Don't forget inflation ; cost of building materials and increasing standards & regulations.
Houses too cheap in NZ? I'll reiterate this :
https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/t...w-it-all-began
This mess was not started by the 1st time home owners. It was started because of market speculation (you say too cheap is the same as someone saying Gamestock shares were too cheap at @ $300 and it went on to $400).
I want to add that comparing a house in NZ to one in say America or Canada is like comparing apples with oranges. Canada for most part of the country does have affordable housing but there are hot spots like Toronto and Vancouver. If you really want to compare apples with apples, then when I take a $2M house in Vancouver of similar age to a $2M house in Auckland ; there is
no contest. The Vancouver house would be in every way, better built, more comfortable / central heating, LARGER IN SIZE due to 'livable area is what realators use to measure house size', and while many may say larger is not better ; you will find the women tend to prefer larger kitchens & bedrooms. How can NZ compete when building materials are x 3 times the cost one can buy at Home Depot?
@ Zaphod: Indeed not an ideal situation to have separate titles with leaseholds. When I was looking at a house few years ago, I came across "cross lease" titles but if I recall correctly, the house and land were together under 1 rate bill ; but the cross lease meant permission required by the other lease holder too (in party with the other title). Permission such as if 1 day the house had to be brought down and how / where the new build could be.