Money and You - Generation Rent

1 min read
August 17, 2021

The Kiwi dream of home ownership is still alive, but it’s becoming harder to make a reality for most younger New Zealanders.

That’s the finding of ‘Money and You: Generation Rent’, new research from the Financial Services Council [FSC] that asked New Zealanders for their views on home ownership and highlights the particular challenges facing younger Kiwis.

‘Generation Rent’ (aged 18-39), makes up 1.5 million New Zealanders, and of that group approx. 40% own a home, leaving the remaining 60% (916,000,) as renters.

“Around 83% of Gen Renters surveyed still believe that owning a home is a ticket to long-term financial security, and 55% of Generation Rent are actively working towards buying their own home in the next five years,” says FSC Chief Executive Richard Klipin.

“But it is becoming more out of reach, and it seems as though the majority of Kiwis agree, whether they’re Gen Renters or not. 82% of respondents of all ages believe that the dream of home ownership is now unattainable for the average Kiwi,” says Klipin.

“We’re all in agreement that the younger generation are having a harder time, with close to 90% – across all age groups – believing that younger Kiwis are being locked out of the property market.

Read the media release.

Read the research report.

Watch the online research launch event.

For all media enquiries, please contact:

Financial Services Council of New Zealand
09 802 1532 or fsc@fsc.org.nz

About the research

The research was conducted via an online survey developed and hosted by CoreData. Data was collected between 15 April and 26 April 2021. A total of 2,035 valid complete responses were collected, which formed the basis of the analysis and the report. The sample is representative of the New Zealand consumer population in terms of age, gender and income based on the latest Stats NZ data. According to Stats NZ1 in March 2021 there was an estimated resident population of 5,116,300. As this survey only included respondents aged 18 years old or over, the estimated resident population of the sample is 3,944,700. The purpose of this survey was to understand how financially confident and the financial wellbeing of New Zealanders.