Trade Me Property said more than a third of New Zealanders would rather browse unaffordable property listings than watch rugby. Photo: 123RF
About one in eight Kiwi adults would rather go online and look at houses they cannot afford than have sex, a new survey has found.
Trade Me Property said more than a third would rather browse unaffordable property listings than watch rugby and more than half preferred it to looking for a partner on a dating site.
With New Zealand having some of the least affordable housing in the developed world and fewer people living in their own houses in almost a century, Trade Me's survey found more than half - 59 percent - of adults admitted scrolling through listings of homes they cannot afford.
But rather than consider it an extension "doom-scrolling", voted New Zealand's 'word of the year' in 2020, Trade Me - which makes up to $2299 per sale conducted through its site - prefers to call it "dream-scrolling".
"We've coined the term 'dream-scrolling', which perfectly captures the 'what-if' mentality," Trade Me Property customer director Gavin Lloyd said in a statement on Friday.
"What if I won the Lotto? What if I could leave everything behind and move to the middle of nowhere? It's a way to momentarily escape reality and indulge in the fun of imagining what our lives could look like if we owned those dream properties."
He said the survey found almost all of us - 95 percent - would like to own our own home, a fifth of us spending at least an hour each week looking around.
"Owning a home is still the big Kiwi dream for most people, even with the economic challenges we've faced in recent years," Lloyd said.
"Home ownership is still central to many New Zealanders' long-term financial security, with purchasing a property one of the biggest financial decisions many of us will make in our lives.
"A mortgage-free home also makes up an important part of many people's retirement plans. We're a country that's clearly obsessed with property. It's also pretty telling that 80 percent of people still regularly check out houses online, even when they're not seriously looking to buy."
Rather than see that as desperation in a market whose median price has doubled in the past decade, and doubled in the decade before that, Lloyd said Kiwis kept browsing dream homes "for more emotional reasons like finding a bit of inspiration, giving us something to aim for or even simply for pleasure".
"About a fifth of respondents admitted to adding homes to their watchlist, even though they didn't consider these properties were realistic options."
- 56 percent believed it natural to enjoy the escape provided by looking at dream properties
- 19 percent said looking at property online made them feel dissatisfied with their life/lifestyle
- 29 percent saw dream-scrolling as an "escape from reality"
- 28 percent said dream-scrolling helped them appreciate what they had
- 45 percent of Millennials looked at homes out of their budget
- 53 percent of Gen Z browsed properties they were not interested in buying
- 18 percent looked at property online because they were curious to see inside other people's homes
There was a difference in the kinds of places different demographics looked at, Lloyd said.
"Younger Kiwi are all about lifestyle blocks and city apartments, while those over 35 are still dreaming of beach houses."
Women were more interested in lifestyle blocks than men, who were more into beach houses and city apartments.
A recent report found in 25 years, there will be fewer homeowners than renters in New Zealand.
The survey, carried out by external research agency Perspective, interviewed 1074 New Zealanders.