More Kiwis want bigger homes, move away from Auckland – Westpac

After two years of COVID-impacted lives, some want to renovate their homes too

By Mina Martin

09 Feb 2022

A new Westpac survey has revealed that Kiwis want bigger, better homes and to move away from Auckland after two years of COVID-impacted lives.

Ian Hankins, Westpac New Zealand general manager of consumer banking and wealth, said the bank ran the research to “get a bit of a sense of how homeowners are feeling or people that are looking to move into homeownership.”

What emerged was a surprisingly high percentage of Kiwis wanting to change their housing situation, with 19% of the 1,300 customers surveyed saying they wanted a bigger house, rising to 29% for households with children, and 39% said they were considering moving houses, NZ Herald reported.

Of those staying put, 34% were keen to renovate.

Overall, 19% wished for a bigger house while a mere 4% wanted a smaller one. Just 8% wanted to live in another region, but this went up to 18% for those who were flatting.

Many Kiwis had already made changes to their existing homes due to COVID-19: 21% set up a work station, 6% converted a bedroom to a study, and 15% had an indoor renovation, the report said.

For those considering moving houses next year, a third said it was to get more space, while 47% wanted a better lifestyle. Meanwhile, 15% of those planning to move sought to lower their costs, 8% no longer needed to be in a specific location for work, and 16% were downsizing.

While just over 40% of those planning to move wanted to go to another suburb in the same area they currently lived in, 21% wanted to head to a smaller city, town, or region than the one they currently lived in.

“The urbanisation trend that we have had over many years, there are signals that that is starting to reverse, particularly from Auckland with 28% of people considering a move outside Auckland. That's a big number,” Hankins said in the NZ Herald report.

The bank leader said a big part of people wanting to move houses is “to have a bit more control in a world where there is a lot more uncertainty.”

A number of Kiwis were also considering home renovations. Some 34% planned to do one in the next year, rising to 37% for couples and 42% for households with kids.

Of those surveyed, 21% also wanted to spend more on items for their house.

“During COVID, we did see people using the fact that interest rates were lower to pay down their mortgages, so you see that gap between house prices, which were over 30%, and lending growth which was 10%,” Hankins said. “What that tells you is people were using that excess – and we saw that in our data as well – to pay down and save more money. There is a combination of debt and savings that have been going towards renovations."

But Hankins is expecting the trend to change this year with the cost of living rising substantially over the last year.

“I think some of those trends are going to shift as, you have seen the inflation data come out, mortgage rates are increasing but have come off historic lows, and even the rates we are increasing to are still on a long run average at a normalised level,” Hankins said. “I don't think it is going to drop off a cliff but I don't think there will be the same level of activity we have had in the last year or so.”

The survey found that 29% of Kiwis felt more positive about their home since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to just 8% who felt more negatively about it, NZ Herald reported.