Buying a home even harder now

The Nelson-Marlborough region recorded the second largest drop in home affordability across the country, according to the AMP Home Affordability report for the June quarter.

The survey takes into account house prices, wages, and interest rates to calculate the relative affordability of houses throughout New Zealand.

Nelson-Marlborough's 9.9 per cent drop in affordability was behind Auckland's 11.2 per cent decline, but worse than the country's 7.9 per cent fall.

While the pace of house sales had started to slacken, AMP said prices in the top of the south had risen from $248,000 in February to $275,000 in May.

Together with rising interest rates and continued low wages for the top of the south, the robustness in house prices was the main driver for the region's relative low affordability.

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