SR378 The New Zealand Housing Preferences Survey: Attitudes towards medium-density housing (January 2020)

New Zealanders have traditionally aspired to the quarter-acre dream of a stand-alone home with a private backyard. Housing pressure is seeing the proliferation of alternative typologies like medium-density housing (MDH).

This study aims to understand New Zealanders’ attitudes to MDH related to resistance and acceptance of these typologies. 1,641 New Zealanders responded to the New Zealand Housing Preferences Survey, which asked participants about a range of factors for low-density, medium-density, and high-density house typologies. A key finding is that participants with experience of living in MDH are less resistant to MDH typologies. Overall, New Zealanders continue to prefer stand-alone homes. The implications of these findings are discussed.