Suburb housing

Housing costs across Southland

Southland runs from Invercargill through Gore to Te Anau and Stewart Island, on an economy of farming, meat processing, aluminium smelting and tourism. It has the most affordable housing of any region by most measures, the highest ownership rates in the country, and an older population than the national average. Invercargill is the only city and holds most of the region's rental market; outside it, housing is overwhelmingly owner-occupied and turnover is low. The region has also run deliberate schemes to attract residents, which has moved some areas more than the national trend would suggest.

Very low rents in Southland areas are genuine, and are often based on a small number of renting households, so they carry more rounding noise than the same figure would in a city. High ownership rates here reflect both affordability and an older population, and those two explanations cannot be separated from these figures alone.

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