Investors carry loans for longer

New Zealanders have 29c of real estate debt for every dollar of property they own, new data from Statistics New Zealand shows.

It has done a new analysis of New Zealanders' debt.

It found real estate loans make up 87% of individual debt held by New Zealanders. Half of all those aged over 15 owe money.

For all those reporting a debt, the average debt was $79,000. Compared with other age groups, people aged 35 to 44 had the highest average debt of $109,000.

The data showed that people who reported a real estate debt paid off loans on owner-occupied property as they got older but often still had loans outstanding on other real estate properties.

The average loan owed by those aged 25 to 44 years on owner-occupied property was $145,000, dropping to $107,000 for those aged 45 to 64 years.

However, the average loan on "other" properties across each of these age groups remained at about $176,000.