Rise of singletons
We’re increasingly living alone, but we’re paying a price for it, writes Susan Edmunds.
Growing numbers of New Zealanders are living alone, and it’s coming at a financial and social cost. Newly released census data shows that 405,000 people now live alone, 50,000 more than did in 2013.
It was the second-most common household type, behind two occupant households – at 519,561.
That number is higher than those with three people, at 258,909, and four people, at 238,719.
Economist Shamubeel Eaqub said much of that increase was due to the population ageing. People were also marrying and having children later in life, which could mean more time spent living alone beforehand.
The ‘‘typical Kiwi family’’ was changing, and it would not be long before people living alone were the most common household type.
But it comes at a price. Over that same five-year period that the number of single households increased, the median house price in New Zealand rose from $370,000 to more than $500,000.
The nationwide median rent rose by almost $100 a week.
Sarah Killoh, who bought her first house last year in Christchurch, said it was harder to buy a house as a single person.
She bought a two-bedroom property so that she could get in a flatmate if money became too tight, but said that as an older person it was hard to find someone suitable people to live with.
She runs a small business to supplement her income and had help from family to buy. ‘‘I have a fairly low mortgage so I’m lucky there, because my income is fairly low, too.’’
Renting isn’t much easier. Aucklander Judith Vickers said it was tough to be a tenant as a single person.
She was trying to get together a group of people to share a home to help spread the costs but said it was a challenge to find suitable flatmates.
Liz Koh, a financial adviser, said it was a given that the cost of living alone was more than half the cost of sharing.
‘‘It costs more to live alone because many living costs are fixed. That is, they are the same regardless of the number of people living in a house. This includes rent, mortgage payments, insurance, rates, home maintenance, internet and fixed charges for power.’’
She said those fixed costs seemed to have risen over recent years. ‘‘The other consideration is that many people living alone are living on a pension and it is becoming increasingly difficult to live on a pension alone.’’
Another adviser, Martin Hawes, said the single rate of the pension, which is $411 a week instead of $633 for a couple, would not cover the extra cost of living alone, in most cases. A single person sharing a house but not in a relationship receives $380.
Tom Hartmann, managing editor of the Commission for Financial Capability’s Sorted website, said many people did not consider the added financial risk of living alone. If they could not work for a period of time, or faced an unexpected big expense, they had to cover it alone.
‘‘Insurance becomes that much more important.’’
He said that although many people could handle their finances living alone day-to-day, it was harder to invest for the future, and that could have an opportunity cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
There can also be an emotional cost to living alone.
The census data showed that only 61 per cent of respondents said they were never lonely, compared to 63.9 per cent in the previous census. Another 13.1 per cent felt lonely some of the time, and 3.5 per cent said they were lonely most or all of the time.
Women were significantly more likely to be lonely as were those on lower incomes, those with fewer qualifications and older people.
That may be reflected in the results of the Sunday Star Times Your Place survey, which suggests apartment dwellers are the least happy and those in lifestyle blocks most happy. The unscientific survey asked 8000 respondents whether they were happy in their city, town or region.
Charles Crothers, professor of sociology at AUT, said older people’s happiness was affected by where they lived, especially if there was a lack of transport.
Linda Shaw of Sandspit hopes to address that by setting up a house-sharing arrangement for
older people.
‘‘I have been in house-sharing situations before, and for me that’s much better than being on my own and trying to struggle through.’’
It would offer a support system and social contact. ‘‘You have someone to go to movies with, go for a walk with.’’
She is hosting a public meeting month to gauge interest in setting up a couple of houses with sharing over-50s.
There was a lot of focus on young people and families struggling but older people living alone also faced significant constraints, Crothers said.
But Lyn McConchie of Norsewood would not want it any other way.
‘‘Frankly, you couldn’t pay me to have someone in the house. I had that for years flatting, and a year of marriage.
‘‘Living alone is far less stressful.’’
‘‘I have been in house-sharing situations before, and for me that’s much better than being on my own and trying to struggle through.’’ Linda Shaw