Some Potential Solutions

While there are different standards for housing affordability, the most common international measure is that housing should be no more than 2-3 times a household’s gross yearly income (for the purpose of this website a low-cost house is defined here as anything that is classed as affordable or cheaper).

Average gross yearly income for the working individual in Aotearoa sits at around $53,000 meaning that an affordable house would not cost the individual more than about $160,000 which includes everything such as land, council costs, etc.

Therefore, if there were a family where only one person was able to work, and they did earn the average wage, then an affordable house should still not cost more than $160,000. If there are two people in the family earning the average income this would make an affordable house anything under $320,000, with 3 people working this would be $480,000 and so on.

Knowing that costs such as land (and regulation related fees) vary significantly from place to place, for the time being, Low Cost Housing Aotearoa is focusing exclusively on the cost of the construction limiting it to anything below $160,000. This allows a range of housing to be shown that might be considered affordable to the individual or family when other costs are taken into account. It also allows us to better compare apples with apples.

The selection of projects featured here demonstrates how there is no one way to obtain or create more affordable housing. There are, however, some key factors that help to keep the cost of a house down, many of which can be seen in the below examples. These include:

Small, simple, quick to assemble, made of low cost materials (not necessarily low quality), built or partly built by their owners, efficiently designed, and resourceful owners/project leaders

These factors are not absolute. For instance, sometimes a simple and small house is not low cost, while a house that takes a long time to build can be very affordable.