Mortgage burden steadily worsens

affordability appears begun in 2012.

Housing Minister Phil Twyford said the measure showed without a doubt there was a housing crisis.

‘‘I don’t think anyone is under any illusion that this isn’t a crisis. Even the Opposition now use the word ‘housing crisis’,’’ Twyford said.

‘‘[HAM] shows sadly that things are continuing to get worse; in all five major centres housing is less affordable.’’

He said fixing it with ‘‘massive interventions’’ like KiwiBuild would take years but he was not ‘‘fatalistic.’’

HAM was introduced as an experimental measure last year after almost two years of delays.

The measure uses individuallevel data on the income of renters in each area, alongside what a lower quartile house would cost, leading to a much richer picture than other measures.

Officials at the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) who built the tool wrote that they were worried about a ‘‘lack of ministerial agreement’’ with the measure in a 2016 briefing released to Stuff under the Official Information Act.

Across the country, the measure shows a gradual increase in housing unaffordability disrupted by the financial crisis in 2008, then stabilising since.

In Auckland, a marked increase in unaffordability is shown after 2013, while Canterbury has become steadily more affordable. to have