Placed against Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development( OECD) peers, New Zealand’ s 66 per cent sits in the middle of the pack, suggesting the pattern of ownership arriving later in life is not uniquely a New Zealand problem.
The countries with the highest ownership rates, Romania( 92.80 per cent) and Croatia( 90.40 per cent), reached those figures through the mass transfer of state housing stock to tenants in the early 1990s- a policy path with its own structural limitations.
Meanwhile, countries like Germany and Switzerland, with low ownership but well-developed rental markets and strong
tenant protections, represent a different model entirely, rather than a failure of aspiration.
New Zealand’ s moderate ownership, a private rental sector that expanded largely by default, and limited social housing are most similar to Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
The common thread in those countries is that ownership has become harder to access earlier in life, and the gap between those who do and don’ t own has widened along income and age lines.
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