Home ownership in New Zealand

By tenure, 2018 Census, % of households where information available

The following information applies to all values in the table. Census Year: 2018, Subject population: Households in occupied private dwellings, Unit: Percentage of households stated
Tenure of household	% of households where information available
Dwelling held in a family trust, mortgage arrangements not further defined	1.423723276832%
Dwelling held in a family trust, mortgage payments made	5.303074298574%
Dwelling held in a family trust, mortgage payments not made	6.554753003521%
Dwelling not owned and not held in a family trust, rental arrangements not further defined	0.1092519327792%
Dwelling not owned and not held in a family trust, rent payments made	31.93187180139%
Dwelling not owned and not held in a family trust, rent payments not made	3.416209937933%
Dwelling owned or partly owned, mortgage arrangements not further defined	4.657362709158%
Dwelling owned or partly owned, mortgage payments made	27.79173169758%
Dwelling owned or partly owned, mortgage payments not made	18.81202134224%

Data Quality

Using this data

Use this data with caution. This data was rated moderate quality by Stats NZ. Read the warnings and response rate metadata below before using.

Stats NZ gives data an overall rating based on sources and coverage, consistency, and data quality.

Why am I seeing this?

This data is from the Census. The past two censuses had relatively low response rates, particularly for some areas of New Zealand and groups of people.

Where information was missing or unreadable, Stats NZ attempted to use data from a range of places such as previous censuses or administrative data that is collected by other government agencies. If that isn't available, Stats NZ use statistical models to predict what the missing data would have been. This is called imputation.

Things to be aware of

Overall, this data may have some bias toward home owners/family trust households. The patterns and trends seen in this data may not always fully represent the real-world situation or real-world changes. Some caution needs to be applied when interpreting time series data because other data sources have been used for the 2018 data that were not used previously. A significant proportion of households did not provide information on whether they were making mortgage payments or rent payments.

Read the response rates and final data sources section for more information.

Subject matter

Tenure of household indicates whether a household rents, owns, or holds their home in a family trust, and whether payment is made by the household for the right to reside there. This variable does not refer to the tenure of the land. A home held in a family trust is owned by the family trust, so the household does not directly own it. This variable applies to all households in occupied private dwellings. Home ownership figures given in census publications are often presented as the percentage of households who owned their home or held it in a family trust. Combining these categories provides a summary indication of total households in these situations (which are similar and distinct from not owning) and the overall trend for home ownership. This is different from individual tenure, which provides information on whether one specific person owns their home or not.

Response rates and final data sources

The response rate from 2018 Census forms was 91.5%. 2.9% of households were sourced from the 2013 Census. 2.7% were sourced from administrative data (Tenancy Bonds and Housing New Zealand). 2.9% were imputed. There was no information for less than 0.1% of households.

Definitions

Census usually resident population count of New Zealand: a count of all people who usually live in and were present in New Zealand on census night. It excludes overseas visitors and New Zealand residents who are temporarily overseas.
Census night population count of New Zealand: a count of all people present in New Zealand on census night. This includes visitors from overseas who are counted on census night but excludes residents who are temporarily overseas on census night.
Dwelling: A dwelling is any building or structure that is used, or intended to be used, for human habitation. There can be more than one dwelling within a building. For example, each apartment in an apartment building is a dwelling.
Household: either one person who usually resides alone, or two or more people who usually reside together and share facilities in a private dwelling. Included are people who were absent on census night but usually live in a particular dwelling and are members of that household, as long as they were reported as being absent on the dwelling form or the household set-up form.
Response 'stated': Members of the subject population (eg. people or dwelling) for which the data was obtained through a census form, administrative sources, or imputed.

Data calculation/treatment

This data has been randomly rounded to protect confidentiality.
Figure.NZ calculated percentages based on the 'Total stated' values for each variable. Individual percentages may not sum to 100% and values for the same data may vary in different tables.

For more information

http://datainfoplus.stats.govt.nz/Item/nz.govt.stats/ca28210f-3fd6-415c-a162-ecc07b4a28b0

Inclusions

Geographically the census includes the North Island, South Island, Stewart Island, and the Chatham Islands, plus largely uninhabited islands including the Kermadec Islands, Three Kings Islands, Mayor Island, Motiti Island, White Island, Moutohora Island, Bounty Islands, Snares Islands, Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands, and Campbell Island.

Changes to data collection/processing

The 2018 Census was a modernised census based on models used in 2016 by the Canadian and Australian statistical agencies and then applied in the New Zealand context. Stats NZ collaborated with census experts from both countries when designing the model.

Under the new model, how Stats NZ enabled/collected from the respondents changed from predominately field-based activities to 80 percent mail-out with a reduced field presence and increased communications, marketing and engagement. The way respondents completed their forms also changed, with a greater focus on online completion over paper. The majority of the population was encouraged to complete the census online using an internet access code mailed to their households before census night. The new collection model therefore relied on the public to self-respond, rather than wait for a visit from field staff. Field follow-up activities were also planned.

The main areas of change were:
- phasing the model (prepare, enable, remind and visit)
- strategies used across the different phases
- mailing out “call to action” letters with an internet access code and instructions on how to order paper forms, if required, as the first interaction with census
- reducing the number of field staff, with a new structure and roles
- outsourcing the recruitment functions for field staff
- introducing new field technology
- creating a new address frame (a list of all dwellings in New Zealand)
- an integrated communications campaign including community engagement
- a new approach to processing the census data.

Data provided by

Stats NZ

Dataset name

Census: Census totals by topic national highlights 2018

How to find the data

This dataset is no longer available online. It has since been replaced by an updated version at https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/2018-census-totals-by-topic-national-highlights-updated

Import & extraction details

File as imported: Census: Census totals by topic national highlights 2018

From the dataset Census: Census totals by topic national highlights 2018, this data was extracted:

Sheet: Table 52
Range: C8:D21
Provided: 26 data points

This data forms the table Census - Households in occupied private dwellings by tenure of household 2018.

Dataset originally released on:

September 23, 2019

About this dataset

The New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings is the official count of how many people and dwellings there are in New Zealand. It provides a snapshot of our society at a point in time and helps to tell the story of its social and economic change. The 2018 Census, held on Tuesday 6 March, was the 34th New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings. The first official census was run in 1851, and since 1877 there has been a census every five years, with only four exceptions.

Purpose of collection

Census information is used by government agencies, local authorities, businesses, community organisations, and the public for developing and implementing new policies, research, planning, and decision-making. It helps us make decisions about how to best use public funding, especially in areas of health, education, housing, and transport.
The census is also the primary source of information used for deciding the number of general and Māori electorates, along with data from the corresponding Māori Electoral Option.