All key income measures for household incomes increased prior to the COVID-19 lockdown on 25 March 2020, Stats NZ said today.
Over the same period average annual housing costs had also increased.
Data for income, housing costs, and wellbeing measures are collected through the household economic survey (HES), which is conducted by Stats NZ interviewing people in their own home. Due to the COVID-19 lockdown that started on 25 March 2020, Stats NZ had to cease all face-to-face interviewing, and no other means of interviewing were available. This meant that the survey started collection in July 2019 and ended in March 2020 with only nine months of data collected. Data for 'the year ended June 2020' only covers the period to the end of March 2020.
As a consequence, the data was produced from a smaller number of households than if Stats NZ had collected 12 months' worth of data.
"We have investigated the quality of the data that has been collected in the nine months, and are satisfied that it is fit for purpose," income and poverty statistics manager Chris Pooch said.
"The effects of the lockdown on household incomes, housing costs, and material wellbeing are not visible in this data."
In the year ended June 2020, average annual household disposable income (after tax and transfer payments) increased from $83,406 to $86,626 (up 3.9 percent compared with the year ended June 2019). Average annual housing cost increased from $17,324 to $17,980 (up 3.8 percent) over the same period.
| Component | 2019 |
| Gross income | 103991 |
| Disposable income | 83406 |
| Equivalised disposable income | 46016 |
| Equivalised disposable income after-housing-costs | 36200 |
| 102327 | 105655 |
|---|---|
| 82155 | 84657 |
| 45372 | 46660 |
| 35512 | 36888 |
| Component | 2020 |
| Gross income | 107731 |
| Disposable income | 86626 |
| Equivalised disposable income | 48196 |
| Equivalised disposable income after-housing-costs | 38008 |
| 106330 | 109132 |
|---|---|
| 85586 | 87666 |
| 47618 | 48774 |
| 37438 | 38578 |
"Although household incomes grew in this period, individual households experienced this growth differently. While income for the poorest tenth of households grew only 1.8 percent, the rest of New Zealand's household incomes increased at a greater rate," Mr Pooch said.
In the year ended June 2020, the lower boundary of the highest income quintile ($65,375) was 2.6 times greater than that of the upper boundary of the lowest quintile ($24,917). This ratio is the same as it was in the year to June 2019.
In the year ended June 2020, the highest income quintile received a greater share of income than the bottom three income quintiles combined.
Household income includes any income from wages and salaries, self-employment, investments, government benefits, and superannuation. Housing costs include rent and mortgages, property rates, and building related insurance.
In the year ended June 2020, households spent an average of $21 of every $100 of their household income on housing costs, which is relatively unchanged from 2019.
"Although the ratio of housing costs to household income hasn't changed significantly over the last year, there are certain types of households, such as renters, that spend a higher proportion of their incomes on housing costs," Mr Pooch said.
"The ratio of housing costs to household income is an important measure because a high proportion of housing costs is often associated with financial strain, particularly for lower-income households."
Renters were more than twice as likely as homeowners to spend 40.0 percent or more of their household income on housing costs. For the year ended June 2020, just over 1 in 4 (26.5 percent) renting households spent 40.0 percent or more of their household income on rent and other housing costs. In contrast, about 1 in 8 (11.6 percent) of people who owned, or partly owned, their own home spent 40.0 percent or more of their household income on housing costs.
| Dwelling ownership | Household owns/partly owns dwelling |
| Less than 25 percent | 69 |
| 25 percent or more | 31 |
| 30 percent or more | 22.7 |
| 40 percent or more | 11.6 |
| 67.7 | 70.3 |
|---|---|
| 29.7 | 32.3 |
| 21.6 | 23.8 |
| 10.8 | 12.4 |
| Dwelling ownership | Household does not own dwelling |
| Less than 25 percent | 43.4 |
| 25 percent or more | 56.6 |
| 30 percent or more | 43.7 |
| 40 percent or more | 26.5 |
| 41.6 | 45.2 |
|---|---|
| 54.8 | 58.4 |
| 41.9 | 45.5 |
| 24.9 | 28.1 |
| Dwelling ownership | Total |
| Less than 25% | 60.2 |
| 25% or more | 39.8 |
| 30% or more | 29.9 |
| 40% or more | 16.7 |
| 59.1 | 61.3 |
|---|---|
| 38.7 | 40.9 |
| 29 | 30.8 |
| 15.9 | 17.5 |
In the year ended June 2020, average weekly housing costs were $354 a week, up 3.1 percent from 2019. For households making these payments, increases were seen in property rates (up 5.0 percent), mortgage principal repayments (up 5.7 percent), and rent payments (up 4.8 percent).
Spending on mortgage interest payments decreased (down 6.7 percent) over this same period.
