from Statistics New Zealand, saying the figures show the inadequacy of subsidies for Kiwis in search of their first home.

According to the data, 78 per cent of renters or 458,000 households had a net worth of $120,000 or less, meaning they would be unable to afford the 20 per cent deposit for an average house valued at $612,000.

This is a silly and almost meaningless stat.

By definition half of the homes sell for under $612,000. Just because you can’t afford to buy a house at the average (median) value doesn’t mean you are locked out.

In fact almost everyone I know buys a relatively cheap house initially and trades up later.

I’m in no way saying house prices are not too expensive. They are. I’m just saying this particular analysis is a bit meaningless.