New Zealand Is the Most Expensive Place to Buy a Home

Christchurch–New Zealand has the least affordable homes, according to an international survey of the world’s six costliest residential markets, released Monday by an international public policy firm with affiliates in Christchurch and St. Louis.High mortgage interest rates helped New Zealand score higher than Australia for the first time. New Zealand homebuyers have the largest difference between earnings and home prices, the New Zealand Herald reports.Low wages and high home prices mean–based on median home prices and wages–that residents spend 18 years and six months of an entire household’s annual income to pay off a home, the report said.The United States, Australia, Britain, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand were included in the fourth-annual housing report, written by Demographia.